Sadly, real life is intervening again and I haven't had much time for reading. I did manage to finish Historical Mysteries, a nonfiction account of real life mysteries which turned out to be a bit dry.
Historical Mysteries by Andrew Lang
2 stars.Today I'm going to cover not only my update for the day but my findings for today's challenge: A Scavenger hunt! Fun, fun! Princessica of Books posted this challenge. Here are my findings for it...
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Yes, the real world has gotten in the way of my reading once again. I have gotten out of the habit of reviewing and blogging since the majority of he books that I read these days are beta/ARC versions and not published yet. I have actually been reading, and have on occasion actually emailed some assorted thoughts and perceptions to myself to turn into a rview at some point, but sadly never found the time to do so - not yet at any rate. But, I visited goodreads one day and saw that a fiend had joined a group for a read-a-thon and thought hey, maybe that is precisely what I need to motivate me to read more than I have been. So I'm going to give this a whirl.
 
| RIP (Rest in Peace by Bob Kat CUL8R #4 Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Romance, Paranormal, Science Fiction |
Four high school teens; Kelly, Scott, Austin, and Zoey; find adventure using an invention that they have named the Spirit Radio. Kelly's aunt's historical house had been the resting place of this technological marvel that had been created by Thomas Edison and lost for years. With some modern tweaking by Scott, the group's technogeek, the radio now picks up voices of spirits which the group travel through time and space to try to help the spirits' ability to rest in peace.
 
| Legendary Detective at the World's End by Kaye Wagner Genres: Mystery, Dystopia |
Teigen is a growing metropolis on a distant island. The world has become something that we would not recognize. The role of the politician is nothing more than that of a trained monkey, putting a public face on those that really run the show. The unions. It is the unions that decide what society needs and the laws that are made and enforced. Kirin is seventeen and small for his age but what he lacks in physical stature he more than makes up for it with his incredible deductive reasoning skills. In his boredom with the everyday, he amuses himself with digging up mysteries to solve, and in the process helps to right a wrong that has been orchestrated by those within power.
 
| The Adventure of the Dying Detective by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Genres: Mystery, Classic |
Sherlock Holmes makes me think of modern day characters such as House, Patrick Jane, or Richard Castle from popular television shows. They are horribly pompous and smug at times yet you almost have to forgive them as they are clever, witty, and humorous enough to love them anyway.
This is a later story in the life and times of Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Watson is married and no longer sharing rooms with Holmes. Watson arrives to see his old mentor immediately after hearing that Holmes is gravely ill. Even from his death bed, the master detective manages to solve a great mystery and we find that all is not as we believe it to be.
3 stars.
As with most classics, this novel is within the public domain and available for download as a free ebook on both Amazon and Goodreads.
| The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Genre: Mystery, Classic |
This was the first book that I had read in the Sherlock Holmes saga, at least the first one in recent history. For those wondering why I hadn't chosen this book, as it is one of Sherlock's wider known adventures, as one of the books to read of this feature author, it is because I had already read and reviewed it last year. If you missed it the first time around, you can read it here.
| The Adventure of the Cardboard Box by Arthur Conan Doyle Genre: Mystery, Classic |
This short story depicts another adventure of Sherlock Holmes. A spinster receives a cardboard box containing a most grusome "present". Two human ears are packaged up within salt to preserve their freshness. Holmes' buddy Inspector Lestrade writes to ask for assistance. With no obvious clues Sherlock uses his powers of deduction to solve the case easily.
This is a nice simple story for Sherlock fans to enjoy that takes an hour or less and can be easily fit into even the busiest of reading schedules.
3 stars.
| The Parasite by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Genres: Mystery, Paranormal |
I imagine this book was written before much was really understood about hypnotism and mesmerism. In Doyle's version of this procedure it isn't so much that a post-hypnotic suggestion is given but that the mesmerizer can take control of a person's mind at any time after the initial connection is established. The woman who begins to posses Professor Gilroy's mind at will is compared to a parasite because of the way she manages to latch on to his thoughts and has complete control over his actions.
| The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Genres:Mystery, Classic |
You'll be hard pressed to find anyone who has never heard of Sherlock Holmes and his capable companion Mr. Watson. Not only did Doyle write a lot of stories about this character, Holmes has become iconic among sleuths and often mentioned in modern day fiction as well.
 
| Sir Arthur Conan DoyleBorn:May 22, 1859 Died: July 7, 1930 Main genre: Mystery, Science Fiction |
Born in Scotland, Doyle was an author and physician. While he is most known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes he also wrote historical books and a series of science fiction novels as well. He traveled extensively, employed as a ship's surgeon before opening his own ophthalmology office which he purportedly had no patients.
| Syndrome by Thomas Hoover Genres: Mystery, Thriller |
Dr. Karl van der Vliet is an undisputed genius who's medical research results in the ability to work miracles. He realizes a way to use adult stem cells that when injected into unhealthy organs, they can rebuild, regenerate and basically fix themselves. This process is the proverbial fountain of youth that can keep diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, heart disease, and cirrhosis at bay indefinitely. Enter Alexa, she suffered an illness as a child that resulted in scar tissue in her ventricle which has been getting worse over the years. Her mother has been diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer's and her brother Grant, the black sheep in the family, is pushing Alexa to join the clinical trials which could heal them both.
 
