"The Hanged Man's Song"

John Sandford's "The Hanged Man's Song" is another Kidd novel featuring Kidd, an artist and computer whiz well as a professional criminal.  He's joined in this novel by his sometime partner, sometime lover, LuEllen, who is a thief -- and a very good one because she's never been caught.  By the way, LuEllen isn't even her real name and she won't divulge her true identity even to Kidd.

Part of Kidd's professional criminal activities have been aided by a professional superhacker -- buried so deep that no one knows who his real identity is or where he's located.  He's known only as Bobby.  When Bobby disappears from cyberspace, Kidd and his friend, John, know something isn't right so they set out to locate him.  When they do find him, he's been murdered and his computer and more have been stolen from his house.  This is bad news not only for Kidd and John but a lot of other people out there.  Whoever has the computer not only killed Bobby but is in a position to cause trouble for many.

Before Kidd and John (with a little help from LuEllen who insists on tagging along) get very far into their investigation secrets start coming out on  the national news.  These secrets could harm a lot of politicians as well as the government.  John and Kidd must get the computer back before some of their secrets come out.

Per Sandford's usual fast-paced style, this book is hard to put down once the chase is on and the chase starts almost at the beginning!  pazt

"The Pearl That Broke Its Shell"

"The Pearl That Broke Its Shell" is, I believe, Nadia Hashimi's first novel.  Nadia's parents left Afghanistan in the 1970's before the Soviet invasion and she visited Afghanistan for the first time in 2002.  She is a pediatrician and lives with her family in suburban Washington, D.C.

Nadia's novel tells the story of two women and is set in Kabul in 2007.  Rahima and her four sisters live with a drug-addicted father and no brothers.and, in a society that values male offspring and devalues females, this is a problem.  The family's hope lies in an ancient custom called bacha posh.  Bacha posh would allow young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she becomes of marriageable age.  Rahima's mother decides Rahima will become Rahim for now and that leaves her free to attend school (as a boy named Rahim) and run errands for her mother.

Rahima's mother has a sister who is crippled, unmarried, and very outspoken.  When she comes to visit her nieces she begins to tell them the story of Shekiba, their great-great grandmother, who also lived as a male for a time and how she ended up in the king's palace.  She encourages her nieces to get as much education for themselves as they can but that is difficult for all but Rahima when their father forbids his daughters to continue to go to school.

Unfortunately, the time comes when the three oldest girls (including Rahima who has been singled out by their father's employer to be his 4th wife) are married off all at the same time and the family is torn apart.  The money received for marrying off his daughters also fuels their father's drug addiction and, as the married daughters learn later from their aunt, their mother also spirals into drug addiction after losing all three of them to marriage at once -- leaving the two younger daughters to fend for themselves.

This novel gives us a picture of what it is like to be a woman with no rights in Afghanistan who can be married off to a man the age of her father or even older.  He can treat her in any manner he wants and it is often abusive.  The jealousy of the other wives and a cruel mother-in-law can make life almost unbearable.  Bearing a son for her husband may bring some relief but not always.

Rahima's aunt encourages her to continue to educate herself despite the harsh conditions she finds herself in and to always be looking for a better life.  What hope is there, though, to escape from an abusive husband when you live in a guarded compound and travel nowhere without your husband and/or guards?  However, women do escape!

This is an extremely well written novel and I can't recommend it enough.  Both Rahima and Shekiba are fascinating and the author goes back and forth between the present and the past recounting their stories.   pazt

"Bury Her Deep"

"Bury Her Deep" is another Dandy Gilver novel by Catriona McPherson.  Dandy's husband's friend, the widowed Reverend Mr. Tait, has heard of her sleuthing skills (even if her husband has remained blissfully unaware) and asks her to come stay with him and his adult daughter to do some sleuthing for him.

Dandy's cover story is that she's going to present a program on budgeting at a meeting of the Rural Women's Institute so is coming to attend a meeting and do some research among its members.  However, her real purpose is to discover who has been preying on these women as they walk home from their monthly meetings and why some of them will not even admit that they've been attacked.

Although she takes Alec into her confidence, she assures him she doesn't need his help and he should just stay at home because his new house requires his attention.  Does he listen?  No ...he shows up in disguise and together they uncover what has really been going on in Rev. Tait's parish.

Although I find it easy to put down a Dandy Gilver mystery rather than having to stay up to all hours finishing it, I rarely figure out who the villain is or why!  I suspect that's why I keep reading them.....pazt

"Fletch Lives"

As a follow up to watching "Fletch," last night's viewing was "Fletch Lives."  This time Fletch (or under his journalistic name Jane Doe) has finished an assignment and is ready to head off on vacation until his boss insists he take on one more assignment.  Fletch is not too happy to have his planned vacation thwarted so, when he finds out he's inherited Belle Isle from his recently deceased aunt, he quits and leaves L.A. behind to claim his inheritance.  What he finds is a run down plantation which comes with a black caretaker, a car without brakes, and a lot of cobwebs.  His first day in his new home finds him having dinner with his aunt's attorney.  When they spend the night together and the attorney dies during the night, he suspects either he's a stud or foul play is involved.  As he puts on his journalistic hat and begins to investigate his new home, he discovers a lot of secrets that might even cost him his life.  It's an entertaining movie and I laughed a lot but maybe not quite as much as I did watching "Fletch."  Again, Chevy Chase uses his skills to portray many characters as he adopts varying disguises in his undercover work.  pazt

"Fletch"

Did you ever see the movie, "Fletch," with Chevy Chase and Geena Davis?  I thought I had but when my husband chose it for our viewing last night, nothing about it seemed familiar -- so....maybe I only saw the sequel, "Fletch Lives?"  "Fletch" was so much fun, though, as Chevy Chase portrays an investigative reporter named "Jane Doe."  I laughed my way through his investigation of drugs on the beach and his solving not only  the drug running but a case of bigamy and police corruption while preventing a murder.  Chase gets to take on many disguises in this movie which showcase his acting talents.  If you're looking for a little escapism, try watching this....pazt

"The Ocean At The End Of The Lane"

"The Ocean At The End Of The Lane" is a novel by Neil Gaiman who is a New York Times bestselling author.  Although Gaiman was born and raised in England, he now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has authored more than twenty books.  You can learn more about him at www.NeilGaiman.com and you can friend him on Facebook.

I loved this novel but it is really hard to describe.  The gist of it is that a middle aged man returns to his boyhood home in Sussex, England, for a funeral and takes a trip down memory lane when he visits the farm and the "ocean at the end of the lane."  If I had to guess what genre this book is, I'd guess part fantasy.

I loved it and have already sought out another book by Gaiman to read while I'm still digesting this one!  pazt

"The Absence of Mercy"

"The Absence of Mercy" by John Burley is this physician's first novel.  Burley himself is an emergency medicine physician in northern California and his novel features Dr. Ben Stevenson who lives in a small Ohio town with his family practice physician wife, Susan.  They have a teenage son, Thomas, as well as a second son, Joel, who is 8 years younger thanThomas.  Thonas was conceived on their honeymoon while they were both still in medical school.  In addition to his work at the hospital, Ben is the county coroner and has a young assistant, Nat.

The novel begins with the savage murder of a teenage boy found in the woods behind the high school.  This kind of thing doesn't happen in this small town and it shakes up not only Ben and Susan but the entire town where everyone has been living with a sense of knowing their neighbors and having no need to fear anyone.

When a second victim  (a teenage girl) is found barely alive, she is flown to a trauma center and eventually recovers physically from her wounds but has a lot of rehab work -- physically and mentally -- to do.  Thomas, who had seen her earlier in the evening of her attack at a party both attended, befriends her as she recovers and they become close.  Ben sees nothing wrong with it but Susan fears the relationship will end up hurting the girl again.

When a severed hand appears at the door of the coroner's office at the beginning of the first snowfall, the police and Ben are just awaiting the discovery of another body.  So, as his family decides to visit Susan's parents in Sedona, AZ, over the holidays, Ben feels he must stay behind in case the body is discovered.  Although he misses them, he's also glad to have them safely out of the area.  Little does he know how all of these murders will impact his entire family and their lives.  It's just beginning!

Burley is an excellent author and I thoroughly enjoyed reading his novel and loved the way it progressed with  all the information I might have needed to solve it myself if I'd been paying close enough attention to the clues.  In some ways, it is left hanging at the end which to me means there could be a sequel to this one.  When I looked to see if he'd written another book ("Absence of Mercy" was published in 2013), I discovered that he does have a book coming out on 2/10/2015, entitled "The Forgetting Place" but I don't know if it is a stand alone novel or a sequel to this book.  His work is outstanding enough that I've already marked my calendar to look for this one next year. pazt