Friday Memes: The Last Hamilton by Jenn Bregman

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

She knows it's there. She runs, skirting the barren bushes, weaving her way to the cellar door of The Grange. White and imposing, the colonnades rise in silent homage to the home's creator, Alexander Hamilton, a man of destiny who helped save a nation, but who, in the end, couldn't save himself.

Friday 56:

It was time. She tore a piece of paper from her notepad an wrote to Sarah. Her signature, a heartbreaking scribble at the end, fulfilling her destiny in the only way she knew how.

This week I am spotlighting The Last Hamilton by Jenn Bregman. I bought this audiobook when it was on sale at Chirp mainly because I had the review copy but didn't read it because it was missing the first three chapters. Here's the description from Amazon:

After the last heir of Alexander Hamilton’s line is murdered, her heartbroken husband and best friend team up in this twisty thriller where a mysterious death uncovers not just an ancient secret society, but the treasures it holds—perfect for fans of Dan Brown and Sarah Penner.

The more they know, the more danger they’re in.

    When Elizabeth Walker, the last heir of the Alexander Hamilton line, is tragically killed by a subway train in New York, foul play is immediately suspected. Elizabeth had been terrified, frantic, and manic during her last days, running mysterious errands, searching for a strange antique key, and sending cryptic messages to her best friend, Sarah Brockman.  

     The morning after Elizabeth’s death, a box of tattered documents lands on Sarah’s doorstep, confirming her suspicions about Elizabeth’s strange behavior and shocking death. She brings the box to Elizabeth’s grieving husband, Ralph. Working together, they are stunned to discover that Elizabeth was part of a secret society established by Hamilton himself to keep the United States just and free, its influence woven into every  corner of the country’s history. As Sarah and Ralph race through the streets of New York to uncover the truth behind Elizabeth’s death, they must stop an ingenious and sinister plot before someone else catches up to them–and the secrets of Hamilton’s society are lost forever. 

     With fascinating details from the shadows of American history, The Last Hamilton is a sweeping and fast-paced thriller reminiscent of The Da Vinci Code.

Friday Memes: All Eyes on Me by Linsey Lanier

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

He told her she was stupid. He called her a whore. He said she was ruined. He told her he'd given away her three-week old baby to strangers. 

Friday 56:

She sat up and pulled her bare feet under her as if she had to think about that. "Is he doing all right?"

This week I am spotlighting All Eyes on Me by Linsay Lanier. I bought the Kindle version and Chirp audiobook March 25, 2025. Here is the description from Amazon:

The Las Vegas desert.

A once famous pop singer lies dead.

The only clue to her murder—a bizarre disfigurement. Only one thing to do.

Call in Parker and Steele.

To avoid the hassle of a media frenzy, the local police sergeant decides contact his old mentor, Wade Parker, and ask him to consult on the case.

After nearly dying eight months ago, Miranda Steele can't wait to get back to real detective work. Nobody deserves to die that way.

But this one isn’t so easy.

If she can't solve this case, not only will she fail her destiny, another psycho killer might get away with murder.

Meanwhile, Parker harbors secret reservations about their new venture together.

Especially when he suspects there might be more to this murder than meets the...eye.

You’ll love this intriguing mystery full of twists and turns, because it’s the start of many more adventures.

Friday Memes: Friends Indeed by David Weber & Jane Lindskold

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

"I must say this is...an unexpected surprise," Duncan Harrington said as the well-dressed man stepped into his office. Then he smiled. "On the other hand, I don't suppose it could be a surprise if I'd been expecting it, now could it?"

Friday 56:

"Please call me Nosey," Nosey said, his expression more than a little unhappy. "Do you really think that could happen? I mean, after they've already gotten as much publicity and notice as they have?"

This week I am spotlighting Friends Indeed by David Weber & Jane Lindskold. I got this one on release day because I've really enjoyed earlier books in this prequel to the Honor Harrington Science Fiction series. This one is Young Adult. Here's the description from Amazon:

A new novel featuring Stephanie Harrington in Honorverse prequel series

What happens after the War of the Gods?

The answer lies in the Heart of the Mountain ...

The trouble with treecats

Stephanie Harrington didn’t discover treecats—they were indigenous to the planet Sphinx, a colony of the tiny Star Kingdom of Manticore. But at age ten she was the first human to bond with one. Now, almost 17, she is the species greatest champion.

