Bury the Lead by David Rosenfelt

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Bury the lead

is a mystery story that is set in New Jersey. Andy Carpenter is a lawyer who recently inherited a small fortune, and has used at least part of that money to establish a dog rescue operation. Then he gets a phone call from a friend, who is also the owner of the local newspaper; Vince needs his help with a problem. One of his reporters, Daniel, has been contacted by a serial killer and now the police have found Daniel at the scene of the most recent murder. The victim is Linda Padilla,a powerful local woman.

When Daniel turns out to be Vince's son, Andy realizes that things are going to get complicated. Together with his girlfriend Laurie, he begins to investigate the case.

This book was interesting: I enjoyed reading it for the characters.

Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Rise and Shine

is the story of two sisters--Bridget and Meghan. Orphaned as little girls, they were raised by their aunt. Meghan married young and became a successful morning news person; she and her husband Evan, a lawyer, have a son named Leo and appear to be the perfect couple. Bridget is still single, an adoring aunt to Leo, and works as a social worker. She has a cop boyfriend named Irving who is older and not wanting to get married, but who loves her.

Meghan is famous and Bridget is used to the ups and downs of being around her sister in public; they have a fairly solid relationship and spend a lot of time together. Then something awful happens: Meghan thinks the microphone is off and utters a couple of taboo words in response to a guest who is acting like a jerk on national TV. About the same time, Evan tells Meghan he wants out of the marriage. Meghan goes to Jamaica to get away from it all.

In the meantime, Bridget tries to carry on, and help take care of Leo, who is a young man by now. Since he's out of school for the summer, she enlists his help as a driver at her social work agency. When Meghan doesn't return, Bridget goes to check on her, and finds her sister transformed. She's lost weight, chopped off her hair, and gotten tanned. She swims miles and miles each day. She also has no interest in returning to her old life.

What finally brings Meghan back to New York is something that I will let the reader discover on her own. However, I found this an engaging book. I liked the characters and was drawn in by Quindlen's description and dialogue. You can find it both the CDbook collection and the Adult Fiction section.

In Cold Pursuit by Sarah Andrews

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Sarah Andrews has written a wonderful series about Em Hansen, a geologist. However,

In Cold Pursuit

, her recent book, features a new character--a young graduate student named Valena Walker. Valena arrives in Antarctica to work with Dr. Emmett Vanderzee, only to find out that he has been arrested in connection with the death of a newspaper reporter the year before. As Valena tries to find out what happened to the reporter, and why her professor has been charged with his murder, she finds herself in awe of the stark beauty of the what the author calls "the last continent."

It turns out that Valena has met Em, and corresponds with her by email. Valena also makes friends with a group of scientists and support people, who are also concerned about the fate of their colleague. Together, they investigate--and then another man dies, and Valena finds herself in danger.

This is a very engaging book -- and a smart one, too. I found myself learning more about the global warming crisis and controversy, as well as its effects on Antarctica. I enjoyed reading about the tight knit group of people who spend time there; however, since the book makes frequent references to snow and ice, very low temperatures, the gear needed to survive in such a harsh environment, and the need to consume food and water in large doses, the reader should beware and grab a snack and a blanket before sitting down with this book!

You can find In Cold Pursuit in the NEW books, with a Mystery sticker on its spine.
You may want to check out Sarah Andrews' website at http://www.sarahandrews.net/. Not only is she a wonderful writer, she is also a geologist herself.

(Photo of the cover of the book was taken from the author's website)

Running Blind by Lee Child

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

The fourth book in the Jack Reacher series,

Running Blind

, by Lee Childs is another great read. As the story begins, Jack has settled down for awhile, living in a house left to him by one of his military mentors, Leon Garber. He has been spending time with Jodie, Leon's daughter, and a hard working young lawyer.

Jack gets picked up by the FBI and coerced into helping with an investigation: several women Jack knew in the military have been murdered and they try at first to blame him, saying that he fits the profile their experts developed. Later, they admit they are wrong but still pressure him to serve as a consultant. Jack has to call upon his own training in the military -- plus call in a few favors from old friends -- to unravel the mystery, even as several more women die.

Some of the side plots, such as an investigation into stolen weapons, and the efforts of the FBI to entrap Jack in a compromising situation with a female FBI agent, are interesting. However, it is the description of the crimes, the investigation, and the depiction of uneasy cooperation between the various law enforcement agencies that really caught my interest.

This is another great read for Lee Child's readers (and for Jack Reacher's fans). You can find it in the Fiction section of the Waterloo Public Library.

Tripwire by Lee Child

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Tripwire (1999)by Lee Child is the third book in the Jack Reacher series. When his funds start running low, Jack Reacher finds a temporary job in Florida: by day he's digging pools, and by night he's a bouncer at a local strip club. However, when a private detective starts asking around for him, and then gets killed, Reacher decides he needs to find out who sent the detective and why someone would kill him. His search takes him to a wake in New York state, where the daughter of one of his former military mentors asks for his help.

Once a shy, awkward teenager, Jodie has grown up into a confident, accomplished lawyer. After her father's recent death from cancer, Jodie hired the detective to find Jack. Reacher soon finds himself caught up in completing the task his mentor had been working on before his death--trying to help an old couple still grieving for their son lost in the jungles of Viet Nam. However, the closer he and Jodie get to unraveling what happened to young Victor Hobie, the closer they get to exposing a dangerous man. Early on, several men try to kidnap them. However, it is their boss who is behind the death of the detective--and others. He is a man who seems devoid of emotion, morality, or conscience; he is also a man who has made his fortune off of the stupidity and greed of others.

This is another wonderful read. Beyond telling an interesting story, it gives some insights into the plight of those families still affected by the war in Viet Nam--as well as by the work being done to recover and identify the bodies of soldiers lost in war time.

You can find Tripwire in the adult fiction area of the Waterloo Public Library. You might want to check out the author's website for more details on the series.

Killing Floor by Lee Child

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

I found the first book in the Jack Reacher series, Killing Floor (1997).
It introduces us to Reacher, a former military policeman, who has become a drifter after peace time leads to the military downsizing. Early in the story, he drifts into the wrong town down south--Margrave, Georgia--and within the hour gets arrested for murder. Before long, it becomes clear that this town is no ordinary town: a large foundation appears to be paying bribes to local businesses, for no visible reason. The chief of police and mayor are working with the foundation, and have become corrupt.

Jack gets held in jail in spite of the fact that he has an alibi; however, the police need to time to verify it. He meets another prisoner, who seems terrified of something that he cannot talk about, and who comes to trust Reacher when the two prisoners are transferred to a larger jail. They are processed and put on the wrong floor--and it is only by Jack's experience dealing with tough guys that they survive.

Later, his alibi is confirmed and Reacher is released. He discovers that at least a few of the town cops are clean, and works with them to unravel the murder that happened shortly before his arrival. When the body of the victim turns out to be his older brother Joe, who worked for the Treasury Department in busting counterfeit money schemes, Reacher decides he cannot walk away from this situation. He will finish Joe's investigation and avenge his brother's brutal murder.

