The Next Few Books

I had a hysterectomy on 6/17 and I’ve read nearly all the rest of the Home Repair is Homicide series. At the moment, I don’t feel like going back and writing about all of them so I’ll do a group summary of them.

Mallets Aforethought, Tool & Die, Nail Biter and Trap Door get progressively better. Graves has added an interesting new element. In one of them, Jake finds a book that was apparently buried in the foundation of her house. What’s interesting about the book is that all it has in it is a list of each homeowner from the beginning to Jake written in human blood. What’s also interesting is that it would appear that the book was put in the foundation when the house was built. Which would be impossible right? Then, Jake sends the book off to have an expert look at it and the communications between the expert and a colleague go on through two books. I’m currently reading (and nearly finished with) The Book of Old Houses, so I’ll be sure to let you know what happens next!

Unhinged by Sarah Graves

Interesting things keep happening to Jacobia Tiptree. 

An old woman that no one really liked has disappeared.  The locals think she has just run off to avoid creditors – until her body is discovered.  Of course, Jacobia (Jake) and her friend Ellie have to investigate.

It turns out that this series of murders is much closer to home.  Someone is actually trying to hurt Jake and her family and friends. 

Unhinged has a lot more of Jake’s history than other books, so you learn a lot about her.  For example, Jake’s father was one of those 60s revolutionaries who blew up buildings and that sort of thing.  In fact, he blew up the house that Jake, her mother and he himself were in and his body was never discovered.  Jake was sent off to live with her mother’s people, where she remained until she went to NYC to figure out how to go to college.

Also, I paid attention enough to find out that what I thought was a mistake in the first book was probably me just not paying close enough attention.  Victor and Jacobia had the same last name before they got married, so it wasn’t a mistake that her father’s last name was Tiptree.

I have all the rest of this series, except the brand new final one, and I’m looking forward to reading them all.

White Witch Black Curse by Kim Harrison

I love this series.  I really do. I have no idea when it will end but I hope not soon.  Harrison left plenty of things to tie in to the next book, so I hope it’s not another year before the next one.

Rachel’s boyfriend, Kisten, was murdered a book or so ago.  Jenks, her business partner, gave her a spell that made her forget seeing the murder, so she has spent at least two books now trying to remember. (Well, two including this one.)  She can’t … except that she is starting to remember bits and pieces. 

Along with trying to figure out her love life, Rachel has to stop a banshee, deal with sibling rivalry and realizing that her mother has a life of her own.  Jenks’ wife is aging and getting close to dying, so he’s beside himself.  Ivy has her own problems. Let’s not forget that Rachel is considered a black witch by most other witches. 

Then, she gets shunned.  She can’t buy anything from a witch, she can’t so much as be served in a witch restaurant.  Even her mother is treated badly.  It’s infuriating to Rachel that she got demon smut on her aura from trying to help people and she’s considered a black witch but plenty of people who did bad things selfishly are still considered good.  It’s enough to drive a witch to drink.

Some things are cleared up by the end of the book, others aren’t, so there is plenty to wonder about while you wait for the next book!

Fatally Flaky by Diane Mott Davidson

It’s been a while since Davidson’s last book, Sweet Revenge, and since then Goldy has acquired a godfather who has moved in across the street.  Okay, I guess she’s had him all along but he’s pretty much just now showing up.  (Unless I just forgot about him, which is likely.)

Goldy is in wedding season – which is a big time of year for caterers.  At the first wedding of the book, it’s discovered that her godfather’s best pal has died in a car accident.  Goldy – and her godfather, Jack – both think it’s suspicious.  Goldy especially so after Jack is murdered as well.

Despite her grief, Goldy is intent on finding out who hurt Doc Finn (Jack’s friend) and Jack.   Perhaps not despite the grief, but because of it, really.  Of course she does find  out what happened to them both, and why, but not before uncovering a few other unsavory characters and general shenanigans.

I don’t really have much commentary on the book itself.  It’s as good as all the other books about Goldy and I enjoyed it.  In this case, I think we saw more of Goldy’s personality and learned more of her history, which I am always interested in.

Here’s what I do wonder:  If a person found this many dead bodies in real life and interfered in this many murder investigations, wouldn’t the police eventually lock her up?  Even if she is married to a detective?  I’m just sayin’.  Of course, this is fiction, so there is a lot of creative license but geesh.

Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber

It seems that just when I’m in a mood for a very light, not at all challenging, “feel good” sort of book, Debbie Macomber comes out with another Blossom Street book. These books aren’t great literature but they are definitely fun to read. I love knowing that, unlike real life, everything will turn out just fine in the end.

Lydia Goetz and her husband, Brad, have decided to adopt a child. It can be a wait, though, for a baby, so they are prepared for it to be quite a while. Then, the social worker who did their home study calls and asks them if they’d be a temporary foster home for a 12 year old girl. They hesitate, but agree, and Casey comes to them. Casey is a typical foster child in many ways and the Goetzes have their work cut out for them.

