"I do not believe in taking away the right of the citizen for sporting, for hunting and so forth, or for home defense. But I do believe that an AK-47, a machine gun, is not a sporting weapon or needed for defense of a home."
                            ---Ronald Reagan- February 6, 1989


Civil rights icon, democratic representative John Lewis, decided that the House of Representatives needed a little shaking up.  He staged a "sit-in and was joined by quite a few of his fellow democrats, declaring that they won't move until a vote is taken on gun control.  I am pleased to see that some sort of action is being taken but appalled to think that it has come to this.

I am not sure when our country got to the point where lobbyists for big businesses took control of our country and began controlling the minds and votes of our leaders.   
Although I am for gun control, I understand that a great many people feel safer with hand guns in their homes. I understand that many people hunt for food and need rifles to do so.  I also know that the great majority of Americans, democrat or republican, believe that people on the "no fly" or suspected terrorist lists should not be able to purchase guns. This majority believes that loop holes should be closed for gun show and Internet sales.  The people who we elected to represent us should...REPRESENT US...not the NRA.   

I realize that these lobbyists wield a great deal of power, but that is only because we allow them to do so.  Officials need to stop taking their money, and voters need to stop believing their rhetoric.  There is no "slippery slope" that takes us from preventing terrorist from purchasing killing machines to preventing a law abiding citizen from buying a handgun for protection.  That is like believing that a law preventing us from poisoning someone will take us on a "slippery slope" to banning all medicine.  The NRA represents gun manufacturers and sellers, and they can not have a say in representing buyers' rights as well.  It is a conflict of interest, and our representatives must be there to protect us.  A senator taking donations from the NRA is like a defense attorney taking donations from the plaintiff.  Ridiculous, and we all suffer.  Please chose wisely this election cycle.  Make sure your representative is representing you!

Robert Lane's book, The Cardinal's Sin, fits right in with the killing theme. Special Ops Member, Jake Travis makes a grave error when he kills the wrong man...a Cardinal instead of an assassin.  Several questions plague Jake. Did the cardinal use Jake to commit suicide, and why wasn't the assassin where he was supposed to be?  Lane does a great job keeping the reader guessing as we dig through the layers of intrigue.

Joseph Finder, a true master of intrigue, keeps us guessing in Guilty Minds, as well. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is about to be exposed on a gossip web site for something he never did.  Top Washington lawyer, Gideon Parnell, calls on high power investigator Nick Heller, to discover who is behind the lies and for what purpose. There are enough shoot 'em up scenes to wish for gun control, but the reader is also treated to a look into Heller's intelligent method of solving crimes. 

Both of this week's books are winners, and as usual, complete reviews for these books follow this blog.

As always, full reviews of both books will follow this blog.

Happy reading, 

- Beverly

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Genre: Thriller

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Nick Heller is a friend we all could use.  He is bright, resourceful and loyal, and works as a high powered investigator who is known to get the job done.  When the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is about to be "exposed" on a gossip website  for something he never did, Gideon Parnell calls Nick.  Parnell, top Washington lawyer, is a civil rights hero who has played golf with every President (democrat or republican) since Lyndon Johnson.  When he tells Nick that Chief Justice Jeremiah Claflin is innocent of several supposed liaisons with a call-girl, Nick agrees to search out the truth and stop the gossip before it starts. Murder and kidnapping soon follow, and Nick has his hands full saving the people he cares about as the story progresses. 

Finder's writing keeps the reader engaged from the first page on, and this book, Guilty Minds, is no exception.  Nick's character is well developed, and his moral code is never in question.  The additional characters in this book are interesting and, for the most part, likable.  The reader wants to see a happily ever after ending for everyone, from the call-girl to Nick himself. The "bad guys" are realistically bad, and they give the reader a glimpse into the world of rogue cops and amoral people who deserve to spend their lives in prison.