Along the way, he gets romantically involved with a female police officer named Roscoe. He makes friends with a pair of elderly African American barbers, who don't appear to have much business. He gets hired by a frantic wife to find her missing husband -- the prisoner Jack had saved earlier, Hubble.

This book has all of the elements that keep my interest, with well developed characters, dialogue, description, and action. Just don't plan on getting all of your chores done on your "To Do" list until you've turned that last page.

You can find Killing Floor in the adult fiction area of the Waterloo Public Library. You might want to check out the author's website for more details on the series.

Venus by Ben Bova

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Venus (2000) by Ben Bova is the story of a very rich man and his two sons: unfortunately, Alex, the older son and his father's favorite, died several years earlier when his mission to Venus ended with tragedy. Van is the younger son, and has health problems; his mother died during his birth, and Van believes that this is why his father has always treated him so harshly. As the story opens, Martin Humphries is celebrating his 100th birthday on the moon with a lavish party: Van attends reluctantly and finds out that his father is going to disown him in a few months, on Van's next birthday, and that his father has offered a $10 billion award to anyone who goes to Venus to retrieve the body of Alex.

Although Van is physically limited--he has to take several enzyme injections daily--he decides that he will take up the challenge, and much of the early parts of the book detail his efforts to build a ship and acquire a crew. In the meantime, a man who is one of his father's greatest rivals also takes up the challenge: Lars Fuchs made a fortune out in the asteroid belt. Van discovers later that Lars is also the first husband of his mother.

As the mission gets organized, Van's choice of captain gets overturned by his father: Desiree Duchamp shows up and assumes command, bringing her daughter with her, Marguerite, a biological scientist. Van recognizes that there is a rather startling resemblence between the two women, and then finds out that Marguerite is a clone of her mother. Van gets Tomas Rodriguez, an experienced astronaut who had gone to Mars several times, to agree to stay on as the number two person, and they finish work on the ship and fill out the rest of the crew and take off on their mission.

I was fascinated by the characters, description, and storyline of this book; I haven't read anything by Bova before, but knew that he was a prolific and popular Sci Fi writer. Now I know why. Van's story is one of transformation and triumph: the rigors of the mission force him to focus not on his fears and physical limitations, but to take risks and fulfill his promise to find and retrieve his big brother. Along the way he discovers the real reason for his father's bias towards him, and learns to trust his own instincts.

This was a great read, and I plan to check out some of the other titles in the WPL catalog (including Mars, Mercury, Saturn). Ben Bova has a great website, by the way; you might enjoy checking it out for yourself.

Ultra Violet by Nancy Bush

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Ultra Violet by Nancy Bush (2007) is the most recent book in the Jane Kelly series. Remember Violet, the gorgeous big sister from the Purcell clan from Electric Blue? She's back, with a big problem. Her ex-husband Roland was just murdered, and tragically it happened on the day his daughter was to be married. To complicate matters, Violet had to admit to the police that she and Roland had argued that morning and she hit him with a large silver tray--her gift to the bride and groom. However, she swears that Roland was alive and angry when she left the house.

Jane finds herself more or less in charge of the investigation, because Dwayne is nursing an injured leg; he broke it during the wrap up of a previous case. Since then, he has developed a fascinating new hobby: he sits on his deck or in his living room and watches the neighbors across the lake with his binoculars. He has a nickname for each house and its inhabitants, and spends most of his day observing their routines.

Jane first thinks that this is a harmless hobby, although she says, "If it smacked a little too much of Jimmy Stewart's character in Rear Window, well, it wasn't like he was going to ask me to solve a murder over there" (11). Nah, as it turns out, he is concerned about the younger daughter of one of the families he's watching--she and her big sister are partying after the high school football games at a nearby house under construction. Dwayne thinks someone needs to investigate things, so Jane goes undercover as a high school kid from a nearby town...

Meanwhile, she's trying to prove that Violet didn't kill Roland, but she's having a hard time getting anyone to talk to her, and she has a feeling that Violet hasn't been entirely honest with them. As time goes on, Dwayne seems to get even more obsessed with his "people watching" thing and Jane's getting really stressed out when her landlord announces he's going to sell the cottage. However, she's had a breakthrough: it seems that Roland met all of his three wives at the same place--a special club for men--and Jane gets a chance to crash one of their parties.

Want to read an excerpt of the story? Go to the author's website.

You can find Ultra Violet with the New Books/Mystery at the Waterloo Public Library.

Electric Blue by Nancy Bush

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Electric Blue (2006) by Nancy Bush is the second book in the Jane Kelly series, and another fun read. We first met Jane in Candy Apple Red, which I reviewed back in June. Jane has teamed up with her friend and mentor Dwayne, who is a private detective and thinks Jane's talents could make her successful as an investigator.

As the story opens Jane is contacted by Jasper (Jazz) Purcell, who needs her help. He is part of the town's prominent and wealthy (and crazy) Purcell family. He wants Jane to meet his grandmother, who seems troubled. As Jane meets the entire clan she realizes that there is a lot of family drama, tension, and secrets. Several people, including Jazz, have gorgeous blue eyes--hence, the title. Jane reluctantly agrees to become a companion of sorts for the grandmother, so she starts to spend more time at the big Purcell mansion. As Jane gets closer to Jazz and his grandmother, she realizes that something very terrible happened a long time ago, and that it is still impacting the family.

Then she learns that one of the secrets has to do with the now dead daughter--Jasper's mother--who was institutionalized as a teenager. More recently, Jazz and his son were involved in a serious car accident that may not have been all that accidental, and Jazz suffered some short term memory loss. One of his aunts, Camilia, is devastated that her husband has not only left her, but had two children and named them after flowers, which is a Purcell tradition.

Things get stranger when the grandmother disappears and Jane decides to go check out the institution, and starts to unravel what really happened so many years ago. However, later on, a long lost sister named Violet arrives, and the family secrets start to spill out.

You can find Electric Blue in the mystery section of the Waterloo Public Library.

Curious about the book? You can read an excerpt at the author's website.

Harvest of Sorrow

The Harvest of Sorrow by Robert Conquest (338.763 CON) is not a light read. It's an extremely serious look at how the Communist Party in the USSR took away the private land from the citizens and formed "collective" farms. This occurred between 1929 and 1932.


Then in '32 and '33, the government deported millions of people and created a widespread famine by increasing the peasants quota that the government would receive, and did not allow outside countries to help the starving millions.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Iowa State Fair's Butter Cow Lady

In the last blog I did, I talked about the Iowa State Fair and mentioned the popular Butter Cow Lady. We actually have a book on her life and her art, that's called - surprise - The Butter Cow Lady (745.0973 LYO in the biography section). Because of the thinness of the book, it's an easy one to overlook on the shelf. This is definitely a book that's "lost in the stacks."

Written by B. Green, this is an easy read about Norma "Duffy" Lyon's life. She was born in 1929 in Tennessee, but grew up in Keosauqua, Iowa, when her family moved to care for Norma's grandmother. In 1947, she enrolled in the college that is now called Iowa State University in Ames. She wanted to become a veterinarian, but the school did not allow women in that program, so she switched to animal science. While in school, she met her future husband, Joe Lyon.

