Antiques Roadkill (A Trash 'n' Treasure Mystery #1) by Barbara Allan

Brandy heads home to live with mom after her divorce is final. Her mother needs someone to kind of keep an eye on her and make sure she is taking her medication. When she arrives home she finds out that a local antique dealer had swindled her mom out of many of her antiques, taking advantage of her during one of her spells.

Brandy confronts the man at a Red Hat Society event. Shortly after that confrontation the antique dealer winds up dead and Brandy's mom is a suspect. When things start hitting closer to home, Brandy is determined to help the police find out who also wants her dead.

I really liked this story. I love the narrative style and the little asides that the author gives from the characters perspective. I have the next one in the series already and look forward to reading the others in the series.

Fun read!

Remembering a dear Friend

I just found out today that someone I was close to passed away.  I haven't seen or heard from her in a long time.  We lost track of each other over the years.  We were in the singles group at our church and as a group spent may fun hours together being silly and just having a good time.  I am feeling at a loss because I don't know what happened to her.  All I know is that she is gone.  How does that happen?  I know it is impossible to keep track of everyone you have known.  That would be a job in and of itself.  And why do I feel the need to know why she is gone.  Will that make the outcome different?  Will it change what her family is going through?  No to both.  I guess I want to know so I can better understand how someone I knew who was about the same age, give or take alittle, is now not here anymore.  It bring a whole new perspective to your own mortality and what is important in life.

I have had this happen once before only on a slightly bigger scale.  Not very long after my 35th birthday I experienced another big reality check.  One of my co-workers that I was very close to, came home to find her husband had died.  He was 35.  Another dear friend of mine from church lost her husband during the night and he was also 35.  Kind of a scary realization that two people the same age as you are gone.  Hit me like a ton of bricks.  Made me due a bit of spiritual inventory.  I wanted to make sure that I didn't leave something unsaid.  I wanted to mend fences and make sure I was right in my walk with God and with my family and friends. 

My thoughts and prayers are with Dan, the kids and the rest of the extended family.  I pray that God will give you peace and that the pain of her absence will ease with time.  She was a beautiful child of God and will be sorely missed.

Note of Peril (A Hideaway Novel) by Hannah Alexander

An unusual gift arrived at the theater in Branson where Grace Brennan and Michael Gold are performing. The music box contains a sinister note. She tries to brush it off as a simple prank, but when more odd gifts show up and the director of the show winds up dead, she begins to wonder if she is going a little crazy.

So many things are happening around Grace that she begins to doubt what God's plan is for her, where He wants her to be.

This was a great read. I like the way the mystery unfolds and the characters are developed. I believe this is part of a series, but not quite sure where it fits. If it is part of a series it works great as a stand alone story.

I think I am going to check out some of the other novels by this author.

Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton

First of all the main character has a great name! :) It seemed like it took a little bit of time to get to the mystery, but it was ok the story leading up to it was fun to read. I enjoyed the style of writing and getting to know the characters.

Lori has know Aunt Dimity her entire life. Her stories lulled her to sleep as her mother shared them with her at bedtime. Lori never realized that Aunt Dimity was a real person until she was contacted by a lawyer and told that she was mentioned in the will of a Dimity Westwood. Why didn't her mother mention the story character was a real person.

I hope the rest in the series are just as good as this one.

The Religious Body (Inspector Sloan, CID Mystery #1) by Catherine Aird

This is the first novel in the Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan series.  In this first installment Sloan is called out to a Convent to check out a suspicious death of one of the nuns.  Where everyone dresses the same it would be hard to notice an imposter among them.  Is that what happened?  Did a stranger enter the community of nuns and commit this terrible crime?  Was it one of the other sisters?

Sloan is on the trail, but it is not an easy task.  Who killed Sister Anne? 

I really liked this book and look forward to reading the other books in the series.  It is fun to discover books from series that have been around for awhile. Inspector Sloan is a great character and it will be interesting to see how he develops throughout the series.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

This is a difficult book for me to review. Oskar is trying to figure out how to cope with the death of his dad, who during on 9/11. Also interspersed in his thoughts and journey are the stories of his grandparents.

The writing style of this book is like nothing I have ever read before. One sentence on a entire page. Pictures that don't make sense with the written pages around them. One chapter looks like a draft with proofreaders marks. A page with just a string of numbers instead of words. No distinct breaks in a section of conversation like you would normally have. It reminded me of what sometimes goes on inside my head when I am frustrated and depressed and my head is going all over the place.

That being said, I like it. I am curious to see how this book will translate into a movie. The only thing I didn't care for was the picture flip pages at the end of the book that show a body falling from the tower or floating up depending on which way you flip. That to me was disturbing.

A Deadly Cliche (A Books by the Bay Mystery #2) by Ellery Adams

Olivia is taking her usual walk on the beach with Haviland searching for items along the shore, when she comes across a dead body that is buried up to his neck in the sand. There have also been some burglaries in the Oyster Bay area that have become a concern to Laurel a fellow member of the Bayside Book Writers group. The burglars are leaving a staged tableau at each scene depicting a well known cliche.

Olivia also just received a letter stating that her father is alive and very sick. Considering that her father was believed to be dead for the last 30 years this is a little bit of a shock to say the least. She hires a private investigator to check on this for her.

And on top of everything else there is a hurricane heading their way.

There is not a dull moment in this second installment of A Books By The Bay Mystery series. I love a series where you can get attached for the characters and they become real, and this is one of those types of series for me.

White as Snow: A Christmas Story by Donna Westover gallup

Charlie is all by himself and feeling very overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done. Charlies lives with his grandpa on a small ranch in Colorado Territory. Right now his grandpa is sick, he went to sleep and hasn't woken up yet. Charlie needs to figure out how to get the things they will need to get through the winter, but doesn't know how to do so many of the things that are necessary. On one excursion out to find game Charlie is attacked by a bear. He makes it back to the cabin, but is afraid he won't make it through the next couple of days. He cries out to God in his desperation.

Then a mysterious stranger by the name of Jess shows up to help. He brings a sense of peace and security to the small boy. He helps Charlie cope with his fears and concerns. He explains how God heard his prayers even though it felt like he wasn't listening.

This is a wonderful touching story. At first I wasn't sure I would like it. The the story grabbed my attention and I gotten wrapped up in the future of this forlorn little boy.