Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke

Joanne Fluke's series, A Hannah Swensen Mystery with Recipes, is one of those enjoyable treats that I don't let myself sample too often. The series focuses on Hannah Swensen, a young woman who lives in Lake Eden, a small town in Minnesota, where she runs a bakery famous for its sweet treats, especially cookies. She has a hardworking helper in Lisa, a younger Sister Andrea who is a real estate powerhouse and supermom; Hannah also has a well meaning but rather overpowering mother, Delores. Hannah has two special men in her life: Norman is a typical midwestern nice guy who is a dentist, while Mike is a police officer. Most recently, I enjoyed reading Cream Puff Murder (2009).

Each one of the books in the series features a special treat: in this one, Hannah gets a recipe for cream puffs that her mother wants her to bake for an important party coming up. Delores has written a romance novel and is celebrating its publication with a big party. Unfortunately, Hannah's mother also expects her two daughters to wear special dresses that night and she has already ordered Hannah's dress in a size too small.

Hannah's sister Andrea has the solution to her problem and drags her to the local health club, where they work out faithfully. Hannah resists all treats, eats lots of salads and chicken, and tries to think positively--while her aching muscles remind her that they aren't used to exercise. As they continue going to work out, there is one negative aspect--a rude woman named Ronni who is described as a man-eating bombshell. She fills in for one of the instructors and spends the first few minutes insulting the various people in the class. Hannah finds out later that Ronni is flirting with most of the police officers, including Mike.

When Hannah bakes her first batch of cream puffs to test the recipe, Mike stops by and samples them; he likes them so much that he begs her to give him some to take to share with others, so she wraps them up. However, when Hannah and her sister go back to the health club, and Hannah goes to use the hot tub, she has an unpleasant surprise--first she sees her plate of cream puffs tipped over and ruined, and then she sees the body of someone in the hot tub. When she realizes that it is Ronni, she is no longer tempted by either cream puffs or the idea of soaking in the hot tub.

Since several of the officers were involved in some way with Ronni, they are off the case and cannot investigate. They all assume that Hannah will investigate and they send others with messages of how to best proceed to solve the case. Suddenly, the whole town is crowding into the Cookie Jar for treats and "the scoop" on what it was like to find Ronni's body.

This was another good read: Joanne Fluke is a good writer and blends midwestern humor, description of life in a small town in Minnesota, wonderful plots and dialogue into a satisfying treat.

While I got hungry for cream puffs while reading the book, I tried to ignore the recipes--you may well want to check them out for yourself. You can find this book several places in the Waterloo library: the large type books, the Playaway books, and in the mystery area.

c Waterloo Public Library 2009

The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear

Maisie Dobbs is one of the freshest female characters I've discovered in the last decade, and ironically, her adventures are set in post World War I in England. Jacqueline Winspear has done painstaking research and created a rich, believeable world full of wonderful characters--with a few not so wonderful thrown in for good measure.

The latest story in the series, The Mapping of Love and Death (2010) is another outstanding read. I've remarked before on the substance behind each Maisie Dobbs tale: while they are set in a very different time span, there are remarkable parallels to our world today.

Maisie's world is coping with the aftermath of war, and the ravages of war in the lives of the soldiers who returned, the families of those who lost loved ones, and the overall sense of trying to return to normal while grieving. It is also a world filled with economic hard times, uncertainty, recession, and poverty.

As the story opens, it is 1932 and Maisie has now established herself as a private investigator--and more. She brings a deeply psychological approach to her work, and assisted by Billy, a WWI veteran who works with her, has had many successes. A wealthy American couple contact Maisie with a puzzle; the body of their son has just been uncovered in France, where he served with his Unit of mapmakers. Among his personal possessions were some love letters and documents; they want to find the person who wrote those letters. And so, the hunt begins.

This is another engrossing story, with several plot lines. Many of the characters introduced in earlier books are back: Maisie's dear friend Priscilla, her father, her mentor Maurice, and Lord and Lady Compton, once her employers and later her benefactors.

You can find The Mapping of Love and Death on the New Fiction bookshelf at the Waterloo Public Library.

You may also want to look at the author's website, which is fascinating and has more information about the series, the background/historical aspects, and the characters.

http://www.jacquelinewinspear.com/mapping-love-death.php






c Waterloo Public Library 2009

Can't Never Tell by Cathy Pickens

Cathy Picken's fans can cheer up -- just in time for summer, I found a new book in the Southern Fried mystery series, featuring small town lawyer Avery Andrews. Avery has gone home after experiencing a few set backs in her big city job; however, she seems to keep busy between cases and dealing with her family.

