"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

"Cut and Run"

"Cut and Run" is another Joe Hunter thriller by Matt Hilton and I've been reading the series in order since I discovered Hilton and Hunter.  I've learned to put everything else aside when I start one of these books so I planned the day after Thanksgiving as the day to read "Cut and Run" in its entirety.

Joe Hunter is Ex-CIA and Special Ops who came from England originally.  He's made a lot of enemies during his covert career but he is puzzled by current events.  Someone (who looks enough like him to be him or his twin) is murdering people in his name.  When the police want to question him, more people end up dead and Hunter realizes he has to be free to solve who is behind this and why they are targeting him and his friends.  But where can he turn for help -- who will help him now?

Although there are clues throughout as to possible suspects behind what appears to be revenge pure and simple, even I was blown away when I discovered who was pulling the strings behind the scenes and who was helping him or her.  This is another great read by Hunter full of twists and turns.  Reading it is like being there and I can't help but wonder how Hilton knows so much about the world of covert ops.  pazt

"Mind Prey"

I'm reading John Sandford's Lucas Davenport "Prey" series in order and just finished "Mind Prey" which (like his other books) kept me on the edge of my seat while reading yet another of his satisfying thrillers.  It's an over three hundred page hardback which I couldn't read in one setting so I have to confess that I did peek at the ending along the way.  Despite that I did read every word of the book!

Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport is called in to help find Andi Manette, a psychiatrist, who was kidnapped along with her two young daughters as they were leaving the girls' school.  Everyone close to her is a suspect -- her estranged husband, her business partner, her father, her stepmother, and her patients.  Lucas knows that time is of the essence in a kidnapping if they hope to find them alive so he and his team go into overdrive looking for clues that might tell them who is behind the kidnapping and what it is they hope to achieve from it.  Will there be a ransom or is this revenge for something?

In the meantime, Manette and her daughters are being held in an isolated farmhouse and, while Lucas tries to find them in time, she works with her daughters to save all of them from a captor obsessed with her.  As is usual with the Sandford novels I've read, this one is full of twists and turns as we follow Lucas' investigation.  Sandford is an amazing story teller!  pazt