Tag Archives: Fiction

Review: The Ghost and the Femme Fatale

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The Ghost and the Femme Fatale
The Ghost and the Femme Fatale
by Alice Kimberly
Berkley, 235 pages
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In the fourth installment of the Haunted Bookshop mysteries, The Ghost and the Femme Fatale, Pen McClure and the ghost of Jack Shepherd are once again teamed up to solve a mystery, this time, a multiple murder centered around old Hollywood, a film festival, and (of course) a tell all book about the sordid history of two actors. I don’t like rehashing plots, especially with mysteries, because even the smallest detail can be a spoiler, but I will say that the Jack/Pen relationship in this one moves into new territory – and I don’t mean HAVC filter maintenance – I’m a bit worried, actually, about where this relationship can go, and how Ms. Kimberly plans to address it, or if she does. Fantasy is nice, after all, but eventually Pen’s going to have to live entirely in the world of the, well, living.

Still, the detective duo works. In the dreamscape representation of Jack’s past, he begins to accept her help, and in the modern waking world, Pen is becoming more and more self-reliant, with Jack’s involvement reduced to cheering her on in more than once scene.

It’s refreshing to see Pen, the woman who still uses her dead husband’s name, standing more on her own feet, and even if the mysteries are sort of predictable, the ghost and Mrs. McClure remain compelling.

A word of advice, though: Never fall for a ghost.

Mini-Review: Decaffeinated Corpse

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Decaffeinated Corpse
Decaffeinated Corpse
by Cleo Coyle
Berkley, 288 pages
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Let’s face it, the recipes in the backs of Cleo Coyle’s coffeehouse mysteries are not exactly keys to quick trim weight loss, but the reality is, as much fun as the recipes are (and I’ve actually tried some of them) it’s the cozy Village Blend coffeehouse and the adventures of cafe manager Clare Cosi that keep us reading.

In Book 5 of the Coffeehouse Mysteries, Clare is investigating her husband’s friend, a coffee grower and playboy from Costa Gravas, who just happens to be the breeder of a decaffeinated coffee plant – as in, no need to water process the beans. There are, of course, corpses in the story, and the mystery this time seemed a bit trickier than the first four novels, but I also read this one out of sequence, since I reviewed another of Ms. Coyle’s books, Holiday Grind in All Things Girl over the holidays.

In that book, the relationship between Clare in NYPD Detective Mike Quinn had become pretty solid; in this one, they shared their first kiss.

As always, Ms. Coyle’s blend of romance, mystery, intrigue, and coffee suits me perfectly when I want light reading.

Mini-Review: The Ghost and the Dead Deb

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Ghost and Dead Deb
The Ghost and the Dead Deb
by Alice Kimberly
Berkley, 272 Pages
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Reading about dead debutante’s is not exactly the way to lose weight fast. I mean, skinny rich girls, even when they’re corpses, are hardly good role models. Fortunately, I don’t read Alice Kimberly’s haunted bookshop novels for fitness inspiration, but to be entertained, and this book succeeded wildly in its humble mission.

In this, the third outing for Penelope McClure and the ghost of Jack Shepherd, we have drug abuse, fickle lovers, fashionistas, and, of course, a mystery of how one pretty rich girl became the latest in a pair of connected murders.

As always, while the mystery is enjoyable, the developing Jack/Pen relationship is why I read, and in this installment the friendship between ghost and bookseller continues to deepen.

Am I the only person wishing a haunted bookshop was in my neighborhood?

Review: The Ghost and the Dead Deb by Alice Kimberly

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The Ghost and the Dead Deb
The Ghost and the Dead Deb
Author: Alice Kimberly
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Berkley (September 6, 2005)
Language: English

Penelope “Pen” McClure, co-owner of the fictional “Buy the Book” in Quindicott, RI, should really consider investing in some sort of business insurance, because in this second installment of the Haunted Bookshop series, another visiting author is murdered.

Alice Kimberly once again weaves a charming romance/mystery pairing Pen with Jack Shepherd, the ghost of a noir private investigator, who himself was gunned down in the store decades before. In this book, we learn a bit more about Pen, and, in the related case from Jack’s memory, we also learn a bit more about Jack.

Young deb-turned-author Angel Stark could easily be ripped by any number of today’s tabloids, but the recurring characters are also as vivid as they were in the first novel – especially the group of business owners affectionately referred to as the Quibblers (which name, I confess, reminds me of another fictional mystery series, Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who…).

What really makes this book sing, however, is the developing relationship between Pen and Jack – they’re clearly friends now – which is heightened when Pen finds a way to take Jack with her (so to speak) when she leaves the store.

Goes well with hot tea and a warm quilt.

Reviewed Elsewhere: Holiday Grind, by Cleo Coyle

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Holiday Blend

From the moment I first picked up a Cleo Coyle novel, I knew I’d found a kindred spirit – two really – one in Ms. Coyle herself, and the other in her lead character Clare Cosi, who cooks with an Italian flair and has espresso running in her veins.

Recently, I read Ms. Coyle’s latest coffeehouse novel, Holiday Grind which features cafe owner and amateur detective tracking down the person responsible for killing her customer (and friend), Alf, who spends his winter days as a street corner Santa Claus.

If you’ve never read a coffeehouse mystery, you should know that all the books are the type of cozy mysteries that go best with froufrou espresso drinks, chocolate dipped biscotti, and the crackling sound from Amish fireplaces.

Look for my review of Holiday Grind later this month in All Things Girl.