Can't Never Tell is the fourth book in the series, set in a small town in South Carolina. In this story, Avery attends a picnic with her sister's family; they are meeting a group of friends, mostly college teachers, at a local park by a waterfall. When one of the people at the picnic goes missing, and under mysterious circumstances, Avery finds herself enmeshed in the case. During the same week, she takes her seven year old niece to a carnival show that includes a haunted house--unfortunately, one of the exhibits turns out to be a very real dead man, and it is Avery and Emma, her niece, who make the discovery.

Soon Avery is hitting up her old high school friend for information; Rudy serves on the local police force and doesn't mind some companionship for lunch at the local diner.

The writing is funny, entertaining, and not too predictable. It was a good read for this teacher, weary from the end of the year grading and eager for some adventure.

You can find Can't Never Tell in the New Fiction bookshelf; I promise to return it shortly.

You may also want to check out the author's website, at http://www.cathypickens.com

c Waterloo Public Library 2009

The Professional by Robert Parker

Mike and I went to see a movie yesterday--and discovered that most of the Cedar Valley had the same idea. So, we headed to the WPL to pick up a few DVDs to enjoy together, and a few books on CD for me to listen to while I grade papers. However,
when I saw Robert Parker's latest novel on the Express Book Shelf, I had to grab it! The latest book in the Spenser series, The Professional offers many of the same characters and themes as in previous stories--Spenser's longtime girlfriend Susan Silverman, his good friend Hawk, and his former colleagues in the Boston P. D. Quirk and Belson. There is plenty of clever dialogue, good food, and debate about some of the big questions in life about love and respect, monogamy, motivation, and relationships.

In The Professional, Spenser gets hired by a group of women who are all being blackmailed by a scoundrel--all of them had affairs with a man named Gary. All of them are married to much older men and do not want their husbands to find out about their affairs. As usual, things are more complicated than they seem, and as Spenser investigates to find what the four women have in common, he discovers they are all members of an exclusive health club.

The Professional is a good read; Robert Parker has a way of hooking me into the story so effortlessly. He is a master of prose--funny, insightful, easy to read, enjoyable. I sat down to read a chapter last night and about a hundred and fifty pages later, realized that I needed to go to bed. Today I finished it off--and not to give anything anyway, it was worth it!

You can find The Professional on the Express Check out display: I promise to return it promptly. However, if you have not read any of the other Spenser novels, you can find many of them in the Mystery section as well as the large print area.

See Cherie's video Review of The Professional on YouTube!

c 2009, Waterloo Public Library

Reading Books on my new I-Phone

I was very skeptical, but curious about the Kindle, Amazon's hot device to read books electronically. Then, several weeks ago, I found myself downloading a hot new application for my I-Phone, when a friend recommended Stanza, a program for reading books on the I-Phone.

I read a book by one of my favorite authors--Lee Child, with his series of books about Jack Reacher, former military policeman. I was astonished at how easy it was to use, and how I quickly "forgot" I was reading a book on a small screen. When I came to end of the "page," I just tapped on the lower right hand screen and the "page" seemed to turn itself to the next one.

It was even possible to read at night in the car (while Mike was driving); I found that I could adjust the brightness of the screen or change the background altogether.
All in all, it was an enjoyable and disconcerting experience all at once.

However, how much easier was it that I had checked this book out from the WPL and read it some time last year? Would I have been as engaged if it were not one of my favorite authors and series?




c Waterloo Public Library 2009

Without Feathers by Woody Allen

My introduction to Woody Allen came several years ago in the form of Annie Hall… It’s hard to top that. When I came across Without Feathers, I eagerly began scanning the pages. Happily, it promised the same neurotic pessimism, wit, and sarcasm that you would expect from the author. Published in 1975, it made (and spent some time on) the New York Times Best Seller List, and has since become known as one of Allen’s best literary works.

Reading Without Feathers is as if you’ve the ability to thumb through Woody Allen’s personal notebook of scrawled thoughts, ramblings, and dissentions left abandoned on a coffee shop table in New York City. The title is the author’s fitting rebuttal to an Emily Dickenson’s quote, “Hope is the thing with feathers.” The perfection of this book is the fact that it is not one continuous thread, but rather a collection of works, musings, and humor in true Woody Allen style. The short sections, most of which had been previously published in his New York Times column (before it had become an avant-garde trend to be a Woody Allen fan) make the book great for reading in quick doses. The humorous vignettes are a great way to start or provide a much needed diversion from your day, as well as to serve as a refreshing literary break between more dense books. It’s a quick, light read, without having sacrificed intellect. Which can be a rarity.