| Bubba and the Dead Woman Bubba Snoddy #1 by C.L. Bevill Genres: Mystery, Humor, Suspense |
This is a perfect example of why you should never judge a book by its cover, or its title. The cover art isn't flashy or too terribly eye catching. The title is hardly promising a classy novel that will be discussed in the best social circles. But this book is Funny. Bubba is your fairly typical good ol' southern boy born and raised in Texas. But that is where the normalcy ends. His mother operates a weekly floating poker game and claims to have killed her late husband, in many different ways. An intruder breaks into their southern plantation home while wearing a sheet and pretending to be a ghost. There is so much more that befalls poor Bubba, he just is not having a very good week at all.
| Life Blood by Thomas Hoover Genres: Mystery, Thriller |
Morgan James is producing a movie on adoption. The red tape, the pit falls, the suspense, disappointment, and sometimes the reward of finally having a child to call your own. This is a topic that is close to her heart that she has experience in, as she has personally run the gamut of fertility tests and pharmaceuticals in her own quest for a baby. She stumbles across a woman who adopted a beautiful baby within 3 months, she'd had to pay a hefty price but the red tape and paperwork had been minimal. During her research into this new source of adoption, Morgan finds much more than she was looking for.
 
| The Girl from Long Guyland by Lara Reznik Genres: Mystery, Drama |
This is a story about peer pressure. Laila Levin left for college at the tender age of seventeen. Her first adventure out of the nest allows her to spread her wings and enjoy her freedom. She has always felt a sense of not quite belonging and on the college campus she falls in league with some very hot, but very bad boys. Even twenty-some years later, Laila has a successful career, a loving husband, two grown sons and still finds herself in situations where she is bending to make the popular choice amongst her peers rather than what is in her own best interest.
The book almost begins in the middle. The plot unfolds through flashbacks of Laila's life during college and what is happening in her present day life. When her old college roommate commits suicide, Laila's past and present collide following the revelation of circumstances in the past that lead to the FBI reopening the missing person's case of one of their old friends. This group of five people are the only ones who know what had happened and made a pact to never discuss it again, not even among themselves. Until somebody does talk, and the entire house of cards falls as each person shifts the blame to another and it is all a matter of he said, she said to figure out who was really to blame.
March is the month of ... hmm, not much that I can relate to literature at any rate. St. Patrick's Day and Easter fall within this month, but those really aren't great holidays as far as book ideas go. So I'm just picking a hodgepodge of different books that look interesting.
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Mystery Suspense |
 
Humor |  
Paranormal Romance |
*These were free ebooks on Amazon when I wrote this post, but as with all books on Amazon their prices fluctuate often so please double check the price before downloading!
was free. It is a fan-fiction sequel to The Phantom of the Opera that I reviewed back in January. Check out my review and see if it is a book you might enjoy. I know I did.
 
| Birthright by Nora Roberts Genres: Romance, Suspense, Romantic Suspense |
Callie Dunbrook is an archaeologist. She is passionate about her work and loves digging up the past, literally. While on her latest dig site, she is forced to deal with her own past. The anthropologist assigned for this job is her hot super hunky ex-husband Jake. Callie prefers to hold onto her anger towards him rather than admit that she still goes weak at the knees with the mere sight of him. As if this wasn't enough stress in her life, a strange woman shows up at Callie's motel room claiming to be her mother. Callie finds out that not only had her parents never told her that she was adopted, she was in fact the baby that had been kidnapped from this small town as an infant. As Callie digs into her past she turns up a black market kidnapping/adoption ring that someone wants left buried and is willing to kill in order to deter Callie from uncovering more information.
| The Phantom of Valletta by Vicki Hopkins Fan Fiction Sequel Genres: Romance, Mystery |
It is almost tempting to say that Erik has mellowed as he has gotten older. But then I remember that this book was not written by the original creator of the character and is Hopkins's interpretation of the Phantom. I must say that he is a much more likeable fellow with fewer cruel tendencies and the presence of a conscience.
Afraid of arrest for his misdeeds in the final chapters of The Phantom of the Opera, Erik flees to Malta where he has heard of an opera house that was severely damaged by fire. He decided to buy the building and haunt again. Ironically the opera house has another ghost already in residence amongst its halls that performs several acts of sabotage. While the sequel does have a bit of intrigue as to whom the new ghost is, it is more of a love story that a mystery.
 
| Gingerbread Cookie Murder by Joanna Fluke Laura Levine Leslie Meier Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Cookbook |
This is a collection of three fairly short stories, all somehow related to gingerbread. Laura from A Goddess of Frugality, had sent me this book several years ago for Christmas. Since I have read it fairly recently, I remembered enough of the plots that I can't really judge how easy it was to guess the solution to the crimes committed in each story.
The characters were entertaining and not at all tiresome. Flawless editing made it a joy to read. While none of the stories were enchanting enough for me to email or text anyone telling them "OMG, you HAVE to read this!" it still makes for festive yuletide reading, especially for those who prefer mysteries to romances, as good suspenseful holiday fare is hard to find. Holiday romance seems to be plentiful - in books at any rate.
| The Twelve Crimes of Christmas Edited by Waugh, Greenburg, and Asimov Genre: Mystery |
Christmas stories are not always romances and here is a prime example of a collection of holiday tales for mystery buffs. Twelve short stories from award winning writers such as Isaac Asimov, Ellery Queen, Dorothy L. Sayers, Rex Stout, and Alice Scanlan Reach.
Plots include the ghost of a Christmas past, a body hung by the chimney with care, a locked room murder, and a theft seemingly perpetrated under the watchful eyes of many guards. While several stories were fairly easy to figure out, others have more intricate plot twists that keep the reader's mind churning.