To the rest of the human galaxy, if they are known at all, they are recognized as tool using, socially organized, fuzzy little creatures, with no known method of communication—who also happen to be fierce hunters. But are they sapient? Because if they are, that would have all sorts of repercussions for the families who have settled on Sphinx, the Harringtons not the least.

There will be winners, and there will be losers. And Stephanie is there to make sure the treecats don’t lose out.

But Stephanie, the treecats, and Sphinx itself may be caught up in an even greater conspiracy than the one to help the fighting ‘cats survive, one generations in the making ...

Friday Memes: The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

"If you'll permit me," said the Stranger, "I'd like to tell you a story. After all, it's a long journey and, bu the look of those skies, we're not going to be leaving this carriage for some time. So, why not pass the hours with some story-telling? The perfect thing for a late October evening."

Friday 56:

There are no photos of Hythe and I don't know how to scroll back as far as July on her timeline. Where did Harbinger find the comments she was mentioning?

This week I am spotlighting The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths. I added the Kindle and Audible Plus editions in January. I see that it has won an Edgar Award, but I chose it because I've enjoyed other books by the author. Here's the description from Amazon:

Death lies between the lines when the events of a dark story start coming true in this haunting modern Gothic mystery, perfect for fans of Magpie Murders and The Lake House.

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she even teaches a course on him. But when one of Clare’s colleagues is found dead, with a line from Holland’s iconic story “The Stranger” left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with her favorite literature.

The police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her diary, the only outlet for her suspicions and fears. Then one day she notices something odd. Writing that isn't hers, left on the page of an old diary:

Hallo Clare. You don’t know me.

Clare becomes more certain than ever: “The Stranger” has come to terrifying life. But can the ending be rewritten in time?

Friday Memes: The Pirate by Jayne Ann Krentz

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

"No, absolutely not. You cannot make me get on that plane. I won't go." Katherine Inskip braced herself in her chair and glared at the two women across the table.

Friday 56:

"Mine is Kate Inskip." She was searching for something else polite to say and wishing the music would start again, when a miniature pirate tugged on her arm. She looked down to see Jared's son, David, in an elaborate costume complete with eye patch and plastic cutlass.

This week I am spotlighting The Pirate by Jayne Ann Krentz. I recently got a copy of this from Chirp. I read the original when it was first released in 1990 and thought it was time for a reread. Here's the description from Amazon:

Historical romance novelist Kate Inskip needs a break. Divorced, overworked, and completely stressed out, her writing buddies decide to surprise her with exactly what she needs - a vacation on a remote island that boasts a rich history and a crumbling castle built by an 18th-century pirate.

It's the kind of story Kate can't possibly pass up, and it will allow her to turn her thoughts from the reality of today to the romance of the past. But things don't go according to plan. A long flight, lost luggage, and a missed connection leave Kate wishing she'd stayed home. A knife-wielding mugger is the last straw.

Too late to help, but just in time to enjoy the show, Jared Hawthorne catches a harried woman in the act of kicking the local thief into submission. As far as Jared is concerned, Kate is the most interesting tourist to arrive on Amethyst Island in a very long time. Kate, however, has already concluded that a month-long vacation on the island is about 30 days too long. Still, Jared Hawthorne is starting to look very familiar....

Friday Memes: Lavender's Blue by Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

The Friday 56 was hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice. This meme is currently on hiatus but many of us are still including a sentence from page 56 or from 56% of the ebook. Anne @ Head Full of Books is picking up the slack until Freda is ready to return. I think this link will get you to the correct place. 

Beginning:

On a cold April day, thanks to an awful card my awful Aunt ML had set me, I was driving down Route 52 along the Ohio River toward my hometown for the first time in fifteen years. 

Friday 56:

JB's Bar is a very old bar -- since 1912 it says on the old mirror above the row of bottles on the old mirror above the row of bottles on the back shelf -- located on the main street of Burney next to the Red Box on the corner. The two places were the center of the town. Drink and food, what more do you need?

This week I am spotlighting Lavender's Blue by Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer. I bought this one when it was a BookBub daily deal last January. I added on the audiobook for $1.99. Here is the description from Amazon:

From the NY Times Bestselling duo that wrote Agnes and the Hitman, the first book in the Liz Danger series.