Teaser Tuesdays: Holiday Grind by Cleo Coyle

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On Teaser Tuesdays readers are asked to:

  • Grab your current read.
  • Let the book fall open to a random page.
  • Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between 7 and 12 lines.
  • You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given.

My teaser this week is from Holiday Grind, by Cleo Coyle. I’ve been reading it from my cozy house, where it finally feels like November (49 degrees at 6:41 PM) and taking breaks to mock the people across the street who don’t seem to know how their moving truck works.

If you don’t know the Coffeehouse Mysteries, you should seriously check them out. Anyway, here’s the teaser:

There was nothing like walking through the Village on a snowy winter night. The few vehicles on the slippery street crept along no faster than horse-drawn carriages. Every surface appeared flocked with white; the pungent smell of active old fireplaces floated through the air; and bundled couples hurried past dark storefronts, eager to get back to their warm apartments or inside a cozy pub for a glass of mulled wine or mug of Irish coffee.

As I passed by St. Luke’s churchyard, the whole world seemed to go silent, save the icy flurries that still pecked at my parka and the crunch, crunch, crunching of my winter boots. At one intersection I stood alone, watching a traffic light provide a signal for crossroads that had no traffic. Hands in pockets, I waited half amused as the bright red light flipped to green in an unintentional
Christmas display just for me.

from Holiday Grind, chapter 3, by Cleo Coyle.

Book Review: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

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The Lost Symbol
Dan Brown
Doubleday
509 pages
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I confess: I pre-ordered Dan Brown’s latest book, The Lost Symbol so I would have it in my hands on the day it was released. It’s not that I think Brown is the greatest writer in the world – he’s not – but he is very good at what he writes: escapist adventure stories rooted in plausibility. Put another way, just as a cigar store Indian can scare you if you turn around suddenly and find yourself facing one, Brown has this habit of sneaking provocative ideas into his fiction, and fiction that stirs controversy and makes you think, is never bad.

And, as they say, any publicity is good publicity.

The Lost Symbol is no exception.

In this installment of the Robert Langdon adventures, our favorite symbologist is sent to Washington, D.C., ostensibly to pinch hit as the speaker in a special event. Almost immediately he finds he was duped, and instead of acting as a guest lector, he must instead turn detective, and try to solve the necessary puzzles to open a metaphysical portal hidden somewhere in the Capitol, all before a life-long friend is cruelly murdered.

What follows is an adventure story that combines the history of the Freemasons with the budding field of Noetic Science, and takes us on a National Treasure-esque tour of D.C. in the process.

Longer than The Da Vinci code, and less controversial than Angels and Demons, The Lost Symbol is an entertaining adventure through history and Mystery, and, at 509 pages, a really satisfying read as well.

Goes well with endless cups of coffee and chocolate chip cookies.

Review: Second Chance by Jane Green

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Second Chance
Second Chance
Jane Green
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I first discovered Jane Green after a hot and tiring day of shopping last July. My desk had broken, and we’d been going from store to store looking for office furniture, when I remembered I still hadn’t completed one of the pre-conference assignments for a novel writing workshop I was to attend the next month.

We slipped into Borders, where I quickly lost track of the assignment, opting instead to browse books. The book that caught my eye was The Beach House, and even though I resisted buying it, I enjoyed it immensely when I finally read it.

When Second Chance caught my attention on another bookstore trip, I bought it, then promptly forgot I had it. Desperate for something to read during last month’s migraine extravaganza, I finally picked it up.

It’s one of Green’s first works, I think, because it’s not as smooth as later novels, but the story of old friends reuniting for another friend’s funeral, and using the event as a catalyst to change their lives is one that I found extremely compelling.

At times funny, at other times poignant, Second Chance is an excellent summer read, but it’s also perfect any time you want to curl up with lemonade and cookies, and escape for a while.

Book Review: Nights in Rodanthe, by Nicholas Sparks

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Nights in RodantheNights in Rodanthe
Nicholas Sparks
Get it from Amazon.

When it comes to Nicholas Sparks novels, I generally prefer the movies. It’s not that he’s a bad writer, particularly – people seem to love his work – but I can’t quite grasp all the fuss. His stories tend to be on the sad side, he explores broken relationships an awful lot…I must be missing something.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading Nights in Rodanthe over a period of a couple of nights, as it was the perfect book to read in the bath. Two divorced adults, both needing a new love interest, a rambling old bed and breakfast, a violent storm – bubblebath fodder on every page.

I even appreciate that the ending wasn’t perfect, that this was a much more plausible story than, say, a Silhouette novel.

But I still can’t see WHY Sparks’ work is so popular, because, to be honest, I’m underwhelmed.

(And no, I have NOT seen the movie.)

Goes well with: Candlelight, a bubblebath, and driving rain.

The Amber Spyglass

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by Philip Pullman

There are books that you can read while laying flat on a mattress, and there are books you have to sit up to read. The Amber Spyglass, the final installment in the His Dark Materials trilogy is one of the latter. Despite the fact that I was nursing the cold that wouldn’t die while reading it, I was completely upright, reading about Lyra and Will, and their final journey through the world of the dead, and back to their own separate universes, finding love, and maturity, along the way.

Is it wrong of me to wish that my Zorro-dog was really a daemon like Pantalaimon, not for the shape-changing feature (which goes away once you reach a certain level of maturity anyway) but for the ability to communicate? As I was reading about Lyra and Pan I was often distracted by their relationship, wishing I could explain to Zorro why he’s taking all these pills.

Even so, it was a satisfying end to the story, and I’m probably going to pick up Lyra’s Oxford as well.