Teaser Tuesday: If Walls Could Talk by Juliet Blackwell

"So what does all this mean? I have to go through life talking to ghosts now?"

He shrugged. "After that boy, you never mentioned anything else. I thought maybe you are ok."
~Page 237

Title: If Walls Could Talk
Author: Juliet Blackwell
ISBN: 9780451231819
Publisher: Obsidian Mystery/2010
Pages: 316

Melanie Turner is escaping her past and comes to San Fransisco Bay Area to her parents. Her mother passes away and she takes over her father's construction business. And she is well known for remodeling old houses. However, she has plans to get away from all this and go to Paris.  

She is helping out one of her friend in renovating one of his house that he plans to sell. after the renovation. And something goes horribly wrong. Matt, her friend had invited his friends to half demolish the house before renovating and it ends up in a murder. No one knows who killed that man, who is the partner of Matt but Mel does not like him. Kenneth dies in her arms and that somehow makes her see him as a ghost. A ghost which is confused, and does not know what happened but wants her help in finding out his killer.

Mel has no lead except for an old box, which contains obsolete papers. Yet there are attacks, directly related to the crime. She knows she has to nail the killer, especially when Matt is arrested for it. Mel has never liked Kenneth, yet she does everything to nab his killer. And she finds dark dealings, which involves almost everyone....

It is a cozy mystery and has a good story line. Mel is very likeable. Although she professes to leave for Paris soon, she has too many entanglements to just let go. I look forward to read more by the author..

A-Z Wednesday: The Cold Light of Mourning by Elizabeth Duncan

Title: The Cold Light of Mourning

Author: Elizabeth Duncan

ISBN: 9780312533458

Publisher: Minotaur books/2010

Pages: 282

In the picturesque North Wales market town of Llanelen, Meg Wynne Thompson, a bride goes missing on her wedding day. Most assume she might have run away. The last person to have seen her is the manicurist Penny Brannigan, who in an ex-patriate Canadian.

Penny is dealing with her own grief as Emma, the town's school teacher and Penny's dear friend has died after a brief illness. Penny is blissfully unaware of the disappearance until the next day when police come to her doorstep. When Penny's sees the brides' photo in a newspaper, she is shocked. Then something about Emma's burial too bothers her.

Then the body of the missing bride is found. Penny along with a new found friend Victoria, sets out to find the killer. Now many people on the guest list have reasons to kill Meg. While they explore, they find out that the murder leads to the groom's family, where a secret is waiting to explode....

With a quaint setting and quirky characters, The Cold Mourning of Light is a good cozy mystery. We take to Penny immediately and feel her grief too, for Emma. And the village gossip, Mrs Lloyd's character too has been created well. We get immersed in the small town life and are with Penny and Victoria in the investigations. This mystery reminds us of Agatha Christie mysteries, with the setting and the interesting characters. Those who like any kind of mysteries will love this book. As I did.

Teaser Tuesday: Bones of Contention by Jeanne Matthews

"Did you have a guilty mind when you watched Dez Fisher die?"

