Book Review - Murder on the Eightfold Path by Diana Killian

Murder on the Eightfold Path by Diana Killian

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the third book in this series, but the first that I’ve read.  I don’t normally read out of order as I prefer to read the first book in a series first.  However, this was a free book and it looked good.

The book starts out with bang -- almost literally.  The opening scene involves, AJ, the main character, literally finding a dead body in her mother’s front yard.  Turns out her mother knew the dead man and it kind of goes from there, with some serious and some funny turns along the way.

AJ is on her second career, managing and teaching at the yoga studio she inherited from her Aunt.  The one thing that isn’t smooth sailing is the rocky relationship she has with the other manager, Lily.  It was kind of hard to really grasp the roots of the bad relationship, but I think this is because I haven’t read the first two books.  I was okay with it as I didn’t really care for Lily and liked the relationship AJ had with the other employees of the studio.

I liked this book.  I liked AJ.  I liked her mother, Elysia, though she’s a bit of a flake.  I like the relationship AJ had with her mother, though it’s far from perfect.  I couldn’t get all that much of a feel for the cop boyfriend, Jake, and their relationship, but, it’s a mystery not a romance and I got enough of the relationship to not feel lost.  In fact, there is a side story involving Jake that’s kind of interesting.

But, most of all, I liked that this was a mystery.  Not a genre book with a little mystery thrown in.  Yoga didn’t take center stage, but was simply a part of who the character is; some descriptions of routines, but not paragraphs or chapters devoted to excruciating detail on yoga poses or routines (and I enjoy yoga).  I’ve read a couple of books where it seemed like it was more important to present the hobby and the mystery was a secondary story line.  Not so here.  To me, the mystery was front and center.  The mystery, however, didn’t detract from getting to know the characters, from a little drama on the home front, or from a little humor.  And, I didn’t figure out who done it.

I’m looking forward to going back and starting at the beginning of this series and working my way to the present.  

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Book Review - Heartbreak Cafe by Penelope J. Stokes

Heartbreak Cafe by Penelope J. Stokes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I first started this book, I was bit sidetracked by the nicknames and that kept me from really digging into it.  I grew up in the South and found the nicknames in this book ridiculous - well for adults anyway.  Most children with ridiculous nicknames do not carry them into adulthood.  There’s a guy who goes by the name Fart.  Seriously.  A 50‘ish man still going by a terrible nickname granted to him in childhood.  And, he’s a good guy, but it was hard to get past that name.  There was a 80‘ish man still going by the nickname Hoot.  A bit more plausible, but still who does anything that screams responsible going by a moniker like that and he had to have some type of job in his younger days.  Almost everyone but the main character, Dell,  and her best friend, Toni, had some type of nickname that screamed small Southern town, though not all of them as bad as those two.  

Once I let go of my problem with the nicknames, I sorta liked Dell, the main character.  After her husband, Chase, dies, she learns that he cheated, but she doesn’t know with whom.  And, it bothers her.  I think it would bother most people. After all is said and done, she has to find a way to support herself.  A friend suggest she rent a dilapidated diner and open a restaurant, which is an immediate success.  Seems a bit implausible, but it’s fiction and I liked that it was a success.  She meets Scratch, an imposing black man, living in the apartment above the diner and offers him a job.  I was glad as he needed a job and she needed help. In fact, he was one of my favorite characters.  There are a lot of little side stories here - who was Chase having an affair with, what is Scratch’s secret, what will become of the diner, what do Toni and Boone, another very close friend, know about Chase’s affair.  

Amidst all of this, Dell jumps to a conclusion that really shakes her up.  To deal with it, she takes a road trip to Asheville, NC, which seemed out of place with her money woes, but helped her see herself and helped us see Dell.  

In the end, Dell comes to learn that life goes on, even if it is different than what she expected and that friends and family come from everywhere.  What I liked the most, though, was that in end, Chase redeemed himself.  And, that more than anything I think, helped Dell move on.  

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.  

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Past and Present...

Happy New Year! I sorta started the New Year with a walk down memory lane. I've been meaning for a while now to stop by the Goodwill store and pick up a few extra teaspoons, for scooping wet cat food, and a few extra forks, for taking to work since I take my lunch pretty much every day. I've also realized that with cooking more, one uses more utensils. As a single woman, I don't run the dishwasher every day, so I figured some extras would be useful.

I mentioned this to my Mom, who said she'd brought back silverware from back in the day from our farm. OMG! What fun and what memories! Yes, I remembered the silverware and of course, it brought back memories from past meals from various occasions when we still had a small house there... many, many years ago. 

It made me think about how time marches on, but it was also fun to walk down memory lane. And, in a way, it made me look forward to everything that is yet to come - in this new year and in the coming years.  

I wish everyone all the best in 2012!

Book Review: Anne Perry's Christmas Mysteries - A Christmas Guest & A Christmas Secret

Anne Perry's Christmas Mysteries by Anne Perry

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It’s been a few year since I’ve ready anything by Anne Perry, but I really enjoyed the first Christmas Mystery I read by her (featuring Vespasia Cumming-Gould from the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries) and I was in the mood for Christmas stories.  I got these two as a single Nook book because the two were cheaper together than the one I was interested in, A Christmas Secret, featuring Dominic, the brother-in-law from the first Thomas Pitt mystery.  

I thoroughly enjoyed both of these stories.  I read A Christmas Secret first and liked not only Dominic, but also his wife, Clarice.  The village was interesting.  I almost had it figured out by the end.  It left me wanting to re-read Burnswick Gardens, the book that introduced Clarice to Dominic.  It also left me wanting to see more of Dominic and Clarice in future stories. 

I was very pleasantly surprised by A Christmas Guest.  It featured Mariah Ellison, the Grandmother of Charlotte Pitt.  She has never been a favorite character as she is a sharp tongued old woman.  This story redeemed her somewhat and makes me a little curious if her change of heart (for lack of a better word) spills over into the Pitt mysteries written after this story (I’m a little behind on my Anne Perry’s).  

The mysteries themselves were a bit anti-climatic, but still very enjoyable.  I’d recommend these books to anyone who likes historical fiction and a nice little mystery.  These are basically stand-alone stories, so one does not need to have read any of the Charlotte and Thomas series to enjoy these mysteries.  

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