She remembers going to the Iowa State Fair during this time, and seeing the butter cows done by J. E. Wallace, who was the first butter sculpture for the fair. Earl Frank Dutt was the second, and Duffy is the third person to work in butter. She started working on butter cows back in 1960.

The photos, along with the written text, give readers an idea of the process she uses to create her art. In addition to cows, she has done the "American Gothic," Elvis Presley, a horse, a country school scene - just to name a few of her creations in her 40+ career as a butter sculptor.

If you get a chance to go to the Iowa State Fair in August, don't expect to see her work. She turned over the responsibility to her apprentice, Sarah Pratt, in 2006. Here's a link to the fair site with a brief history of the butter cow: http://www.iowastatefair.org/entertainment/buttercow.php

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Iowa State Fair Award Winning Recipes

As you can probably tell by now, I have a fascination for old books that don't get checked out too much anymore. Iowa State Fair Award Winning Recipes (641.5 IOW) is another one of those books. Because the library just received the Iowa State Fair brochures, this book popped into my head.

Even those who live outside of the state know of the Iowa State Fair - it seems to have a big reputation as the hot spot to hit in August. Although I grew up in the Waterloo area, I was in my 40s when I went to the fair for the first time.

The fair is known for it's butter cow lady, corn dogs, farm animals, home-grown fruits and vegetables, and (of course) cooking contests.

This book, as well as another one called Winners Every One!, are full of easy to follow recipes including all types of jams and jellies, ice cream, candy, cookies, and pies.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

How do you describe a book like The Pillars of the Earth and not confuse your reader, since it is well over 900 pages long, set in the Middle Ages, and has numerous characters and several subplots? The author's website does a pretty good job, " In a time of civil war, famine and religious strife, a magnificent cathedral is built in Kingsbridge ... this is a sensuous and enduring love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age."

There are a handful of main characters: first there are two brothers orphaned as young boys and taken in by a monastery--Philip and Francis. There is a master builder and his family: Tom, Agnes, and their children Martha and Alfred. There is a mysterious and strangely beautiful young woman who lives in the woods with her son Jack. There is also a knight, a monk and a priest--all corrupted by greed, a shared secret, and a shared curse.

The main part of the story concerns a young man named Philip who becomes the prior of Kingsbridge at a very young age, when the old prior dies. Philip sees the sad state of the monastery, village and church--one of its two towers fell down years ago and no one has bothered to repair it. Philip intends to rebuild the church and restore the area to prosperity.

He meets Tom, who is traveling around with his young family, looking for work as a mason and on the verge of starving after a thief stole their prize possession, a pig. Along the way they meet Ellen, a beautiful young woman who lives in the forest with her son Jack. There is something very mysterious about her: they live in a cave, where they are safe and dry, eat well and have books. While Tom is reluctant to leave them, he and his family walk on to the next town, hoping for better luck. There is a sense of urgency, because Agnes is pregnant.

Later, Tom's wife Agnes gives birth to a baby boy in the forest, and there is no one to help her but Tom and the children. After she has seen her baby and nursed him, Agnes is exhausted and falls asleep, but something goes wrong--she bleeds to death. Tom buries her in the woods, then agonizes over what to do with the baby--they have no food or money--and finally leaves the baby wrapped up in a cloak on the grave. After he and the children have walked into the woods for awhile, he realizes that he made a terrible mistake; they retrace their steps but the baby is gone. Ellen and Jack appear and reassure them that the baby is alright: Jack saw a priest rescue the child and knows where they have taken him. The priest who found the baby is Francis--brother of Philip, and Francis brings the baby to the monastery.

When Tom hears that there is a new prior, he takes a chance and goes there to ask about work. Philip soon sees that Tom has an amazing ability for designing buildings--and making the necessary calculations to determine the supplies, workers, and time needed to accomplish his goals.

Philip has his own problems with politics and power struggles: several of the monks resist any good idea that he has and the priest who becomes the bishop Waleran Bigod doesn't like him and is constantly trying to thwart all of the good that Philip tries to do.

Some of the other characters include a knight and his wife, Percy and Regan Hamleigh, and their son William, who are behind most of the trouble in the story. They want to move up in society and seem to think that the world is against them if they don't get their way. The Bishop only reinforces their feelings and uses them to do his dirty work.

Early on in the story, things go wrong for Tom and his family when he is working as a master builder, in charge of a crew building a magnificent home for a young couple about to get married. Then, the wedding gets called off by the bride-to-be, Aliena, daughter of Earl of Bartholomew. Their parents arranged the marriage, but after meeting, Aliena realizes that she cannot tolerate the crude, cruel and arrogant William. Humiliated, William storms up to the work site and fires everyone and nearly runs down Tom's young daughter Martha with his horse. This throws them into poverty because Tom cannot find another job. However, the rejection by the Lady Aliena feeds William's hatred.

Add to the mix all kinds of political and religious intrigue, power plays, and conspiracies, plus a series of attempts to overthrow the current King or Queen, and the book is packed with action. However, there are also several love stories, a lot of description of daily life in the middle ages, as well as what it takes to build a cathedral.

The book has been a WPL book club selection; you can find The Pillars of the Earth in print or in the CDbook collection at the WPL.

If you are interested in checking out the author's website, you will find a number of features, such as a list of characters presenting visually..

Without Fail by Lee Child

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Looking for a series of action/adventure/suspence books with a strong male character? I just found one....Earlier this week I finished Without Fail, by Lee Child, and was just blown away by his writing style, strong storyline, and convincing use of details about the inner workings of the Secret Service, weapons,and the way various law enforcement agencies work together. Jack Reacher, the main character, is more than just a loner who is living off the grid, so to speak. He is a former military cop who has his own reasons for living as he does--mostly on the road, without a credit card, house, job, cell phone or car.

At the beginning of the story he has caught a ride with an older couple--a brother and sister who are musicians who are driving cross country to play in Atlantic City. He has a soft spot for them, and makes sure that they get their full cut of their pay, which doesn't go over well with two local thugs sent to straighten him out. However, they have no idea of his training or skills, and he easily deals with them out on a dock.

Then he meets a young Secret Service agent named M. E. Froelich who has managed to track him down. She dated his big brother Joe, who also worked for the Secret Service, and was killed in the line of duty six years ago. Joe had told her about Jack's special skills and she needs his help to do a security audit--is it possible for someone to get close enough to the Vice President to harm him? Jack agrees to help her, and enlists the assistance of an old friend, another former soldier named Frances Neagley. In five days they come up with several chilling scenarios that result in the death of the new Vice President Armstrong.

Then Froelich tells them what is really going on: a series of threatening notes have arrived in the Vice President elect's mail and there are a number of campaign events coming up that he must attend. Reacher and Neagley agree to work together with Froelich to investigate the situation, and the story really takes off. After several additional notes appear on the desk of the Head of the Secret Service, the FBI gets called in, and it becomes apparent that whoever is sending the notes has an inside person. Does that mean the threat is an internal one that is meant to embarress Froelich, who has recently been named the new head? Or is the threat an external one?

