Beaglemania by Linda O. Johnston

About the book: Lauren Vancouver is the head of HotRescues, a no-kill animal shelter north of Los Angeles, but it's often human nature that puts her in the path of danger. Just like when she helps rescue four adorable beagle puppies that were dumped down a drainpipe at a nasty puppy mill. One of the mill's employees has a history of dog abuse-and a bone to pick with Lauren. And when he's found dead at HotRescues after threatening her, Lauren will have to sniff out the real killer to keep herself out of a cage...

Pet Rescue #1
Berkley Prime Crime
March 2011
On Sale: March 1, 2011
Featuring: Lauren Vancouve
298 pages
ISBN: 0425240215

First line: I am not a killer.

My thoughts: I love cozy mysteries and don't read nearly as many as I would like to, so I was really looking forward to this one. The name was cute and the cover fetching. The blurb says that adorable beagle puppies were rescued. In my head I had pictures of the adorable beagle puppies running rampant throughout the story causing trouble, laughter and warmhearted moments. Not so. They were barely mentioned. This disappointed me.

What was good were the details about animal rescue. This is a subject that is close to my heart. I liked the way HotRescues was set up and described. The mystery was a nice little cozy mystery with characters that I could relate to. I guessed who the murderer was early on, but that was ok. I liked Lauren, the main and most developed character. It dragged a little in the middle. Over all it was a nice light read, I'd suggest you check it out at the library.

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Quote: I screamed. Had I made a huge mistake? As he launched himself toward me, I turned, protecting my throat with one hand and using the other, plus one leg, to shove him as hard as I could into the enclosure.

Play Dead by John Levitt

From the back: Mason is an an enforcer, ensuring that those magic practitioners without a moral compass walk the straight and narrow. Mostly he just wants to keep his head down, play guitar, and maintain a low profile with Lou, his magical canine companion. But Mason is down on his luck, and when a job with a large payout comes along, he finds the offer hard to resist.

Jessica Alexander, a practitioner of dark magic, tasks Mason with finding a missing woman and supposed thief. But the case leads to a bigger mystery involving an ancient spell book that can open paths to different worlds - something most practitioners would kill to possess. Mason and Lou are determined to keep the spell book out of the wrong hands, but that could mean sacrificing what both man and his best friend hold most dear.

First line: The rain was vicious, drenching the streets, bouncing off the pavement and running down the gutters. The wind had picked up, driving the rain sideways at times, and the bobbing red and yellow and black umbrellas danced erratically as the wind swept through.

My thoughts: This is the fourth book in the urban fantasy Dog Days series, and I thought it was the best yet. My favorite part of these books has always been Lou, the Ifrit/dog who helps Mason. Lou had some pretty big scenes in this one. I like that Lou, like Mason, seems believable. Mason is funny at times, seems a little slow on the uptake, wants to do the right thing for the right reasons and makes me root for him. The author's love of music, particularly jazz, is woven well into the fabric of the stories, into Mason's use of magic. I find this a unique feature and interesting. The other characters are well drawn, the world building is belivable, the mystery drew me along, page after page. The end of this one wasn't quite the happy ending I was expecting even though the practitioner society was saved. But what about our heroes? The cliff-hanger at the end left me a little heartbroken. It will be hard waiting to see what happens to them.

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Quote: "A volley of sharp barks brought me out of it. I looked down with some surprise and found Lou up onstage, angrily barking his head off. Everything rushed back into focus - Park Place, the bandstand, Dave and Bobby and roger, the crowd."

Links:
John Levitt

Riding the Bullet by Stephen King

About the Book: Riding the Bullet, the tale of a terrible encounter near a lonely graveyard, is, as the narrator points out, the kind of ghost story told around campfires. It's no surprise that no one tells such a story as well as Stephen King. From the moment Alan, a college student, decides to hitchhike to see his mother in the hospital (his car is out of action) and further decides to avoid the main highway where police might ticket him, you can imagine what's coming, and this makes what does come more awful and delicious. Josh Hamilton can't do a Maine accent (as who can not born to it?), so it's too bad he tried; everything else about this reading is delightful.

From Wikipedia: Riding the Bullet is a novella by Stephen King. This work marks King's debut on the Internet. Simon & Schuster, with technology by SoftLock, first published Riding the Bullet in 2000 as the world's first mass-market electronic book, available for download at $2.50. In 2002, it was collected in King's collection Everything's Eventual.

First Line: I've never told anyone this story, and never thought I would -- not because I was afraid of being disbelieved, exactly, but because I was ashamed...and because it was mine.

My Thoughts: What a scary, fun read. It's pure Steven King to take an ordinary person and put them smack in the middle of a nightmare. Being short I was afraid I would feel the story was incomplete, which is my feeling with most short stories I read. However the entire story is here. It had my heart racing as I flipped pages on my Nook. But as Alan's mother was fond of saying "Fun is fun and done is done." And so it is.