Liz Danger has returned home after fifteen years to deliver a giant teddy bear for her mother’s birthday (color: Guilt Red) when a cop with a great ass picks her up for speeding, fixes the missing lug nuts on her back wheel, pulls her out of a ditch, doesn’t give her a ticket, and helps her avoid her family. This is a man with real potential. The rest of the day goes downhill, starting with her finding out that the only man she’s ever loved is getting married to Lavender Blue, the most beautiful woman in southern Ohio. Really, the best thing in her day is that cop with the lug nuts.

Vince Cooper still isn't sure about being a cop in Burney, Ohio, a place he just moved to six months ago, since Burney is full of some fairly odd people spaced between long stretches of boredom. Still, considering the dangerous, difficult life he had before Burney as an Army Ranger and New York City cop, boredom is good. Then he picks up Liz Danger for speeding and life gets a lot more interesting. And when he picks her up again in the local bar the next night, he starts to realize that “interesting” doesn’t begin to describe what’s going to happen to him if he pulls Liz into his arms and his life.

As Liz navigates her dysfunctional family, her flamboyant boss phoning in from Chicago, her still-interested ex, her bridesmaid dress from hell, a dachshund with issues, a disaster of a wedding, assault, murder, and three hundred and ninety-three teddy bears, Vince shows up to get her through, even though he knows that the real peril for him in Burney is the one who came with her own warning label, Liz Danger.

LAVENDER’S BLUE: Would it kill you to go home and see your mother?

Friday Memes: Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice. This meme is currently on hiatus but many of us are still including a sentence from page 56 or from 56% of the ebook. Anne @ Head Full of Books is picking up the slack until Freda is ready to return. I think this link will get you to the correct place. 

Beginning:

Seattle Violent Crimes Detective Frank Rossi drove over the street curb onto the Pioneer Square plaza pavers, the black Chevy's headlights reflecting the heavy rain, its windshield wipers slapping left and right in a futile effort to clear the glass. 

Friday 56:

Keera parked in her driveway adjacent to the elevated front walk leading to the nine-hundred-square-foot rambler she rented in the North Beacon Hill neighborhood once called Boeing Hill, because the homes were built in the 1950s and '60s for people going to work for the aerospace company.

This week I am spotlighting Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni. I recently got the Kindle and audiobook when they were on sale. This book begins a series. Here is the description from Amazon:

A defense attorney is prepared to play. But is she a pawn in a master’s deadly match? A twisting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor, until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. For the competitive former chess prodigy, returning to her family’s failing criminal defense law firm to work for her father is the best shot she has. With the right moves, she hopes to restore the family’s reputation, her relationship with her father, and her career.

Keera’s chance to play in the big leagues comes when she’s retained by Vince LaRussa, an investment adviser accused of murdering his wealthy wife. There’s little hard evidence against him, but considering the couple’s impending and potentially nasty divorce, LaRussa faces life in prison. The prosecutor is equally challenging: Miller Ambrose, Keera’s former lover, who’s eager to destroy her in court on her first homicide defense.

As Keera and her team follow the evidence, they uncover a complicated and deadly game that’s more than Keera bargained for. When shocking information turns the case upside down, Keera must decide between her duty to her client, her family’s legacy, and her own future.

Friday Memes: Found Object by Anne Frasier

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

The Friday 56 is currently on hiatus but many of us are still including them. Anne @ Head Full of Books is picking up the slack until Freda is ready to return. I think this link will get you to the correct place.

Beginning:

Minneapolis, Minnesota, present day

I looked down at the release form on the desk, my main focus being the empty line awaiting my signature. They couldn't hold me longer than seventy-two hours, but I still had to sign the paperwork to get out. I picked up the pen, leaned over, with a dramatic flourish, wrote Found Object.

Friday 56:

I took a deep breath and dove in, and we did our five-minute set. Most jokes elicited groans, as they very well should have, and when we were done, people clapped, probably glad it was over. Someone turned the jukebox back on, and it was like Max and I had our own soundtrack, a Leonard Cohen, song as we walked to the bar, where he ordered drinks.

This week I am spotlighting a Kindle/Audible Daily Deal that I bought earlier this year -- Found Object by Anne Frasier. Here is the description from Amazon:

A journalist begins to question everything she knows about her mother’s murder in a startling novel of suspense by the New York Times bestselling author of The Body Reader.

Culpable in an exposé gone tragically wrong, investigative journalist Jupiter Bellarose takes her boss’s advice: head back to her hometown for a fluff piece and get her world in balance. But in Savannah, the past is waiting.

Twenty years ago Jupiter’s mother, actress and celebrated beauty Marie Nova, was murdered, leaving many in her wake: Jupiter’s father, who has erased memories of his wife’s murder with alcohol. The matriarch of the cosmetics company who helped make Marie a star—and who takes every opportunity to reopen old wounds. Then there’s the fragile cop with blood on his hands, and the killer whose confession no longer seems convincing.

With so many lingering questions, Jupiter must revisit the grisly event that has influenced every decision in her life. Maybe her homecoming will bring closure.

Or maybe the worst is yet to come.

Friday Memes: The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

He shouldn't really be driving; they all know that. But Solly has probably had the least to drink of all of them and, besides, he has the calm self-possession that makes him able to carry off all sorts of excesses and still remain the reliable, charming boy next door. 'Boy from the next-door mansion,' as Dennis once put it.

Friday 56:

'Everything else all right?'

'Yes, fine. I'm just off to play Quidditch.'

It's as if the young speak a different language, thinks Nelson, as Grace exits through to main doors and joins a group of students on the lawn, all of them carrying broomsticks and baseball bats.

This week I am spotlighting The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths. This is the ninth Ruth Galloway mystery. I am gradually catching up on this series. I have both the Kindle and Audible copies of this one and plan to listen to the story.

Here's the description from Amazon:

In the ninth Ruth Galloway mystery, Ruth and Nelson investigate a string of murders and disappearances deep within the abandoned tunnels hidden far beneath the streets of Norwich.

Norwich is riddled with old chalk-mining tunnels, but no one's sure exactly how many. When Ruth is called in to investigate a set of human remains found in one of them, she notices the bones are almost translucent - a sign they were boiled soon after death. Once more she finds herself at the helm of a murder investigation.

Meanwhile, DCI Nelson is hunting for a missing homeless woman, Barbara, who he hears has gone "underground". Could she have disappeared into the labyrinth? And if so, is she connected to the body Ruth found?

As Ruth, Nelson, and the rest of their team investigate the tunnels, they hear rumors of secret societies, cannibalism, and ritual killings. When a dead body is found with a map that appears to be of The Underground, they realize their quest to find the killer has only just begun - and that there may be more bodies underfoot.

Friday Memes: A Call to Insurrection by David Weber

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Hereditary President Trudy McIntyre had never been what Lucretia Tomlinson would have called a handsome woman. But there were pictures from two decades earlier that had captured a smoldering fire, a defiance, and a sense of righteousness that had more than made up for the lack of physical beauty.

Friday 56:

"Absolutely not," Elizabeth said. "We start by downplaying the urgency. Dr. Tolochko's analysis indicates that the shift has been gradual, and was only noticeable over decades of readings. No rush, no worry, no drama."

This week I am spotlighting A Call to Insurrection by David Weber, Timothy Zahn, and Thomas Pope. I got the Kindle copy a year ago, but it got lost among all the TBRs. When the Audible book was released December 6, I bought it and realized that I had never read and reviewed the print copy. Oops!

Here's the description from Amazon:

Book four in the nationally best-selling Manticore Ascendant series, set in the world of David Weber’s multiple New York Times best-selling Honorverse series.

Yesterday, the Star Kingdom of Manticore was a small, unimportant interstellar backwater. A quiet little star nation, only recently recovered from the devastating blow of the Plague Years. More affluent than some, perhaps, but with little to attract trade or interstellar commerce, it had little need for a navy . . . and even less interest in paying for one.

But Manticore has now become a target. The Star Kingdom isn't certain who is attacking it, or why, or what its mysterious foe can possibly want, but Queen Elizabeth I knows she has to find out. And she knows that whatever some of her subjects think, Manticore does need a navy. And it needs allies, friends like the dynamic Republic of Haven and the Andermani Empire. It needs their trade . . . and to learn from their more experienced and powerful navies.

It is the job of officers like Travis Long and his wife, Lisa, to acquire that experience. Of utterly inexperienced diplomats like Travis's brother Gavin, Earl Winterfall, to build those alliances.