Lee Child is an excellent writer, and this was a great book. I can't wait to get my hands on the previous books in the series. Jack is a great character: we find out why he has more or less gone underground. He went after the men who murdered his big brother and another Secret Service agent. He is a fiercely loyal friend, tough, resourceful, and pragmatic. I found the other characters to be very believable, the description and dialogue very engaging and the story solid. Very seldom do you feel like all of the threads of a mystery have been pulled together at its conclusion.

This series would translate well to the big screen; in the meantime, you can enjoy the series by reading the books and listening to the books on tape. The online catalog lists over 40 records for the series. You can find Without Fail at the WPL on books on cassette or get it from the CFL in large print or adult fiction.

You may also want to check out the author's website.

Done Gone Wrong by Cathy Pickens

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Done Gone Wrong picks up the story of Avery Andrews, a young lawyer who has moved to Charleston to help a friend with a huge lawsuit against the makers of a controversial drug. Jake Baker, her friend, is in a real fix; his partner was to lead the case, but has died and there isn't much time to finish preparation.

At the same time, Avery got a phone call from an old boyfriend's younger brother, who is now a resident at a local hospital. He says he needs to talk to her and they set up a dinner date; however, Mark is a no-show, leaving her to sit at the restaurant and wonder what has happened. She had hoped to ask him about the drug, but is also concerned about why it seemed so urgent for them to meet.

The next day she is horrified to learn that Mark was involved in a fatal car accident--and his family needs her to go downtown and identify the body. The police officer who escorts her to the station, Cas Kirkland, also takes her to the scene of the crime: it turns out that Mark did not die due to injuries from the accident. He was murdered.

As Avery gets drawn into the research for the lawsuit, she also investigates Mark's murder; she meets his girlfriend, who gives her Mark's journal. He had mailed it to himself, which seemed to signal that it contained important information. In the meantime, Mark's apartment house was torched by an arsonist--which only makes Avery more determined to figure out Mark's abbreviations in his journal.

Done Gone Wrong was a pretty good read; I think that I enjoyed it more than the first book, because it included more court scenes, had something more of a mystery to unravel, and had a lot of interesting characters. You can find it in the mystery section of the WPL.

Southern Fried by Cathy Pickens

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Cathy Pickens' first book, Southern Fried, won the 2003 St. Martin's Press Malice Domestic contest for the best traditional mystery. It is the first of a series of books about a young woman named Avery Andrews who is trying to reestablish her legal career after getting fired from her first big job. In Southern Fried Avery has gone home to think about her options; she moves into her grandfather's old cabin at the lake, gets his old convertible to drive, and sets up a temporary office downtown. Soon she has a couple of clients.

Avery's hometown is a small southern town complete with some "good old boys" she went to high school with, a trio of great aunts who all worked in the local school system before retiring, a gang of aging bikers, a man suspected of killing his wife, and the usual assortment of the rich and the down and out. Avery finds herself questioning her temperament, her competence to practice law, and her ability to get along with people. She is fortunate to have very loving, concerned parents who just want her to settle down and be happy.

As the book begins, Avery has been called to the Lake where a man has allegedly drowned; however, in spite of a team of divers, there is no sign of him. She gets teased, however, because the man who confessed (Donlee) to drowning his friend did it to get her attention. He apparently had a crush on her back in high school. The divers don't find the man they were looking for; however, they do discover something rather shocking--an old rusted car at the bottom of the lake. When they bring in a wrecker to drag the car out, they discover that it contains the grisly remains of someone.

Avery takes on several cases, but one seems to go badly right away; a local businessman wants her to represent him as the EPA comes into inspect his furniture factory. A couple of days later, there is a suspicious fire. She gets another client when the identity of the body in the rusted car turns out to be a woman that everyone thought had either run away, or been killed by her husband. With so many investigations, she gets plenty of time to visit with the local sheriff, LJ, a woman who once bullied Avery back in school--and hasn't gotten much more charming since then.

This is a fun read, and full of lively dialogue Southern style, colorful characters, and lots of family dynamics that almost any reader can identify with, along with a few introspective sections where she reflects on her grandfather's life and career.

You can find Southern Fried in the Mystery section of the WPL.

Interested in women's sports in Iowa?

Anyone nostalgic for the '60s and '70s women's sports in Iowa will enjoy this old book, Only in Iowa: Where the High School Girl Athlete is Queen by Jim Enright (796.3238 ENR).



This is the only book I've ever seen that covers all the main women's sports in Iowa - including basketball, golf, tennis, softball, track, volleyball, and swimming.



The author has done his homework. He's interviewed many people close to the sports - the athletes, sportswriters, and coaches. The personal stories and quotes will keep the reader interested. Some of the reprinted articles are truly inspirational and can apply to anyone - even those with no interest in sports.



Readers will be happy to know that at the end of the book, there is the "Hall of Fame" and list of statistics (although many of which are probably broken by now).



c Waterloo Public Library 2008

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

The most recent book in the Maisie Dobbs series, An Incomplete Revenge was just released a few months ago. Maisie is hired by Lady Rowan's son, James, who wants her to investigate what is going on in a small village where he hopes to purchase property. A series of fires has James concerned, and the villagers seem reluctant to discuss the incidents.

Maisie arranges for her assistant, Billy Beale, and his family to hire on with a local farmer; it is hop picking time and numbers of families from the city come to help with the harvest. In addition, there is a group of gypsies who help with the harvest. One of them--Aunt Beulah--has a vision about Maisie before her arrival. Maisie soon learns that the villagers seem to have a bias against outsiders; however, she is able to win the confidence of the inn keeper and his wife when she alerts them to a fire set to the Inn. As Maisie investigates further, she uncovers a series of secrets shared by the villagers.

As the story continues, Maisie reconnects with her friend, Priscilla, who takes her to see Simon one last time. Simon is the young doctor that Maisie had met and fallen in love with during the War; he was wounded in an explosion and withdrew into his own mind. Simon's mother is there and they comfort each other as Simon dies. Maisie spends time with her father and gets him to talk about her mother's side of the family--and we find out another reason for why Maisie may be so intuitive. Her father also persuades her to visit Maurice, who now lives nearby, and their visit helps her see that she is no longer simply his mentee.

This is another intriguing mystery and a great read. Maisie is one of those wonderful characters who seems to continue growing in each book. I highly recommend it.

You can find An Incomplete Revenge on the New Book shelf at WPL.

Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Pardonable Lies is the third Maisie Dobbs novel. Maisie is asked to investigate the case of Ralph Lawton, a pilot who was shot down during the First World war; however, his body wasn't found and his mother cannot accept his death. She has resorted to consulting with spiritualists, trying to contact her son. Her husband asks Maisie to find evidence that their son is dead or alive, so Maisie goes to France.

During her trip, Maisie visits her old college friend Priscilla, whose three brothers were all killed in the war. Maisie also consults with her old mentor, Maurice Blanche and during the course of the story their relationship is tested. She also confronts her own painful memories of the war.

For more information about the series, refer to my earlier reviews or visit Jacqueline Winspear's website. This is without question the finest series of novels with a strong female character that I've discovered, and I am happy to recommend it.