Although the book does have its share of "shoot 'em up" scenes, Finder does not depend on violence alone to keep his reader engaged.  Nick uses his brain much more frequently than his weapons, and his charm is evident in his dealings with his assistant, the call-girl and the reporter.  Although we don't get extensive back stories on the several men he uses to help him, we realize that their admiration and loyalty to Nick is unwavering, and they will do all in their power to help him find the truth.

Joseph Finder began his career as a writer of thrillers in the early 1990's, and his books just keep getting better.  His desire to be a spy is evident in the character of Nick Heller, who most certainly must be his alter ego.  I hate getting to the epilogue of his books, because I know I have at least a year to wait for the next one.  If you have never read Finder, you are in for a treat, and if you have read his books before, this is another winner.

- Beverly


Publisher - Dutton Publishing
Date of Publication - ​​​​July 19, 2016

Genre: Thriller

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As a member of Special Ops, Jake Travis is conditioned to do what he is told to do in service to his country, so when an assignment is given during his European vacation with Kathleen, the woman he adores, he doesn't think twice.  An assassin is targeting the loved ones of Special Ops members, and Jake must eliminate him before he strikes again. Jake leaves Kathleen  sleeping and makes his way to Kensington Square, prepared to kill a man dressed as a Cardinal.  

Jake completes his assignment and returns home to Florida with Kathleen, only to find out that he was set up, and he killed the wrong man.  Many questions need answering. Did Cardinal Antinori use Jake to commit suicide, and if so, why? Did the actual assassin, Paretsky, set him up, and how did he know what was about to happen?  How does Renee Lambert, a missing woman seen in a photograph with Paretsky, fit into the picture?

Jake is a strong character who makes us like him despite the profession that encourages him to kill and the mistake that caused a genuine Cardinal's death. Author Lane does a great job showing us the many sides of this man, from his obvious background in literature to his vulnerability with Kathleen, the reader sees a many dimensional protagonist. When he confesses to Kathleen and watches her walk away, we want her to come back to him.  

The characters who work to help Jake in his quest for answers are quirky and fun to get to know.  He uses young street punks, neighbors and strangers to track down the answers he needs to finish his assignment.  I loved Lane's descriptions of Florida and found myself picturing the bars and beaches he frequented as he searched for clues.  Each chapter brings the excitement we want to find in a thriller, and I found myself being drawn back to the book in my desire to see how it all worked out.  

- Beverly


Publisher - Mason Alley Publishing Company
Date of Publication - August 4, 2015

"Each of us has a short ride on this earth and as long as we stay in our lane, and don't affect anyone else's ride, we should be allowed to drive as we see fit."
                                                                                ---Rob Thomas

As people who know me or read my blog, know I try very hard to see both sides of every issue.  I might favor one side, but I usually understand that the other side has reasons that they believe are valid.  This has never been the case with the need for everyone to be treated equally.  There is no other side!  

Many years ago I had a heated discussion with one of my top debaters.  He is one of the kindest young men I know, but his stance on gays in the military (the big controversy of the nineties) troubled me.  He believed that putting a gay man in the barracks  might cause discomfort among the straight men.  I said to him then, what I say to the people who are trying to limit gay rights today.  You have a right to your discomfort, but you don't have the right to take away someone else's rights in order to ease your discomfort.  

In fact, there should not be a need for the label, gay rights, any more than there is a need for labeling the rights of red headed people, left handed people or people of any color. Human rights should cover it all!  With all of the tragedies that we can not control, adding intolerance of each other's differences to the list is simply unacceptable.  What happened in Orlando was horrendous on so many levels.  That one man could feel so much hatred for any group of people is unthinkable.  That an obviously unstable man who has been under surveillance several times by the FBI and homeland security could still manage to purchase a weapon of such destruction is unconscionable. 