Each chapter produces a smirk, at least, while The Whore of Mensa, and God (A Play) will defy you not to laugh out loud. Death (A Play) reads as having a Who’s-On-First approach, but hints at greater philosophical questions… not to be taken too seriously, to be sure. God (A Play) features Allen’s hallmark classic Greek references, notions of relationships with the opposite sex, and modern New York- all of which culminate in a grand ending (!) If you appreciate nothing else, it’s worthy of reading for the endless string of one liners and quotes that can be pulled from the pages. I can’t resist inserting a few here:

“Uh-oh… That’s footsteps- the maniac probably has feet… Oh, God, save me.”

“I’m used to the streets at night

“Oh?”

“Well, I’m a prostitute.”

“No kidding. Gee, I never met one before… I thought you’d be taller.”

“Kleinman, you have been judged and found guilty. You will hang. Do you have any final requests?”

“Yes, I’d prefer not to hang.”

“Still obsessed by thoughts of death, I brood constantly. I keep wondering if there is an afterlife, and if there is will they be able to break a twenty?"

Before stumbling across Annie Hall, I had been purposefully ambivalent toward Woody Allen. For two reasons: First, I didn’t want to join the trend- I enjoy having a mind of my own. Second, I had no interest in the ubiquitous tabloid fodder that surrounded his personal life. However, after simply considering the work for itself, I discovered that I really enjoy Allen’s sense of humor, writing style, and mixture of the profound and superficial. I encourage you to do the same, and consider it for yourself. If you're already a Woody Allen fan you're bound to love it.

You can find Without Feathers in the Adult Non-Fiction section, on the second floor of the Waterloo Public Library.

c Waterloo Public Library 2009

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

I read Julie & Julia for my book club not that long ago: tonight, Mike and I went to see the movie, with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. It was wonderful and seemed very true to the book, complete with some of Julie's disasters, emotional melt downs, and cooking triumphs. You could almost taste the food -- smell the food -- as the movie switched back and forth from scenes of Julie cooking to Julia cooking. I enjoyed the contrasting settings, with Julia walking in the streets and market places and sitting in the restaurants of Paris and Julie in her cubicle, cooking in her tiny kitchen in an apartment over a pizza place, and entertaining on the roof.

I also liked the portrayal of the two very supportive men who were separated by decades, but strikingly similar in their love for their wives, appreciation of good cooking, and ability to enjoy (do I dare say savor?) life.

For those not familar with the story, Julie & Julia is about a young secretary who works at a job that might be difficult for many to do: she works for a company helping to coordinate efforts after 9/11 and takes phone calls from angry, grieving people all day. She likes to cook but doesn't really think she is all that good; after all, she is no Julia Child. Julie is also a self proclaimed failed writer, having invested several years in a novel that did not get finished and that no one wanted to publish anyway. As her 30th birthday approaches, however, she feels a need to do something significant; talking with her husband, Eric, she decides to cook her way through Julia Child's famous cook book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking--and then blog about it. So there are a number of scenes where she sits at her laptop and composes her blog entries; I was struck again by the way she found her voice online, and how she addressed an audience that didn't exist at first.

Back in 2002, blogging was not as common and the blogosphere was less crowded, so it may have been easier to get noticed. At first, she isn't sure anyone is reading her blog except for her coworker, her mom, who is not totally supportive, and Eric. But as she makes progress through the list of recipes, and continues to document her efforts, she becomes aware that people are reading her postings. At the end of the year she has accomplished her goal of cooking all 500+ recipes, but she has gained much more than the mastery of cooking techniques. She feels that she has truly taken back her own life. At the same time, she starts getting contacted by editors and agents and the rest is history!

I loved the book; I loved the movie. While Meryl Streep is an amazing actress, I was not prepared for how much she took on the role of Julia Child; she captures the loud, exuberant voice, gestures, and seems to channel JC. She is just the way I picture Julia in the book; Stanley Tucci plays her husband, Paul, and they are wonderful together. Likewise, this is a great role for Amy Adams: she has a lovely quality that is very authentic and likeable in spite of her emotional meltdowns. She is a real woman living in post 9/11 New York city.

If you're hungry for a good read, check out Julie and Julia; you can find it at the WPL in either the CDbook area or in the nonfiction section.

You might also be interested in the movie site, which you can find at www.julieandjulia.com/

You may also want to go to Julie Powell's current blog,
http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/


c Waterloo Public Library 2009