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

If you have read either of my previous reviews on the well crafted Maisie Dobbs series (over her first appearance in Maisie Dobbs and then in the fourth book, Messenger of Truth), you will recall that the series takes place in the years after World War I in England, and that the main character is Maisie Dobbs, who served as a nurse during the war, was injured, and now has opened her own practice as an investigator. I want to focus on the second book in the series, Birds of a Feather.

As the book begins, Maisie's practice has grown enough to hire Billy as her assistant. We learned before that when Maisie served as a nurse in a field hospital, one of her patients was Billie. His leg was severely injured; however, due to the skill of the surgeon (who was also her boyfriend Simon). Billy feels tremendous loyalty and affection and credits Maisie and Simon for saving his leg. He and Maisie later meet in London, because he does odd jobs in the building where her office is located, and soon he is helping her in a number of ways.

Maisie has also made a good impression on Scotland Yard's Inspector Stratton, who is investigating a murder. Maisie is hired to find the missing daughter of a very wealthy man, and soon uncovers a link to the murder...and further evidence of the damage done by a war that changed countless people's lives forever.

The title of the book turns out to have a chilling meaning: in the efforts to get more young men to enlist in the military, some women took to handing out feathers on the streets, as if challenging men to step up and prove something. As Billy tells Maisie, many underage boys went off to fight--and die--in the war, while many others returned home with terrible wounds both in their bodies and minds. Maisie herself paid a terrible price for her service: a bomb exploded near her and Simon at the field hospital and she still bears a scar to show for it. Simon's physical injuries healed but he retreated within himself and is hospitalized in an institution for victims of shell shock.

If books like Bubbles All the Way and the Stephanie Plum series seem a little light on substance, like cheesecake, the Maisie Dobbs series is a lavish feast with many courses. It's evident that Winspear does a great deal of research, and her work consistentally contains rich detail, description, and dialogue. All of this helps transport the reader back to the days of post-war London. Maisie is also a remarkable character--a strong, intuitive, intelligent and resourceful person. Each book gives readers additional insight into her life and a sense of better understanding this period of time.

Birds of a Feather is available in the Adult Fiction area of the WPL.

If you are interested in learning more about the books, or their author, visit Jacqueline Winspear's website.

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Speaking of guilty pleasures....there is a new Stephanie Plum novel. Fearless Fourteen is full of the characters we've come to know and love: former 'ho and sidekick Lula, Grandma Mazur, Stephanie's mom and dad, Connie (the secretary/office manager of Vinnie's Bond Enforcement Office), and the two men in Stephanie's life--cop Joe and Ranger. As the story begins, Stephanie and Lula capture Loretta (one of Joe's cousins)after first talking her out of committing suicide; she's depressed and stressed as a single mother. The only way that Stephanie can get her to agree to turn herself in is if Stephanie promises to pick up Loretta's son, Mario (aka Zook) after school.

So Stephanie agrees--and as always, gets more than she bargained for, because no one bails Loretta out, so she ends up taking Zook to Joe's house. She's already agreed to do a job for Ranger: it turns out the job is serving as security for an aging singer/actress named Brenda who is in town on tour. In between escorting Brenda to various events, Stephanie deals with a stalker named Gary, reconnects with an old friend from High School Mooner, finds out that Zook is into online gaming, and tries to cope with Lula who has decided it's time to get married to boyfriend Tank. When Loretta gets released and then kidnapped, her brother Dom tells Stephanie that Joe is Zook's father, because Dom saw Joe fooling around in the garage with his sister. To complicate matters, it turns out that Dom was recently released from prison: he had been part of a major bank robbery and the money (all nine million dollars) was never found. The rumor is that it was either hidden in Aunt Rose's house (which Joe inherited) or that there is an important clue to its location hidden there.

As the days pass, Stephanie needs help with Zook and takes him to her parents' house: it turns out that Grandma Mazur has been getting into gaming and she and Zook hit it off big time. There's no sign of Loretta until someone throws a brick with a little box attached through Joe's window--and they find one of Loretta's toes inside, along with a threatening note. A dead body shows up in Joe's basement, people start digging up the yard in hopes of finding the money, Mooner and Gary (the stalker) start hanging out with Zook and Stephanie feels like she is running a dysfunctional day care center. Joe has his hands full at work and actually hires Mooner and Gary to protect the homefront from would be diggers, and they stock up on potatoes for the potato cannon.

Fearless Fourteen is another fun romp in the world of Stephanie Plum's Trenton, New Jersey.

Fearless Fourteen was just released in mid-June; it's available on CD-book at the WPL while there are multiple copies of the book on the CFL 7 day new shelf.

Bubbles all the Way by Sarah Strohmeyer

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Bubbles is back! The one time hairdresser turned journalist, Bubbles is helping her best friend, Sandy, at the House of Beauty when something goes dreadfully wrong. They are doing an elaborate "do" for Debbie Shatsky in preparation for a big night out with her plumber husband, Phil (the wonder man who cleans, cooks, and hates sports--and, he's a highly sought after plumber, don't forget!).

Debbie collapses and has to be taken away by ambulance; this isn't good for Sandy's reputation or her business--and then Debbie dies. Bubbles sees her friend devastated and then fearful as the police investigate the case, based on a mysterious phone call with a tip about Debbie being poisoned. Shortly after that, Sandy disappears.

In the meantime, Bubbles has her own problems to worry about; her ex-husband Dan is blackmailing her into getting remarried, supposedly for the sake of their daughter, Jane, who has had a rough year after getting kidnapped. Now in therapy, Jane is insecure and longs for an intact family. Dan has Bubbbles convinced that if she doesn't go through with it, she is a terrible mother and he will make sure that she loses custody. The fact that Dan abandoned them years earlier, has failed to support them financially, is a crude, cruel and self absorbed man, and married a rich, snobby woman doesn't seem to matter. It also doesn't seem to matter that Bubble's heart is breaking, because she really loves Steve Stiletto--the handsome, wealthy photographer she met in the first Bubbles book.

The story takes twists and turns as Bubbles has to fight for her job, figure out what happened to her friend, try to go along with Dan's plan to save their daughter and cope with the stress of loving one man and feeling forced to marry another. Along the way she encounters an Iraqi war veteran who saves her from a strange drive by shooting, finds herself attending a bachelor auction and bidding on Steve, and tries to console the widowed plumber Phil, who is also one of her neighbors. Things are not what they seem and she digs into Debbie's death, in spite of being warned not to do so: in a strange reversal, the death is declared an accident after all.

However, the strangest stuff comes as the story wraps up; I won't spoil it for you, but it is another good read and one of my favorite guilty pleasures. If you can't get to the beach this summer, you can at least curl up in your favorite chair with this book and pretend you're at the beach!

You can find Bubbles All the Way in the Adult Fiction Paperbacks as well in Large Print.

Relic by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

If you have ever been to a major museum, you have probably wondered about what is going on behind all of those doors that are off-limits to the public. When you read the book Relic, your imagination will go into overdrive, since much of the story takes place behind the doors of the New York Museum of Natural History. As the story opens, someone--or something--has murdered two little boys in the museum's dark hallways. A major new exhibit is about to open, and much depends on its success, so the museum is thrown into a major crisis.