That the world stood together in support of the LGBT community and lit the skies with rainbow colors shining from buildings and monuments that represent their countries, in turn represented what is indeed the best of us.  There will always be unstable people who wish to do harm, and unfortunately there will always be people who use religion as their excuse to cause mayhem.  Thankfully, there will also always be a basic goodness in the majority of people, and a realization that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is a right worth protecting for everyone, and labeling will someday be something used only on items in a grocery store.

In her novel, Look Again, Lisa Scottoline shows how certain vulnerabilities cloud our  judgement and lead us to question what we know is right.  What do you do when a picture of the child that you have adopted and loved for the last few years is on a flier showing him as a kidnapped child?  Do you throw the paper away and convince yourself it is just a coincidence of similar features, or do you follow through on a search that could tear your life apart?  Journalist Ellen Gleeson can not ignore the picture that is looking up at her, even though she knows that her investigation could tear apart her life.

On a lighter note, Denise Grove Swank brings us her cozy mystery, Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes. She introduces us to DMV worker Rose, who has a vision of her own death and makes her own "bucket list." Of course when it is her unlikable mother who is found dead, and Rose becomes a suspect, that list is the least of her worries.

Both books are escapism in a time when a bit of escapism is just what the doctor ordered.  
As always, full reviews of both books will follow this blog.

Happy reading, 

- Beverly

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Genre: Mystery

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When I noticed Denise Grove Swank, an author I never read before, had just come out with the ninth and final book in her Rose Gardner Mystery series, I decided to hunt down the first in the series, Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes, and give it a try.  I found it to be a light mystery, enjoyable and exciting, with characters we can root for while realizing that some of it is a little over the top.

Rose works for the DMV during the day and cares for her nasty mother at night. We find out early on that she has "visions" that are rather innocuous until she has a vision of herself dead. She quickly makes a list of twenty-eight things she wants to accomplish before her death. Imagine her surprise when it is her mean mother who winds up murdered instead. Of course Rose is a prime suspect.

As the story progresses, her house is broken into and someone else she knows is murdered.  She has to solve this mystery, AND fulfill her twenty-eight wishes.  Her new next door neighbor, Joe, is helpful, and the story has some funny parts.  Rose gets into several predicaments and sometimes envies the life her married sister lives, but on the whole she seems to handle herself pretty well.  Her search for romance adds the touch these kind of mysteries call for, and the conclusion is somewhat satisfying.

I might try to read the last book in the series to see if Rose and the writing itself have matured, but I am not sure I want to read those books in between.  

- Beverly


Publisher - DGS Publishing
Date of Publication - ​​​​December 19, 2013

Genre: Thriller

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​Milk cartons, flyers, postcards and television public service announcements  remind us of missing children who have been taken or run away.  We glance at the picture, feel a moment of sympathy, and go on with our lives.  For journalist Ellen Gleeson, there was no looking away.  The picture of missing Timothy Braverman that she held in her hands looked just like Will, the son she adopted two years ago. She first saw Will in a hospital bed after his heart surgery.  He was an abandoned one year old, and he captured her heart.  After a legal adoption, she spends the next two years raising a now healthy and happy child.

Her background as a reporter makes hiding her head in the sand impossible, and she decides to track down the Bravermans and see if Will is indeed the child that was taken from them several years ago.  There are several complications, including a co-worker who is after her job, a boss who she has fallen for and a father who announces he is about to elope.  

This story is bound to rip at the heart of any parent and was difficult to read at times.  Scottoline plays more toward emotion than realism at times, but this isn't a story that can be written without heavy emotional involvement.  I figured out most of the story early on, but it was fun proving myself right as the tale progressed.  I haven't read too many of this author's many books, but I might look for another one after finishing Look Again.  More of a women's novel, it was well written and keeps the reader turning pages until the very end.

- Beverly


Publisher - St. Martin's Griffin
Date of Publication - February 9,  2010

  “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
         ― Martin Luther King, Jr. 


I am having trouble writing today, because I can't get past the news this week.  We have all read about Brock Turner, the Stanford student who raped a young woman and was sentenced to six months in jail (three months if he keeps a clean disciplinary record) even though a jury found him guilty on all three felony counts.  This young man did what many did before him, and what, if we don't do something about it, many will do after him.  He saw what he wanted and took it.