While that’s all going on, Lydia holds another knitting class. This time, Alix comes back, along with Anne Marie, Hutch and Phoebe. Anne Marie owns the bookshop next to A Good Yarn and has recently adopted a 9 year old girl. Hutch is a business owner whose doctor has told him that if he doesn’t find a way to relax, he’s going to have a heart attack before he’s 60. Phoebe has recently broken up with her fiance – after he got arrested for soliciting a prostitute.

Like all of the Blossom Street books, the story goes between Lydia and each of the people taking the knitting class. Their stories are things we can relate to – uncertainty in dating after being widowed, dealing with a cheating partner, needing to quit smoking and being afraid of becoming a parent, as well as being told that our health is going to suffer if we don’t get it together. The characters are flawed and people to whom a reader can relate.

This is a fun read and definitely a book for a day when you’re feeling overwhelmed and need an escape.

Wreck the Halls by Sarah Graves

Wreck the Halls by Sarah Graves

For me, character development and relationships between characters are almost more important than plot. I love this series because I really like Jake and how she interacts with those around her. I think that how she is with her husband, Wade, is teaching me a thing or two.

The summary: Jake and her best friend Ellie arrive at Faye Ann’s house and are shocked at what they find. At first, they think that Faye Ann’s husband has murdered her but it quickly becomes evident that she murdered him. After all, he was a known abuser and she is lying there soaked in his blood. But did she? Ellie doesn’t think so, so Jake and Ellie start to nose around. Along the way they find out that there are more secrets in Eastport than even they thought.

Graves delivers a plotline that is complicated enough to be interesting and simple enough not to drive me nuts trying to remember who is who! There are red herrings all over the place and the real Bad Guy will surprise you. One of the best things? I think there are a couple of new characters from this book who will show up in future ones.

Repair to Her Grave by Sarah Graves

Do you ever wonder where authors get titles?  This one took her title from the diary of one of the characters.  It really seems to have no other relevance other than offering a sort of home repair connection.

So far, I think this is my favorite HRIH book.  The story has elements that appeal to me: a historical mystery, starcrossed lovers and badass kids.  To summarize, Jake is surprised by a visitor claiming to be a relative of a city friend of Jake’s.  She can’t verify the info but he seems okay, so she let’s him stay.  Jonathon is, by his own account, a PhD student looking for a violin that is supposed to be worth quite a lot of money.  Jake doesn’t believe him but then she has a suspicious nature.    Then he goes missing and we add to the mix a distraught (supposedly ex) girlfriend, her eccentric and possibly dangerous uncle and a party full of the town’s most prominent ladies and all hell is sure to break loose.  Which it does.

As always, they clear things up and unlike always there is at least a partially happy ending.  Not entirely, but at least partially.

T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton

I’m pretty sure I’ve read this entire series but it’s not as if I read them because I *must* like with some of the series I read.  It’s more “Well, it’s an okay story and I just need to be entertained” so I pick it up.

This story was darker than her usual murder mystery.  Kinsey’s story is told along with Solana Rojas, the antagonist.  One of Kinsey’s elderly neighbors falls and needs homecare.  Unfortunately, the caregiver he gets is not all she seems.  In fact, she’s nothing that she seems.  Kinsey is nearly unable to help, which is frustrating, to say the least.  The ending of the story is sort of gruesome, then leaves things open for a return of the bad guy.  The reader doesn’t really know what happened because Kinsey doesn’t really know what happened.

Sometimes with series like this, the stories get rote.  In truth, I think that was true for the last several of this series.  With this one, Grafton shook things up a bit and the story is the better for it.

Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton

If you’re a fantasy fan, this is not the book for you.  If you’re a fan of romance novels and don’t mind a bit of light paranormal-ness, then you’ll probably like it.

I am ambivalent about it.  I’d probably give it about a 2/10.  It wasn’t bad enough to not finish but it wasn’t good enough that I’d recommend it to anyone either.  It was just okay.

Embraced by Darkness – Keri Arthur

Book Five of the Riley Jensen series opens with Riley on vacation.  For the first three weeks, she was with a lover and enjoyed herself immensely.  The last three have been trying.  Of course, she’d prefer the dullness to what happens.

The leader of Pack Riley contacts her and orders her to investigate the disappearance of his granddaughter.  Riley isn’t inclined to help given that the pack threw she and her brother out when they were 16 because of their mixed blood.  Blake, the pack alpha, threatens to kill her mother if she doesn’t cooperate.  Despite the fact that she hasn’t heard a peep out of her mother since she was 16, Riley feels obligated to help.

Her investigation gets her and her brother into a deadly situation that she must get them out of and this time, Rhoan can’t help.  She also has to deal with a lover who wants her to quit her job and feelings for an old lover who she is trying to get over.  Life is never dull for the Jensen twins, that’s for sure.