Margo is a young graduate student, finishing her dissertation as she works at the museum; her advisor, Dr. Frock, is an eccentric but brillant scientist whose theories about evolution are controversial. He is confined to a wheelchair due to a childhood illness. Margo has made friends with a young journalist, Bill Smithback, who is writing a book about the museum, but becoming increasingly frustrated by efforts to censure his work. She also becomes acquainted with Moriarty, another museum employee who needs her help to document some plants in his exhibit. These people--plus a local cop, Lieutenant D'Agosta, and an FBI agent named Pendergast, play key roles in the story.

Slowly, Margo, Bill and Dr. Frock discover that there is a connection between the murders--which continue--and the new exhibit, which contains items gathered on a fateful trip by museum scientists to the Amazon jungle many years earlier. No one from that group survived, by the way, but they did manage to send several large crates back to the museum. However, there is a group of top administrators who are determined to cover up any hint of danger and see the grand opening of the exhibit proceed as planned--in spite of growing concern by the police and Agent Pendergast.
As it turns out, there is reason to be concerned.

Relic is a creepy, suspenseful, read with lots of interesting characters, dialogue and description. The identity of the "thing" takes several twists and turns as the plot unravels and we discover what happened to the doomed team to the Amazon by reading the journal of the lead scientist, Whittlesey.

You can find Relic in the Adult Fiction area. You can also find a sequel--Reliquary. When I did some digging, I found that the authors have a website, at http://www.prestonchild.com/books/relic/.

I also found out that there are seven novels featuring Agent Pendergast, with an eighth on the way, according to Michael Alderete's weblog, http://aldoblog.com/2007/05/relic-by-douglas-preston-lincoln-child/.

Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

The fourth in the Maisie Dobbs series, Messenger of Truth is another chance to immerse yourself in the world of England in the early 1930s. Maisie Dobbs is an unusual young woman who served as a nurse in the Great War, was injured in an explosion at the field hospital where she assisted her lover in surgery, and now conducts confidential investigations for clients out of her London office.

The story begins when a talented artist falls to his death; Nicholas Bassington-Hope was in the process of setting up an exhibition and while the death is declared an accident, his twin sister believes it is murder. Maisie gets the case and soon finds herself dealing with memories of the Great War, as she discovers that the source of inspiration for Nicholas was the war itself, since he had served as a war artist. Winspear's vivid descriptions of the pieces on exhibit, with their depiction of the mud, blood and destruction of the battlefield, serve to remind the reader again of the horrors of war.

Throughout the book, Maisie endeavors to discover the truth, not only about the death of the artist, but also about his artwork, his family, and his circle of friends. There is a haunting quote at the beginning of the book; it was written by a man who served as an official artist in the Great War. It was his job to record what he saw. "I am no longer an artist interested and anxious. I am a messenger who will bring back word from the men who are fighting to those who want the war to go on forever. Feeble, inarticulate, will be my message, but it will have a bitter truth, and may it burn in their lousy souls." (Paul Nash, Artist. 1899-1946)

Many of the characters found in the other books appear here, including Lady Rowan, who was Maisie's first benefactor and who is now a friend; Maisie's father, Frankie; her loyal assistant, Billy Beale and his family; and Inspector Stratton, a local police officer. Winspear's work is richly descriptive with wonderfully crafted characters, dialogue and action. This is not a quick, easy read; however, it is enormously satisfying to watch Maisie unravel the mystery and to feel her sense of engagement with the task. I cannot think of another series that is so steeped in historical research and yet so entertaining.

You can find Messenger of Truth in the Adult Fiction area at the Waterloo Public Library.

Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Looking for a fun read that also gives you an inside look into the Washington political scene? Sammy's Hill tells the story of a rather neurotic but sweet young girl who works for the junior senator from Ohio. Sammy is an expert on health care, even though she is only in her mid 20s; she helps Senator Robert Gary craft a bill to help lower the cost of prescription drugs for senior citizens.

In her spare time, she hangs out with her friend Liza, who has a series of dreadful boyfriends, and enjoys the Washington social scene. Sammy also takes care of her current pet fish: unfortunately, her fish tend to die prematurely, and while she isn't sure whether to blame herself or the pet store owner, she has a brief memorial for the dearly departed and then goes to get his replacement.

Sammy also has an unusual hobby: she likes to talk to telemarketers, has struck up a friendship with several, and likes to call company's 1-800 numbers. She calls the Cool Whip hotline to commend them on their wonderful product, for example.

As the story opens, Sammy has just found out that Senator Bramen is going to cosponsor a bill that she helped Senator Gary write. The two men are very different in their personalities, management styles, and ambitions: Bramen comes off as a typical politician who will do or say whatever he needs to propel himself ever upwards. It soon becomes clear that he is trying to take credit for the bill, in spite of the hard work that Senator Gary and his staff have put into it. About the same time, Sammy meets a young man named Aaron; he is handsome, funny, and very charming. They start going out and the story is sprinkled with their email and text messages. However, Aaron works for Senator Bramen as a speech writer....so there is conflict from the beginning of the relationship.

I enjoyed reading the parts of the story when Sammy went on the road to assist the Senator; they seemed very authentic in the descriptions of all of the behind the scenes preparation for even informal "meet and greet" events. I think anyone who attended a political rally over the past year and a half has observed the energetic, alert young staffers who position themselves close to the candidates, ready to take down a phone number, give out a business card, or answer a question. Reading this book gave me some insight into the challenges those staffers face. The fact that its author has a former Vice President for a father certainly adds to the sense that she understands the political scene.

With lots of humor, political intrigue, and interesting description and dialogue, Sammy's Hill is a fun place to explore. You can find it in the Adult Fiction area of the Waterloo Public Library.

Donna's Day

Question for parents: Do you have young kids driving you crazy because they are "bored" and they have nothing to do during the summer? Have no fear; Donna's here.

You may recognize the name of Donna Erickson, author of Donna's Day (306.8743 ERI). I'm not sure if she's on TV anymore, but Donna Erickson used to have (or has) her own show on PBS with the same title.

She has a creative way of making learning fun for kids. One of the chapters called "Atlas in the Kitchen" has parents cooking with kids and learning about other cultures, such as China, India, and Africa.

Not all activities are for inside. "Hikes and Bikes" includes some outdoor activities.

Because some of the activities are sloppy and goopy, kids will really enjoy this book. So...parents before getting too excited with Donna's suggestions, be sure to have plenty of old clothes handy for the kids and turn "Donna's Day" into your day of fun with the kids. You never know. The time you spend with the kids (with the help of Donna) might very well be the days that your kids will remember the rest of their lives.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

The Hanged Man's Song by John Sandford

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Reading The Hanged Man's Song took me into a world that I could never have imagined otherwise. The main character is a creative soul -- a painter -- who also happens to be a gifted computer hacker named Kidd. Kidd is part of an informal group of hackers and others who have worked together before on various projects; the man at the center of the group is a superhacker named Bobby who has been around since the beginnings of the internet. However, few people actually know the real names or identities of their fellow hackers, and Kidd has only met one of them face to face--John. When Bobby seems to vanish from cyberspace, Kidd investigates, with the help of his friend LuEllen and John.