On campuses all over America college boys, bolstered by their friends, be it in a fraternity, a sports team or in a bar,  believe that it is their right of passage to add notches to their belt.  Certainly not all boys (the vast majority of rapes on college campuses are committed by 5% of the students) but when the rest of us look away, their self-entitlement is strengthened.  

I surely understand the desire to do or say anything to protect our children, but parents become part of the problem when they find excuses rather than teach their children a sense of responsibility.  Yes Mr. Turner, Brock's "20 minutes of action" doesn't represent all of him, but it does represent the worst of him, and he will never grow into the man you dreamed of until he takes ownership of his deeds.  Sometimes the best thing we can do for our children is let them take the consequences of their actions.  

Yes Judge Persky, a long prison sentence would have had a severe impact on him, and perhaps you are correct in thinking he will never go out and rape again, but what about the message that you are sending to other young men and women.  When one defendant is sent to prison for years after being caught with drugs that he intended to use himself, and another will spend three months in jail for violating an unconscious woman, what does that say about the value of women?  What lesson are you teaching our sons?

Thankfully, two young men did not just stand in silence this time...they got involved.  When they stopped Mr. Turner from continuing to perpetrate this rape, they gave the victim something else to remember when the horror of her experience invades her thoughts.  She will know that there are more good men than bad men that walk among us, and maybe that will help her face her days.

Coincidentally, several weeks ago I reviewed Allison Leotta's book, The Last Good Girl, about a rape on a college campus. If you haven't picked it up yet, this might be a good time to do so.  It was well written and tells a story that needs telling.

On a much lighter note, Katherine Wilson wrote a wonderful memoir in her book, Only in Naples: Lessons in Food and Famiglia From My Italian Mother-in-law.  She talks about her decision to spend a bit of time in Naples, Italy after college, and her experiences there.  When she met the man who she eventually married, she became part of his wonderful family and gained a mother-in-law to envy.  This book was great fun from beginning to end.

Taking the Fall, a cozy mystery by Laney Monday was a fun few hours of escapism that I truly needed this week.  This story about two sisters who move to a new town and quickly get embroiled in the antics of the town and a murder that they stumble upon, took my mind off of the depressing news of the week.  I also appreciated the relationship between the two sisters and how they worked together to solve this mystery.  

As always, complete reviews of these books follow this blog.
​
Happy reading,

- Beverly

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Genre: Mystery

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Brenna Battles knows that when the phone rings at 3:00 A.M. it almost always means trouble, and this time it's a doozy.  Her sister, Blythe, is being questioned for the murder of Ellison Baxter, a local reporter who she just met. Baxter was beaten to death with a hairbrush...Blythe's hairbrush.  Brenna and Blythe moved to the small town of Bonney Bay to pursue  former Judo Olympian Brenna's dream of owning a judo studio for children.  Blythe, recently divorced, joined her sister in this latest endeavor.

I have a soft spot in my heart for books about sisters who are also best friends, and in Taking the Fall author Monday does a good job showing us how much these two care for each other.  I enjoyed watching them inter-act as they try to solve the murder while dodging shady politicians, various town members and  a policeman who is out to get them.  There is also a bit of romance when officer Will Riggins tries to help the sisters while he obviously is interested in Brenna.  

The story is cute, these strong sisters eventually figure out the mystery and all is well in this small town again.  Most of these mysteries follow a similar plot line, so I look for likable characters and a comfortable setting when I try to find one to review.  Taking the Fall has both, and so I recommend it to those who enjoy this type of escapism.