They have been sent to the powerful Andermani Empire to do just that, for the Imperial Navy is one of the most potent and experienced fleets in the galaxy. But the Andermani have problems of their own. Their Emperor's death is the trigger for insurrection, and now that powerful and experienced navy is locked in civil war.

The Manticoran visitors find themselves squarely in the path of the storm, and before Travis, Lisa, and Gavin can accomplish anything else, they first have to survive.

Friday Memes: Her Last Word by Mary Burton

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Monday, January 1, 2018; 1:00 a.m.

My name is Kaitlin Roe. I am the lone witness to the abduction of my eighteen-year-old cousin, Gina Mason. Not a day has passed in the last fourteen years that I haven't remembered those last moments with Gina and the masked stranger on that dark road.

Friday 56:

Erika's brows knotted as she focused het attention on Kairlin's face. "I told you I'm not talking to you again."

"I'm not even here about that. I came to tell you Jennifer Ralston is dead."

This week I am spotlighting Her Last Word by Mary Burton. I bought this Kindle/Audible combination on January 2, 2022. Here is the description from Amazon:

An unsolved crime pits a desperate woman against a relentless killer in New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton’s heart-stopping novel of psychological suspense…

Fourteen years ago, Kaitlin Roe was the lone witness to the abduction of her cousin Gina. She still remembers that lonely Virginia road. She can still see the masked stranger and hear Gina’s screams. And she still suffers the guilt of running away in fear and resents being interrogated as a suspect in the immediate aftermath. Now Kaitlin has only one way to assuage the pain and nightmares—by interviewing everyone associated with the unsolved crime for a podcast that could finally bring closure to a case gone cold.

But when a woman Kaitlin questions is later found stabbed to death, she fears that she’s drawn a killer out of hiding. It’s Detective John Adler’s fear that the murders have only just begun. Now his job is to keep Kaitlin safe.

As a bond between Kaitlin and Adler builds, the past closes in just as fast—and it’s darker than Kaitlin remembers. Soon, her wish will come true. She’s going to find out exactly what happened to Gina. Someone has been dying to tell her.

Friday Memes: Death in the Sunshine by Steph Broadribb

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Just before sunrise is Moira's favorite time. Dawn is when the day has most promise; it's still a blank slate - a tabula rasa. It gives her another opportunity to try and forget what happened and focus on making something new. Again.

Friday 56:

"That's understandable," says Moira, cautiously. "But I'm new here, and not long out of the job."

Lizzie bites her lower lip and holds Moira's gaze for a long moment.

This week I am spotlighting Death in the Sunshine by Steph Broadribb. This was a recent Kindle Daily Deal with a cheap audiobook too. Here's the description from Amazon:

Four ex-cops in a retirement paradise. Sure they’ll rest…when the killer is caught.

After a long career as a police officer, Moira hopes a move to a luxury retirement community will mean she can finally leave the detective work to the youngsters and focus on a quieter life. But it turns out The Homestead is far from paradise. When she discovers the body of a young woman floating in one of the pools, surrounded by thousands of dollar bills, her crime-fighting instinct kicks back in and she joins up with fellow ex-cops—and new neighbours—Philip, Lizzie and Rick to investigate the murder.

With the case officers dropping ball after ball, Moira and the gang take matters into their own hands, turning into undercover homicide investigators. But the killer is desperate to destroy all the evidence and Moira, Philip, Lizzie and Rick soon find themselves getting in the way—of the murderer and the police.

Just when they think they can finally relax, they discover that someone has infiltrated their ‘safe’ community. Can they hunt down the murderer and get back to retiring in peace? And after all the excitement, will they want to?

Friday Memes: Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

I gathered myself, my bare feet gripping the floor, my thigh muscles braced for the attack. I stepped forward on the ball of my left foot, pivoting as I moved, and my right leg swung up, bent at the knee. My foot lashed out, returned instantly. The black Everlast punching bag rocked on its chain.

Friday 56:

"What has happened here?" the Reverend McCorkindale asked sternly.

"Norval got red-blooded, so I cooled him down."

That would require the least explanation, I figured. 

This week I am spotlighting a reread. I read Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris sometime before 2008 and recently got the audiobook at an Audible Sale. I chose it as an audiobook partly because it is relatively short and partly because I was curious to see if the story held up.