The story focuses on their investigation into the murder of Bobby--and the theft of his laptop, which gives access to a treasure trove of highly confidential files. Whoever has taken the laptop begins leaking stories to the media, resulting in damaged reputations and careers for several members of Congress. Kidd's concern is that whoever has the laptop has figured out how to hack through the encryption protecting the files--and it is not clear whether or not there is information that might prove incriminating to Kidd, LuEllen, John or any of a number of others in Bobby's circle of cyberfriends. So they set out to recover the laptop and find Bobby's killer.

The characters are nicely developed, the dialogue is lively, and the writer makes the world of hackers very real. The shadowy world of Kidd, John and LuEllen is an intriguing one, and yet, also disturbing. They uncover the reason for Bobby's murder--and the identity of his killer. Woven into the story are themes dealing with racism in our society, and the bonds that go beyond race, as well as the ability of some people to use various identities, and the universal desire for justice--even for someone that others consider a criminal. However, the involvement of the federal government, and several prominent politicians, is also intruiging. It turns out that in its efforts to target terrorists, a group has begun to investigate a number of people, and turned up damaging information. It is this group's files that are on Bobby's laptop.

Now that I've discovered Kidd--and John Sandford--I have yet another author to add to my list. The Hanged man's Song is the fourth in a series about Kidd, so I have some catching up to do. In addition, the author has another series (Prey). The book is available in several formats at the Waterloo Public Library, including adult fiction, large print and audio book.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

You know the old joke about not reading a book because you're waiting for the movie? I've learned that the book is often very different than the movie, and for that reason I am glad that I haven't seen Atonement yet. However, I had seen it advertised and was intrigued by its premise--that something a young girl sees and misunderstands has profound consequences for all three people involved. Set in England in the 1930s and then into the start of World War II, the novel has a great deal of description that takes the reader back in time. However, so many of its themes have to do with families, relationships, the struggle for independence and the push/pull between parents and children and sometimes siblings--and those seem curiously modern.

Other themes have to do with the differences in social class, and the misunderstandings relate to the difference in status between two of the main characters. Briony and Cecilia Tallis are the daughters of a wealthy family; Briony is just 13, imaginative, and a writer of short stories. Her older sister Cecilia has just returned from college and at 19 is feeling uncertainty about her future. She finds herself stepping back into her old role: her mother has frequent headaches and her father works too much and is often absent, so Cecilia serves as hostess when they entertain. The Tallis family lives on a large estate, and has several household servants, including a cleaning woman who lives nearby in her own cottage with her son Robbie. Robbie has grown up with the Tallis children, and since Robbie's father left many years ago, Mr. Tallis has made a point of helping Robbie get an education.

Robbie is a remarkably intelligent young man who finds himself seeing Cecilia not as his former playmate and friend, but as an attractive and desireable young woman. What happens between them begins on a sunny afternoon: Mrs. Tallis asks her daughter to prepare a bouquet of flowers for a guest coming with Leon--the oldest child. When she goes out to the fountain to fill the vase, she meets Robbie, who offers to fill it for her. They tussle a little playfully at first and then it happens--the vase gets broken and parts of it fall into the water. When she sees Robbie prepare to go in to retrieve the pieces, Cecilia impulsively takes off her clothes and jumps in to get the pieces of the vase.

What seems to be a minor incident is misinterpreted by Briony, who witnesses it from a second floor window. She feels protective of her sister and convinced that Robbie is a threat. As a group of three cousins arrives and becomes part of the household, and then her older brother brings home a friend, the dynamics of the family shift, and even as Robbie and Cecilia are trying to come to grips with their changed relationship, Briony is struggling with her own emotions.

To say more about the plot would be to reveal too much; however, the book does a skillful job of presenting the events through the eyes of a child, who later realizes her mistakes. It also gives insight into the experiences of the nurses caring for wounded troops, and the struggle for survival of the soldiers retreating to Dunkirk. All in all, it is a satisfying read. You can find Atonement in several formats, including hardcover, large print and as an audio book.

a non-traditional father

The Velveteen Father by Jesse Green (306.8742 GRE) is not your typical story about a father with children.

You see, Green is a gay man who fell in love with Andy, a guy who had just adopted his first child, a baby boy named Erez. Instantly, Jesse became a father. This is his autobiography reflecting on the joys and pains of raising him. He contemplates on how much trouble gay couples have with adopting because of the stigma in society - with excuses ranging from "a child needs a mother" to "gay men are pedophiles." Although Green's Jewish mother is supportive of her son in many ways, she has no desire to consider Erez as part of her family.

After Jesse and Andy have been together for a while, Jesse and Andy decide to adopt another child.

The Velveteen Father provides a different slant on what it's like to be a father.



c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Did Jack the Ripper live in San Francisco

The mystery of who Jack the Ripper was has fascinated the imagination of the public for years. Even though Jack the Ripper reportedly killed many women in England, he was never caught by Scotland Yard.

Author Robert Graysmith proposes that Jack the Ripper left England and settled in San Francisco - an idea I had never heard before. In his book, The Bell Tower, he believes that an Emmanuel Baptist Church pastor named "Jack" Gibson could be the same guy. He was from Glasglow and London and apparently had some of the same features according to first-hand witnesses who believe they saw Jack the Ripper.

Although I'm not sure just how far to believe this book by an author who has been nominated seven times for the Pulitzer Prize, The Bell Tower still makes for a very fascinating read about a person who has entered the imaginations of the public -Jack the Ripper.

You can find The Bell Tower on the second floor under the Dewey call # 364.1523 GRA.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Ferraro: the first woman running for vice-president

Political pundits have been debating whether Hillary Clinton will be asked by Barack Obama to run for vice president. If she is and she accepts, she would not be the first woman to run for vice president. That honor is held by Geraldine A. Ferraro.

If you're only in your twenties or thirties, you may not know who Geraldine Ferraro is. You would though if you listened to politics in the '70s and '80s. Like Hillary Clinton, she was elected as a congress woman (only this was back in 1978). She was asked by presidential candidate Walter Mondale to be on the ticket as vice president. Their opponents: Ronald Reagan for president and George Herbert Walker Bush for vice president. And everyone knows the outcome of that election.

Ferraro: My Story is her autobiography written with the help of Linda Bird Francke. It's found in the biography section under the Dewey call #973.927 FER.

By reading this book, you'll understand the impact she had on women in politics. This book, which was published in 1985, just a few years after her defeat for vice president. To bring you up to date on her life, she was the U.S. Embassador for Human Rights from 1993 to 1996 under President Bill Clinton.

Wouldn't it have been something if Hillary Clinton received the Democratic presidential nomination and she chose to have Geraldine Ferraro as her running mate?

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Maisie Dobbs : a novel by Jacqueline Winspear (2003)

c Waterloo Public Library 2007.



Having had foot surgery earlier this summer, I have plenty of time to read. Fortunately, several of my favorite writers have brand new books out. One of them is Jacqueline Winspear and An Incomplete Revenge, the newest addition to the very excellent Maisie Dobbs series (which I will review later this week). If you haven’t read any of these books yet, you should really go back to the first title—Maisie Dobbs (2003), which introduces you to the main characters and gives you a better understanding of the context of these books.