- Beverly


Publisher - Cozy Clue Press
Date of Publication - November 14, 2014

Genre: Non-Fiction

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There was a tradition in Katherine Wilsons house, and she intended to keep it going. Each member decides on an travel adventure after graduation.  When Katherine decided on Naples, Italy, her family was not pleased.  The city of Naples was thought to be dangerous. Her grandfather informed her that "Neapolitans could steal your socks without taking your shoes off."  Family and friends recommended the beauty of Tuscany, but Katherine held strong and took an internship at the United States Consulate there.

This book takes us with her on an adventure filled with education of the culture, traditions and food of the city that she fell in love with almost immediately.  She meets the elegant Raffaella immediately and is quickly introduced to her son, Salvatore. Their first "date" started with his arriving a half hour late and ended up at his parents house (where he lived) for a dinner of pizza.  The pizza was amazing, and her education began.  Don't ever eat the crust of the pizza until you finish the rest of your piece.

We watch as Katherine's affection for Salvatore (with the wonderful laugh) and his family (especially Raffaella) grows, and I found myself regretting missing a European experience when I was young enough to embrace it fully.  Her three month internship turned into a lifetime in Italy, and her experiences are shared in this book filled with warmth, love, fascinating people, and many amazing recipes.  She eventually marries Salvatore and becomes a mother in Italy, having interesting jobs and experiences along the way.

This book is a terrific window into an experience that most of us have never had, and I am thrilled that Katherine shared it with us. I highly recommend Only in Naples: Lessons in Food and Famiglia from My Italian Mother-in-Law by Katherine Wilson.

- Beverly


Publisher - Random House
Date of Publication - April 19, 2016​​​​

"Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul."
          --- Walt Whitman


In these times of television and Internet overload, when even our politicians seem to be telling us that it is okay to be hateful, Whitman's words ring particularly strong for me. Certainly our schools and religious institutions guide us towards our better selves, but we must decide for ourselves what world we want to be a part of when we are being barraged with statements that go against our beliefs.  

I remember dressing as a pilgrim when in elementary school and re-enacting the first thanksgiving.  Somehow things seemed wrong to me when I thought about the "cowboy shows" that I watched that depicted Native Americans as the bad guys for defending land that was their home.  Strange people came and invaded their territory. It seems to me they were "standing their ground" and protecting their homestead, but my teacher told it a different way. I realized at the young age of seven that I would need to carefully evaluate what others present as fact.

Although happy with the religion my parents introduced me to, as a college student I decided I wanted to see what other people believed in. My college roommate believed that she could party hardy all week if she confessed on Sunday, and that seemed too good to be true.  One of my first college dates spent the evening railing against the existence of any superior beings and the institutions that support them.  That seemed a bit extreme to me also, so a group of us spent sophomore year visiting each other's places of worship.  I learned that each group had beliefs that I disagreed with, and each had beliefs that I took to heart and helped me to become the person I am today. 

This person that I am has always had trouble understanding the hatred that is spewed under the name of God and country, and in this political cycle we must all look to our better selves and spurn the hatred that can ultimately destroy us.  When Hitler looked to make everyone the same, and weed out those who believed differently, his country ultimately suffered and is still fighting against some of his legacy.  We must learn from history and embrace our differences and know that while our teachers and politicians have a lot to teach us about the world, we must exam everything we are taught under the microscope of our beliefs of right and wrong.

Speaking of right and wrong, Robert Dugoni's non-fiction account of a business owner who sent his men into hazardous situations in order to build his own wealth is a horrifying example of the results of going against what is morally acceptable behavior.  In his book with co-author, Joseph Hilldorfer, The Cyanide Canary, Dugoni takes a true event and builds it into a story we all should read about: the results of greed on our environment and on our health.

My second review today, Small Sacrifices by Ann Rule, is also nonfiction.  When Ms. Rule died last year, we lost a truly exceptional writer of true crime stories. Her ability to look at these cases and get into the minds of these sick individuals has always been amazing, and if you have never read her books, here is a great place to start. 

​As always, complete reviews of these books follow this blog.
​
Happy reading,

- Beverly

Click on the book cover to order a title mentioned in today's blog: