Cozy Monday

Books of a Feather (Bibliophile Mystery #10) by Kate Carlisle (Berkley Prime Crime hardcover, 7 June 2016).

Since spending several weeks at Dharma while their loft was being renovated in Ripped from the Pages, Brooklyn and her fiancé, security expert Derek Stone have returned to San Francisco.

Taking a break from settling into their "new" home, they attend a gala at the Covington Library, where Brooklyn's friend Ian McCullogh has recently been promoted to president.  The party is in honor of a huge volume of Audubon's Bird of America, on loan from an Arab sheik.  

Brooklyn's friend Genevieve Taylor, proprietor of a used book store, approaches her as she enters the Library, and asks her to repair and appraise a copy of Poor Richard's Almanack, which might well be a first edition.

Then, Ian introduces Brooklyn to Jared Mulrooney, local president of the National Birdwatchers Society, who is desperate for her to repair a small copy of Audubon's work that he'd spilled wine on.  Because he doesn't want other members of the Society to learn of the damage to one of their prized possessions, he asks Brooklyn not to tell anyone about it.

Later that evening, when Brooklyn is searching for Genevieve to say good night, she stumbles upon Mulrooney's body, and Brooklyn is once again thrust into a murder investigation.

Brooklyn is certain that Mulrooney was killed because of the book he gave her, but is certain that no one knows he gave it to her.

But someone breaks into their loft, and someone is following her.  Is it the same person?  Or is it two different people after the two different books?

Brooklyn and Derek, and her two "favorite" police detectives have their hands full trying to figure out what's going on.

Like the previous titles in the series, Books of a Feather is a gripping one-sitting read, and once again, I'm already eager for the next.



The publisher has generously offered a copy of Books of a Feather to one of my readers.  Please comment below before 12:01 a.m. on June 20, 2016.  Entries from the US only, please.  
Please don't forget to include an email address where I can contact you if you win!



FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this book.

""Hope" is the thing with feathers...*"

We Never Asked for Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (Ballantine Books hardcover, 18 August 2015).

Letty Espinosa has lived with her parents her whole life, even after she had kids.  In fact, she worked three jobs while her mother looked after Alex, almost fifteen, and Luna, six.  She really has no idea how to be a parent.

So when Letty's parents decide to move back to Mexico, she's stunned and overwhelmed.  She struggles throughout the summer, because Luna won't even let her mother leave her to go to work. Which is tough, because Letty is a bartender.

Alex is still skeptical about his mother's parenting abilities, and doesn't make it easy for her.  He begins to spend more and more time with Yesenia, a girl from his class who happens to be handicapped, and an illegal immigrant.

Letty switches to the day shift, but that means she makes less money.  Eventually, with the help of her best friend Sara, she figures out a way to get them out of their unsavory neighborhood.  Alex is rightly worried about Yesenia; once he starts at a different school, she is mercilessly teased and even beaten up.

Vanessa Diffenbaugh brought attention to the many problems faced by foster children in the United States in her debut novel The Language of Flowers.  In this riveting story, she tackles the problems faced by undocumented immigrants and the difficulties of escaping poverty.

Be prepared, it's heart-wrenching, but well worth the time.



FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to Library Journal for the Advanced Reading Copy.



*Emily Dickinson

Back to Noir

City of Ghosts (Miranda Corbie Mystery #3) by Kelli Stanley (Minotaur hardcover, 5 August 2014).


So much is going on in Miranda's life!

Returned from nursing in the Spanish Civil War, she works hard to forget the loss there of the love of her life. She finally has a P.I. license, and enough cases to get by, thanks to some unwelcome publicity.

But when her "old friend"  from the State Department, James MacLeod, drops by and asks her to help her country by tailing a possible art smuggler.  Upon learning that the remuneration for this job will be $5,000, plus passage to England on a luxury liner.

It's the trip to England that seals the deal; Miranda has received a postcard purporting to be from her mother, whom she had assumed was long dead, and Miranda wants badly to find her.

Then two of her clients die violent deaths, and she's suddenly working three cases instead of two.  Or could they possibly be linked?

Stanley allows the reader to see and identify with the sensitive, wounded woman beneath Miranda's public hard-as-glass exterior through language and settings reminiscent of the great classic noir authors.

Settle down comfortably, as you won't want to move until you've reached the last page.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________



Kelli Stanley is the author of the
Miranda Corbie Mysteries, and
the Roman Noir Mysteries as
well as a number of short stories
and essays on the craft of writing.
Some of her major literary influences
are Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett,
Tennessee Williams, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
She lives in Dashiell Hammett's
(and Miranda Corbie's) San Francisco.



__________________________________________________________________________________________________


FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to the author and the publisher for the Advance Reading Copy of the book.