Devil’s Bones (Sarah Booth Delaney, #21)

The Devil's Bones
by Carolyn Haines
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9781250257864
Series: Sarah Booth Delaney #21
Publication Date: September 14, 2020
Pages: 355
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Not one of the best ones by a long shot. The story meandered, felt disjointed – something that was not helped by the secondary plot introduction – and the killer was telegraphed from the first scene they were in.

Normally, I love this series and I love these characters, but between the meandering and the lack of mystery behind a string of murders, there wasn’t much to keep me engaged. The author also seemed more melancholy and wistful than usual, with less of the humour I enjoy so much.

All together, it resulted in a poor showing for book #21. Hopefully #22 regains the series stride.

The Paper Bark Tree Mystery (Crown Colony, #3)

The Paper Bark Tree Mystery
by Ovidia Yu
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9781472125248
Series: Crown Colony Mystery #3
Publication Date: June 27, 2019
Pages: 327
Genre: Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Constable

Su Lin is doing her dream job: assistant at Singapore's brand new detective agency. Until Bald Bernie decides a 'local girl' can't be trusted with private investigations, and replaces her with a new secretary - pretty, privileged, and white. So Su Lin's not the only person finding it hard to mourn Bernie after he's found dead in the filing room. And when her best friend's dad is accused, she gets up to some sleuthing work of her own in a bid to clear his name.

Su Lin finds out that Bernie may have been working undercover, trading stolen diamonds for explosives from enemy troops. Was he really the upright English citizen he claimed to be?

Meanwhile, a famous assassin commits his worst crime yet, and disappears into thin air. Rumours spread that he may be dangerously close to home.

Beneath the stifling, cloudless Singaporean summer, earthquakes of chaos and political unrest are breaking out. When a tragic loss shakes Su Lin's personal world to its core, she becomes determined to find the truth. But in dark, hate-filled times, truth has a price - and Su Lin must decide how much she's willing to pay for it. 327

I enjoy this series for the setting, the time, the history and the characters, but The Paper Bark Tree Mystery was a poor entry structure wise. The plot was good, but marred by the fragmented delivery; characters would transition from point A to point S without the reader knowing anything about B-R, making for a disjointed and often confusing read. Ultimately, this is the fault of whomever edited it, but it’s a shame because the story and the series has so much going for it and a lot of potential ahead. I’ll read the next one if there is a next one, but I hope for a much smoother narrative.

Wicked Hour (Heirs of Chicagoland, #2)

Wicked Hour
by Chloe Neill
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780399587115
Series: Heirs of Chicagoland #2
Publication Date: December 3, 2019
Pages: 352
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Berkley

Vampires were made, not born—until Elisa Sullivan came along. As the only vampire child in existence, she grew up with a heavy legacy, and tried to flee her past. Then circumstances drew her back to Chicago, and she stayed to keep it safe. With shifter Connor Keene, the only son of Pack Apex Gabriel Keene, at her side, she faced down a supernatural evil that threatened to destroy Chicago forever.

After the dust from the attack has settled, Elisa is surprised when Connor invites her to a usually private Pack event in the north woods of Minnesota, and by the warm welcome she receives from some of Connor’s family, even though she's a vampire. But the peace doesn't last. The shifters tell tales of a monster in the woods, and when the celebration is marred by death, Elisa and Connor find themselves in the middle of a struggle for control that forces Elisa to face her true self—fangs and all.

I was a big fan of the Chicagoland Vampires series, but wasn’t quite so sure about the spin-off until I finished the first book (which started slow). Then I was hooked. Wicked Hour was even better than the first book combining a group of established friends from the first book with a great setting, snarky dialog, and an interesting mystery. What is the mysterious beast in the north woods of Minnesota?

The two main characters of this series are a vampire and a werewolf in love with each other, so I expected the inevitable conflict between species to be one the author might milk for at least a couple of books. So imagine my glee when she didn’t take that trope-tastic route but instead had her two main characters act like rational adults.

Where the author did skirt the line was the amount of animosity Lis was up against from the werewolf clan. At times it felt too manufactured to be believed, although towards the end the author made it work by turning it inward and making it about something larger than Lis’s vampirism.

All up it was an excellent sophomore entry in a promising new series I look forward to continuing.

Mama Rides Shotgun (Mace Bauer, #2)

Mama Rides Shotgun
by Deborah Sharp
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9780738713304
Series: Mace Bauer #2
Publication Date: October 1, 2009
Pages: 336
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Midnight Ink

Mama's fixin' to get hitched to Husband #5. But first, she coerces her daughter, Mace, to saddle up for some country-gal bonding on the Florida Cracker Trail.

The trek takes a deadly turn when Lawton Bramble—wealthy rancher and one-time beau of Mama's—keels over in his Cow Hunter Chili. Lawton had a horde of enemies and a famously bad ticker. Could a grudge-wielding rival have "spiced" the cattleman's chow?

With (or maybe despite) the help of her sisters and her sexy ex-beau, Detective Martinez, Mace sets out to corral a low-down varmint who's determined to kill again.

Re-read update: This book did not hold up well on re-read. I had the same issue with the re-invention of the first book’s history, and the rest of it, even though I didn’t remember who the murderer was, I found extremely tedious and meandering.

Here’s hoping the third book holds up better.

Mick Abruzzo: The Second Wire

Mick Abruzzo: The Second Wire
by Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781483533490
Series: Blackbird Sisters #9.5
Publication Date: June 1, 2014
Pages: 70
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Self-published

The son of New Jersey's last remaining mob boss, Mick Abruzzo wants to live in the real world with a legitimate job, a wife and happy family. But when his family needs him, Mick feels obligated to help. This time, it's his presumed-dead brother, Little Frankie Abruzzo, who needs help getting out from under a pushy bookie. But the simple job of getting Frankie out of debt soon escalates into bad business that threatens the life Mick wants with his lover, Nora Blackbird.

At the start of book 10 A Little Night Murder (I think) it’s obvious there’s some backstory missing; something that was going on between book 9 and 10. This short story fills in the gaps. It’s not strictly necessary, but for a reader invested in the series, it’s satisfying to have.

As a bonus (because not all between novel novellas are equal) this is a very well written, fully formed story about Mick’s struggles to get out of the family business and stay legit. Martin always wrote Mick as a real person, struggling against his upbringing to be better and this story gives the struggle centre stage.

Really well done and reminds me why and how much I miss this series.

Mama Does Time (Mace Bauer, #1)

Mama Does Time
by Deborah Sharp
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 0738713295
Series: Mace Bauer #1
Publication Date: March 1, 2009
Pages: 336
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Midnight Ink

Meet Mama: a true Southern woman with impeccable manners, sherbet-colored pantsuits, and four prior husbands, able to serve sweet tea and sidestep alligator attacks with equal aplomb. Mama's antics — especially her penchant for finding trouble — drive her daughters Mace, Maddie, and Marty to distraction.

One night, while settling in to look for ex-beaus on COPS, Mace gets a frantic call from her mother. This time, the trouble is real: Mama found a body in the trunk of her turquoise convertible and the police think she's the killer. It doesn't help that the handsome detective assigned to the case seems determined to prove Mama's guilt or that the cowboy who broke Mace's heart shows up at the local Booze ‘n' Breeze in the midst of the investigation.

Before their mama lands in prison — just like an embarrassing lyric from a country-western song — Mace and her sisters must find the real culprit.

Update for second read: Holds up to my first review perfectly; 7 years later and I still can’t keep Maddie and Marty straight in my head. Still a very good read.

I put off reading this book for a long time because it just had way too redneck-y a vibe for me to think I’d find it enjoyable. But then I read about the author being a native Floridian (as I am) and I thought, well, I should give this a go, she should be able to do “old Florida” justice with out turning everyone into caricatures.

So I was pleased to find myself thoroughly involved in this book by about 1/3 of the way in. I had to struggle a bit to keep Marty and Maddie straight, but each character very much has their own personality and for the most part, they’re colourful and likeable. Of course I love the Old Florida setting.

The plot was well done; a lot of red herrings and suspects, a lot of clues. Very strong ending.

I’ll be ordering the next books in the series, and I’m hoping for some more scenes of the chemistry sort between Carlos and Mace. 🙂

Dead as a Door Knocker (House Flipper Mystery, #1)

Dead as a Door Knocker
Rating: ★★
isbn: 9781250197429
Series: House-Flipper Mystery #1
Publication Date: February 11, 2019
Pages: 368
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks

Whitney Whitaker dreams of running her own real estate company instead of managing properties part-time for a small agency. So when one of her more difficult clients decides to liquidate a property, Whitney seizes the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to score the distressed house for a song. But when her cat Sawdust digs up a corpse in the flower bed, all bets are off.

When the investigation - led by Nashville Police Detective Collin Flynn - starts moving slower than molasses, Whitney figures an important clue must be missing. So she launches an investigation of her own before the mortgage property forecloses on the property and Whitney loses her investment. But who was composting in the garden? Who would want that person dead? And is Whitney their next victim?

Diane Kelly writes a very good series about an IRS agent, Tara Holloway, and a surprisingly decent series about a police officer and her K-9 (surprising because the dog has its own chapters).

This is not on par with those other efforts. This was just short of awful.

The characters are good, but the author has fully grown adults running around saying “the b word” but not thinking twice about haring off to the home of someone they decide must be a suspect and “interrogating” them, flinging accusations around like confetti.

The plot was well constructed but just about smothered under chapters of introspection and a detective just short of being earnestly incompetent.

Sawdust is awesome, but Kelly tends to give him slightly canine tendencies that don’t quite ring true, and frankly, no matter how endearing Sawdust is, a reader can’t help but wonder if this isn’t a marketing gimmick to appease the cat lovers out there.

Disappointing, but this won’t be a series I’ll be continuing.