The books cover the period of time between the end of the First World War and the 1930s in England. The country has experienced the loss of thousands of soldiers—the brothers, sons, husbands and fathers who went off to war. Some soldiers came home while others returned with injuries to the mind and body; however, many did not return, and their absence had a profound effect on their families, small towns, and country overall. The series does an excellent job of showing what life was like for those who lived in this era.

Jacqueline Winspear has created a remarkable female character in Maisie Dobbs. Maisie is a complex woman: intelligent, compassionate, independent, and extremely observant and intuitive. She was born to poor but hardworking parents, her mother died when Maisie was only 14. Afterwards, her father concluded that the best alternative was for Maisie to go to work as a servant in a large household for Lady Rowan Compton. There she discovers a marvelous treasure: the large library. She is so hungry to learn that she works all day and then sneaks into the library to read at night. When her activity is discovered, she expects punishment. However, her employer senses something special about this young girl and arranges for her to study with Dr. Maurice Blanche, who is an old friend.

Not only is Maurice a highly intelligent man, he is also a man who has consulted with Scotland Yard and known for using his psychological and investigative insights to solve puzzles and unravel criminal cases. Maisie becomes his protégé after going to University, where she meets Priscilla, a lively young woman from a wealthy family who takes an immediate liking to Maisie.

Priscilla takes Maisie home to a party; Priscilla’s brothers are going off to the military, and one of the other guests is a young doctor named Simon. He and Maisie quickly fall in love. When the Great War breaks out, Maisie gets trained as a nurse and sent to France. Priscilla volunteers to become an ambulance driver. Once in France, Maisie gets assigned to a field hospital on the frontlines—and eventually gets the opportunity to work with Simon.

The events that take place in France change all of their lives forever: Simon, Maisie, and Priscilla. Each book in the series brings out a little more information about these characters, and the impact of the War on their lives. When Maisie returns from France, she is a very changed woman; however, her relationship with Maurice, her father, and Lady Rowan give her the strength to open her own practice. In the first book, Maisie’s first case presents itself as fairly simple: a man is convinced his wife is having an affair and hires Maisie to find out the truth. Her investigation uncovers a killer, and a series of secrets.

The Waterloo Library has all of the books in the series: each one is well worth the read. Several of them are available in large print, the older copies can be found in Adult fiction, and the newest one is located on the new books shelf.

Maisie Dobbs (2003)
Birds of a feather (2004)
Pardonable lies (2005)
Messenger of truth (2006)
An incomplete revenge (2008)

Candy Apple Red

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Just when I thought that I had enough “favorite” new authors, I recently came across several new writers who have me hooked after one book. One of them is Nancy Bush, and while reviewers compare her to Janet Evanovich—and I can see why—I would have enjoyed Candy Apple Red whether or not I had ever read any of the popular Stephanie Plum novels. Candy Apple Red introduces us to Jane Kelly, a young woman in her 30s who used to be a bar tender back in Los Angeles, and now works part time for a private detective.

The story takes place in Lake Chinook, Oregon and Bush does a skillful job of making the setting an essential part of the story. People who live on the lake are as apt to take their boat to Foster’s On the Lake, one of the local restaurants, as they are to drive. Foster's is where the locals go to enjoy a cool drink or fancy dinner. While Foster’s prices are generally beyond Jane’s budget, she goes there serveral times throughout the book. The description of the lake, and the island in the middle of it, are nicely done and made me nostalgic for the days I spent living out east, in Newport, Rhode Island.

Jane is an interesting character. She is likeable, flawed, and stubborn--and very curious. She is also tougher than she thinks she is, and does not see herself as a sentimental person; however, when she inherits an ugly dog named Binky from an elderly aunt, she is forced to take responsibility for the well being of someone else. She renames the dog "the Binkster" and the dog becomes a key character in the book.

Jane rents a little cottage on the lake and supports herself serving eviction notices for a local landlord and doing temporary jobs for a friend, Dwayne, who is a private detective, and one of her friends. Dwayne is one of those wonderful male characters who at first appears to be a good old boy from Texas who is laid back; however, there is more substance to this cowboy than first meets the eye. He’s smart, tough, and extremely loyal to his friends. He is also incredibly charming, with a drawl that he seems to turn on and off, and is doing his best to persuade Jane to come work with him full time.

As the story opens, Jane is still trying to get over Murphy, the old boyfriend responsible for her move from L. A. to Oregon: unfortunately, the relationship didn’t last. One of Murphy’s best friends, Bobby, killed his entire family—his wife and children--and then disappeared four years ago. Bobby’s father, Cotton, is wealthy, owns the island, and clings to his belief in his son’s innocence--as does her exboyfriend, Murphy. Cotton is also divorced from Bobby's mother, Tess, and has remarried a much younger woman.

Tess hires Jane to find out if Cotton has been helping his son stay in hiding. There is a big party coming up on the island, and Jane goes to the party. Tess is hoping that Cotton will open up to Jane, since she is Murphy's exgirlfriend. Things get really interesting when Jane finds out that Murphy is coming back to town for the party....and then they see each other, and start remembering their attraction for each other. In the meantime, Jane follows up on a handful of tips, and the story really takes off.

Along the way we learn more about her family--she has a mother back in L. A. and a twin brother, who is a cop--and meet some of her other friends. The contrast of Murphy and Dwayne as two males who both know what Jane should be doing with her life provides another storyline that hooks the reader in, along with great dialogue and description.

I had hardly finished the book when I got my hands on Electric Blue--the second Jane Kelly book in what I hope is a long series.

Andrew Wyeth

After graduation from high school, I remember that one of the first art books I received from a friend was on the artwork of Andrew Wyeth (which had little on his life). Like many of my friends who accumulate books, I know I still have it, but it's probably buried under some stack of art books.

My interest in Andrew Wyeth was recently renewed while visiting an art museum that had some of his work, along with famous father's (N.C.). It was one of those trips I took with my best friend Tom (you know . . . the one who gets excited about museum cafes). He didn't go with me to the museum, though (he wasn't hungry).

When I checked out Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life by Richard Meryman (759.13 WYE in the biography section), I got more than I had anticipated.

The first painting discussed is Wyeth's pivotal "Christina's World." It's a very strange image: an expansive landscape of grass with a woman lying in the foreground who's pulling herself toward the desolate buildings in the the distance. This is how the author introduces the readers to the life of Wyeth - through Christina Olson's world.

Christina was a stubborn woman who had a crippling disease. She saw her father's health decline and spend several years in a wheelchair. She told herself she would be as self-sufficient as possible without the wheelchair. Andrew Wyeth actually painted her as she was, crawling with just her two arms back to her house. Andrew had an immense attraction to her way of life, a life most would never want to live.

Meryman does a really good job of giving the background story on many of Wyeth's most famous pieces. If I thought Wyeth's paintings were powerful before, I'm even more in awe after reading about his subjects and how his paintings evolved.

Now if I could only remember which pile has my own book was in . . .

c Waterloo Public Library 2008