Long Road to Mercy by David Baldacci

The first chapter of the story grabbed me instantly. However, the rest of the book did not explore that storyline except to use it as a basis for the main character's motivation. 
   This is the first in the Atlee Pine character series.  Atlee is an FBI agent serving in the Grand Canyon area. She is an accomplished agent and is highly motivated to avenge her twin sister's murder when they were only six years old.  
    Atlee is brought in to investigate a mule's death in the Canyon.  The mule has strange markings that are the beginning clues to a very involved plot.  With many twists and turns, Baldacci takes us into a sinister plot to overtake our government.  Atlee is determined to get to the bottom of this threat, but has to do it without support from her regional supervisor who has told her she needs to take an extended vacation.  He has decided his agent, Atlee, is over the top in her suspicions.
     Atlee's sister's murder will be solved in a sequel.  It was only a minor introduction in this book.

C is for Corpse / Sue Grafton / 318 pages / Mystery

After surviving a car crash that his best friend didn't, 23-year-old Bobby Callahan is paranoid that the crash was no accident and that the person responsible for it is still out to kill him.  So he hires Kinsey Millhone check up on anyone familiar with him, including friends, family and enemies, and see if she could find anyone who would want Bobby dead and why.  Kinsey becomes really close to Bobby and his mother, so when he dies a week later, she's more than heartbroken over it and does everything it takes to bring both of them justice, even breaking the law if she could get away with it.

Although I've enjoyed the process of this story, I felt like the near-end of it was weak; it drifted away from the main plot with the subplot between Kinsey, her landlord, and his lover-- irrelevant to Rick and Bobby's murders.  Then the culprit was revealed, but his actions were kind of cheesy (a psychopath slowly walking and singing eerie tunes is pretty cliché).

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.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie / Alan Bradley / 416 pages / 8 discs

     I do not know why I have put off listening to this series. I should be ashamed of myself. I guess it was because every publication crowed how wonderful it was. I am usually very wary of those kind of recommendations. They really don't turn out well for me. But as I was driving to Chicago I figured why not. I have been handsomely rewarded.
     We meet 11 year old Flavia de Luce who lives with her family in a slowly disintegrating house (Buckshaw) in the middle of the British countryside. She has two older sisters who are interested in reading and themselves. Her father is in his study looking at his beloved stamp albums. So Flavia has been left to her own devices and having rather a quick and agile mind, reads the textbooks about chemistry in the laboratory in the attic of the house. One morning she discovers a dying man in the garden and immediately knows he will cause trouble for her family. The police are summoned and Flavia is summarily dismissed which erks her to no end. She decides she will solve the case in her own manner.
     You can imagine what this young lady will get up to. She uses her brain and makes assumptions, hypotheses, and conclusions in order to find the answers. As it turns out she is sometimes ahead of the police which surprises them. I love the asides about her family history especially about the spectacular failures of her uncles. She is snarky about her sisters and the plans for revenge verge on the awesome. I am rather fond of this 11 year old precocious and delightful young lady.
    The narrator for this series is beyond awesome. Jayne Entwistle gets it perfect and the tone and range are just wonderful. I can't imagine anyone else doing the reading. We actually feel as if Flavia is sitting down with us and telling the story over a cup of tea. Astounding and wonderful. I recommended this to higher middle grades, teens and adults. No language but descriptions could be a little uncomfortable. Flavia has some tight scrapes but not overly dramatized. I am definitely looking forward to the next one The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag.

Six Degrees of Reading:  Full Dark House: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery by Christopher Fowler, Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas, The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King. 

Ring of Rocamadour / Michael D. Beil/ 299 pages

This is the first title in the Red Blazer Girls series which has been touted as a contemporary Nancy Drew.  Three best friends (Rebecca the artist, Sophie the dramatic, and Margaret the smart one...see why I like the books so much.  Usually Margarets are dogs called Maggie.) are all 7th graders at St. Veronicas in Manhattan.  They embark upon solving a 20 year old mystery with clues that require use of math, literary references, and religion.  Suspense is added when they discover someone else is also trying to solve the puzzle and find the valuable Ring of Rocamadour.  Friendship, family situations, and fledgling romance add to the plot.  Listened to this one narrated by Tai Ricci and it was very enjoyable.  There are a basic swear words sprinkled in.  Recommended for grades 5-8.