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Dreadnought by Cherie Priest

Synopsis: Nurse Mercy Lynch is elbows deep in bloody laundry at a war hospital in Richmond, Virginia, when Clara Barton comes bearing bad news: Mercy’s husband has died in a POW camp. On top of that, a telegram from the west coast declares that her estranged father is gravely injured, and he wishes to see her. Mercy sets out toward the Mississippi River. Once there, she’ll catch a train over the Rockies and—if the telegram can be believed—be greeted in Washington Territory by the sheriff, who will take her to see her father in Seattle.
Reaching the Mississippi is a harrowing adventure by dirigible and rail through war-torn border states. When Mercy finally arrives in St. Louis, the only Tacoma-bound train is pulled by a terrifying Union-operated steam engine called the Dreadnought. Reluctantly, Mercy buys a ticket and climbs aboard.
What ought to be a quiet trip turns deadly when the train is beset by bushwhackers, then vigorously attacked by a band of Rebel soldiers. The train is moving away from battle lines into the vast, unincorporated west, so Mercy can’t imagine why they’re so interested. Perhaps the mysterious cargo secreted in the second and last train cars has something to do with it?
Mercy is just a frustrated nurse who wants to see her father before he dies. But she’ll have to survive both Union intrigue and Confederate opposition if she wants to make it off the Dreadnought alive.

First line: Down in the laundry room with the bloody-wet floors and the ceiling-high stacks of sheets, wraps, and blankets, Vinita Lynch was elbows-deep in a vat full of dirty pillowcases because she'd promiseh - she'd sworn on her mother's life - that she'd find a certain windup pocket watch belonging to Private Hugh Morton before the device was plunged into a tub of simmering soapy water and surely destroyed for good.

My thoughts: This is the third book in the Clockwork Century series by Cherie Priest. I read the first one, Boneshaker, last year and really enjoyed it. I liked this one just as much. I found the alternate history senarios to be facinating. At 400 pages this Civil War steampunk thriller didn't lack much to qualify for the Chunkster Challenge. This book went very fast for me, kept me on the edge of my seat with the action. Mercy Lynch, the main character, was a treat. I enjoyed getting to know her and meeting all the people along on her exciting journey west to see her dad. I only wish we had learned more about Theodora Clay, she is a mystery. A young woman escorting her eldery aunt west, she is knowlegable about guns and shooting but we are never told why. Maybe she'll show up in another Priest book. This was a fun read. If you like Steampunk or would like to dip into the growing Steampunk mini-genre, you should try this book.

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Quote: It's funny what they say about men in uniform - how people think women just can't resist 'em. Fact is, I think we're just pleased to see a man groomed, bathed, and wearing clothes that fit him.

The Fourth Man by K.O. Dahl

About the book: In the course of a routine police raid, Detective Inspector Frank Frølich saves Elizabeth Faremo from getting caught in the crossfire. Some weeks later, Frølich coincidentally sees her again—but their ensuing affair is no accident. By the time he learns that she is no stranger—but rather the sister of a wanted member of a larceny gang—it is already too late.
In the middle of one night, Frølich receives a call that a young guard has been killed in the course of a robbery. Scrambling to respond, he realizes that Elizabeth is no longer in his bed. In a turn of events cryptic, erotic, and complex, he finds himself a prime murder suspect and under the watch of his doubting colleagues. Led through the dark underworld of Oslo, Frølich must find out if he is being used . . . before his life unravels beyond repair.
The Fourth Man is a sexy, fast-paced psychological thriller that puts a modern twist on the classic noir story of the femme fatale. K.O. Dahl has crafted a dark, poetic, and incredibly complex crime novel for his US debut—the first in a series of detective novels from this rising international mystery star.

First line: Two men had stopped outside the gate.

My thoughts: This Norwegian novel was translated by Don Bartlett and has won the Riverton prize for Norway’s best crime novel. The blurb indicates that this is a dark, noir-ish story and I found it to be a fairly dark police procedural/psychological thriller. The plot is twisty and it held my interest, especially in the second half of the book. I enjoyed the sense of place I felt (snowy and cold,) so different from here in Texas. The translation was good, easy to understand with only a few moments of distracting awkwardness. For example: Frank Frolich took a decision: he put the car into gear and drove off. I didn't feel like I got to know Frank very well, he was hurt and dysfunctional going from one bit of bad news to the next. The end surprised me! I enjoyed reading this book and would like to read more from this author.

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Quote: She was the crowning glory of a total work of art: the materialized essence of litter, blaring radio, mess and an aura of liberated indifference.

New Word: millefeuilles - French Vanilla Slices are called 'Mille-feuilles' and are made with puff pastry sandwiched together with jam, cream, or confectioners' custard.