Here is the description from Amazon:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris’s Shakespeare's Landlord is the first book in the Lily Bard mystery series.

Welcome to Shakespeare, Arkansas. Lily Bard came to the small town of Shakespeare to escape her dark and violent past. Other than the day-to-day workings of her cleaning and errand-running service, she pays little attention to the town around her. So when she spots a dead body being dumped in the town green, she's inclined to stay well away. But she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and despite her best efforts, she's dragged into the murder case.

Lily doesn't care who did it, but when the police and local community start pointing fingers in her direction, she realizes that proving her innocence will depend on finding the real killer in quiet, secretive Shakespeare.

Friday Memes: Across the Great Barrier by Patricia C. Wrede

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Being a heroine is nowhere near the fun folks make it out to be. 

Friday 56:

Professor Torgeson seemed a bit absent-minded as she tied her horse to the hitching rail. Her eyes kept straying to the faint shimmer in the air about halfway across the river. It dawned on me that she'd never been through the Great Barrier Spell before. Vinland had no need of such a thing, being an island, and what with all the settlement failures, the Settlement Office hadn't called on any of the college magicians for help since she'd arrived.

This week I am spotlighting Across the Great Barrier by Patricia C. Wrede. It is the second in her Frontier Magic Trilogy. I read these as they were published ten or more years ago. This time I am mainly listening to the audiobooks. Here is the description from Amazon:

From New York Times number-one best-selling author Patricia C. Wrede, the second in the series of magic on the western frontier.

Eff is riding west, away from the safety of the frontier city she's always known.... Eff could be a powerful magician if she wanted to. Except she's not sure she wants that kind of responsibility. Everyone keeps waiting for her to do something amazing - or to fail in a spectacular way. Worse, her twin brother, Lan, a powerful double seventh son, is jealous of all the attention she's been getting.

Even as Eff protests that she's just an ordinary girl, she's asked to travel past the Barrier Spell with one of the new professors at her father's school. The land west of the Barrier is full of dangers, both magical and wild. Eff will need to use all her strength - magical and otherwise - to come safely back home.

With wit, magic, and a touch of good pioneer sense, Patricia C. Wrede once again weaves a fantastic tale of the very wild west.

Friday Memes: The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Kate Martinelli had been in any number of weird places during her years as a cop. She'd seen the dens of paranoid schizophrenics and the bare, polished surfaces by obsessive compulsives; she'd seen homeless shelters under a bridge and one-room apartments inhabited by families of twelve, crack houses that stank of bodily secretions and designer kitchens with blood spatter up the walls, suburban bedrooms full of sex toys, libraries filled with books on death, and once an actual, velvet-lined bordello.

Friday 56:

She closed the phone, looking distractedly at a framed photograph of Philip Gilbert with a television actor who had payed Sherlock Holmes: Gilbert was a head taller, thinner of nose and sparser of hair, and looked mote the character than the professional did.

This week I am spotlighting a recent arrival on my TBR Mountain. The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King was a recent (March 23, 2022) daily deal from Chirp. I also added the Kindle copy to my collection. Here is the description from Amazon:

In this thrilling new crime novel that ingeniously bridges Laurie R. King’s Edgar and Creasey Awards—winning Kate Martinelli series and her bestselling series starring Mary Russell, San Francisco homicide detective Kate Martinelli crosses paths with Sherlock Holmes–in a spellbinding dual mystery that could come only from the “intelligent, witty, and complex” mind of New York Times bestselling author Laurie R. King….

Kate Martinelli has seen her share of peculiar things as a San Francisco cop, but never anything quite like this: an ornate Victorian sitting room straight out of a Sherlock Holmes story–complete with violin, tobacco-filled Persian slipper, and gunshots in the wallpaper that spell out the initials of the late queen.

Philip Gilbert was a true Holmes fanatic, from his antiquated décor to his vintage wardrobe. And no mere fan of fiction’s great detective, but a leading expert with a collection of priceless memorabilia–a collection some would kill for.

And perhaps someone did: In his collection is a century-old manuscript purportedly written by Holmes himself–a manuscript that eerily echoes details of Gilbert’s own murder.

Now, with the help of her partner, Al Hawkin, Kate must follow the convoluted trail of a killer–one who may have trained at the feet of the greatest mind of all times.