Reading progress: page 153 out of 356

Dead as a Door Knocker
by Diane Kelly
ISBN: 9781250197429
Published by St. Martin's Press on January 29, 2019
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Cozy, General
Pages: 368

Not loving this so far. Having the MC say “the B word” instead of bitch, and the “h word” instead of saying hell is puritanically childish. I’ve read her other books and know she can do better.

Bookhype.com: It’s no BookLikes, but it’s better than GoodReads even in beta.

UPDATE: The developer has just added a search function for your personal library! Yay!

While stalking the developer of my WP plug-ins, I discovered she was getting ready to launch a new book tracking website. So by sheer luck I was one of the first people to join Bookhype.com. It was basic, but it had potential right out of the gate for some interesting features, so I uploaded my data and started playing.

That was back in the beginning of September, and the site’s feature set has grown enough that it seemed now was as good a time as any to update friends who have not yet joined, about the site’s progress.

The most important thing to remember is that the site is still in beta. So while a lot of features are missing, I don’t know if they’re missing because they haven’t been added yet, or because they’re never going to be added. If I do know, I’ll mention that below.

What the site has that’s working for me:

A pretty easy to use interface; the UI is easy on the eyes and for the most part extremely easy to use. You can log multiple reads and multiple editions (including purchasing information), but your shelves only display one edition, which can get confusing until you get the hang of it.

Some pretty good reading stats – with charts! – that include things like genres and page counts, as well as books acquired over time.

Series tracking: It’s pretty slick. You can follow series, and if you opt in, new titles added to those series will be automatically added to your shelves, and also as an opt in, you can get an email notification. The back end of the site has some nice logic built in, so series that have changed names mid-way through can alias the old/new name, and the librarian functions allow merging/deleting series, avoiding potential bloating. What could be better: it would be nice to be able to nominate how new titles are added to your shelves.

Librarian functions: One of the first “big” features that were added after launch, and of course, I applied. Because I guess I need more databases in my life. The features are pretty well thought out and robust, though I’d still love to see the ability to bulk combine titles and bulk merge authors, something I hate to admit GoodReads got right. What could be better: while the site handles pseudonyms pretty well, there’s no cross-referencing of pseudonyms on the author pages themselves. Also, there seems to be no plans for handling multiple covers other than adding more additions. This is going to cause wicked edition bloat, and at the moment, there seems to be no way to merge duplicate listings, though that may change.

What I think really needs addressing:

Personal library: this is the part where I’m most critical. At the moment there’s only one way to view it and that’s cover mode. Which looks nice, but doesn’t make my heart sing because I want to see the data, preferably in list view with the ability to sort by ALL the columns. At this time you also can’t search your books, which is HUGELY problematic. (Update: now you can search!) You can filter by Read, Reviewed, Currently Reading, Wishlist but you can’t just search out a specific title, and you can’t see all the books on your shelves by author. I’ve emailed the developer about this and I know she’s thinking about it, but I don’t know what her plans are, if any, for improving the ability to manipulate your own shelves. I’ve also asked about creating personal shelves, which she’s nixed, as she’s going the tag route. When I mentioned they weren’t that easy to use, she immediately went about making them MUCH easier. Now I’m hoping she’ll move their location on the page to make them easier to access on the fly.

Social aspects – there aren’t any. You can follow people, but the lack of notification when someone likes or comments makes the following a moot point. I’m guessing this is still something that’s in development and as such I’m REALLY hoping she’ll make the activity page one that’s interactive, with the ability to comment on posts, and respond to other comments, directly from the activity page.

Generally the site has a lot of potential and seems to have a very dedicated developer intent on creating a book site that is completely independent of Amazon. It’s got a lot of nice touches, and with a few more could be a much better alternative to GoodReads. Fingers crossed.

MbD’s state of mind: Still hate GoodReads, WordPress not far behind

TTthhhppphhttt. How’s that for a state of mind?

Life has been busy – mostly not in any enjoyable way; we’re still covid free here but other factors of real life have kept us hopping, forcing me to pretty much check out of all my online activities save the bare minimum. The bare minimum has been logging my books and in quiet moments at work, building up my super-spreadsheet of All The Books and Their Reviews. I’ve also been working on some things at the new beta site, Bookhype.com (more on that in a different post).

I’m trying with the blog, I really am. But it’s a pain in the ass. Even with the classic editor, or whatever the hell they call it, I can’t just whip off a post. If it’s about books, I have to make sure the book data is entered, I have to chase down the cover, I have to link 800 things and click on several pages. Pain. in. the. ass. And trying to follow comments and other people’s posts is damn near impossible – the WordPress app only notifies me about random comments and shows me only about, I suspect, a third of the posts of those I’m following.

I’ve also been trying with GoodReads groups, but that’s working even less well. Too many threads to read and keep up with; my soul shrivels every time I open the groups and see all the unread messages. And I hate the site anyway.

All of which to say, while I’m still not going to give up on this blog, I’m sticking with BookLikes. Pressing performance issues aside (which haven’t been that bad for me the last several weeks), the site is perfectly designed for me as a reader and book tracker. I’ll safeguard my data so I don’t get left in the lurch if things finally go belly up, but until then, I’m hanging on.