"I thought I was doin' the world a service."

~~~Page 294

Title: Bones of Contention

Author: Jeanne Matthews

ISBN: 9781590587300

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press/2010

Pages: 304

Set in the Australian outback, with a family as dysfunctional as they get, Bones of Contention manages to hold our interest. With the underlying tensions and a couple of unrelated murders thrown in, the reader is kept guessing.

Dinah Pelerin has lost her job and also her boyfriend when she gets a call from her uncle, Cleon Dodds, in a God forsaken place in Australia, to join him and his entire family. There he intends to rewrite his will and then commit suicide, as he suffers from cancer. He needs help from a rogue doctor, who will help him to kill himself. Dinah too needs to find out about her father, who had died in her childhood. He was supposedly a felon.

Dinah's half brother Lucien is Cleon's son and she is very close to him. A murder has already been committed in an island nearby and then another murder happens right in front of everyone's eyes. Dinah senses something has been hidden from her for too long. She starts to investigate in her amateur way and finds skeletons tumbling out of cupboards. Everyone in the family has something to hide. And then Dinah hits upon something very big, which jolts her. It is now on her as to what family secrets she can let out and which ones she has to hide.

Bones of Contention touches the aborigine myths, and their various rituals. That part was very interesting. Dinah is no detective yet she persists in finding out the motive and the murderer. Each member of the family is not really what they seem to be. It took me a while to get into the Australian lingua. Once I did I read it very fast. It moves forward with wit and humour. It is the first in the Dinah Pelerin Mystery series.

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

"Let's try this again. Are you Annie O'Sullivan from Clayton Falls?"
"Yes. Am I on Vancouver Islands?"
"You don't know?"
"That's why I'm asking."

Title: Still Missing
Author: Chevy Stevens
ISBN: 9780312595678
Publisher: St. Martins Press/2010
Pages: 352


I read Still Missing right after reading Stolen by Lucy Christopher. The similarity in both the books is the Kidnapping. Both are scary too, for obvious reasons. And blew my mind completely.

In Still Missing Annie O’Sullivan, a 32-year-old realtor, is narratinge to her psychiatrist, about her year of captivity, her thoughts, her harrowing experiences, her insights too.

Annie O’Sullivan is a good realtor, living in Vancouver Island, has made a name for herself, has a nice boyfriend, and a good friend Christina, and of course her mother, Lorraine, who is not very close to Annie but seems to love her, nonetheless. On a slow open house day, when a visitor comes Annie is happy to show him the house not knowing her world is gong to change forever.

She is kidnapped by that stranger and taken into a remote mountain cabin, somewhere near Lake Superior, where each of her moments is regulated by the psychopath, whom Annie addresses as The Freak. He rapes her every night and does not let go of her out of his sight even for a second. And when he does leave to go out, he locks her up, with no food. The Freak thinks he is a normal human being living in a perfect world untouched, uncorrupted by outside forces. Annie is forced to do as he wishes and Annie does all this to survive. Then she escapes...

So her sessions with the psychiatrist start, where she narrates each second of what she went through. Even after her escape no one knows who is that psychopath. Annie lives in constant fear and sleeps in a closet at night. She tries to eat when she wants, do whatever she wishes to, even pee at any time. But she can't. The Freak had a set time for everything and had forced Annie to follow them, this also included four toilets breaks only at designated times.

Annie is tough, a survivor, at times a savage, yet she is vulnerable, terrified and scarred for life. For all her experiences, we see Annie going through life with dignity, her head held high. This is what endears her to us. We are all the way with Annie. Even after her escape, she is still missing. And she has to find herself again.

The police is searching for The Freak's identity and when they do identify him, it does not make sense why he kidnapped her. When the truth is revealed, we are as devastated as Annie. Chevy Stevens has created a great character in Annie and of course, The Freak. It is one of those start to finish books.

As I mentioned before, Stolen too is a book worth checking out. It too is story of a kidnapped girl, told in narrative letter by her to her captor. Both books are different, yet similar.

A-Z Wednesday: Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas

Title: Tallgrass
Author: Sandra Dallas
ISBN: 978-0312360191
Publisher: St. Martin's Press/2007
Pages: 320

Book Blurb:

During World War II, a family finds life turned upside-down when the government opens a Japanese internment camp in their small Colorado town. After a young girl is murdered, all eyes turn to the newcomers. Rennie has just turned thirteen, and until this time, life has been predictable and fair. But the winds of change are coming and with them, a shift in her perspective and a discovery of secrets that can destroy even the most sacred things.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My views:

Told in the voice of Rennie, Tallgrass takes us right into the middle of small Colorado town. When Japanese start arriving, people have mixed feelings. Most people don't want the Japanese there but they can't go against the Goverment. Anything goes wrong, the people at the camp are blamed. Only Rennie's family seems to sympathise with the Japanese. Her father hires a few Japanese men, to help with his beet farming and he too faces antagonism.

Rennie's sister has gone away and her brother has joined the army. o she turns to Japanese people for friendship. When things seem to have settled down a bit, a body of a young girl is found, all eyes turn to the internship camp. Rennie learns her lessons in the hard way. Nothing is what it seems, even her parents have kept some secrets from her.

Tallgrass coovers the dilemma in a young girl's mind, and the bigger picture of what is right or wrong. Did the government do the right thing by opening up internship camps for the Japanese people? I wasn't aware of this and this book made me look up more material on the subject.

Teaser Tuesdays: Tomorrow River by Lesley Kagen

"Pay Attention." Grampa taps the back of my head, hard. "Sam Moody's been arrested for murderin' your mother in the first degree."

~Page 274

Title: Tomorrow River
Author: Lesley Kagen

ISBN: 9780525951544

Publisher: Dutton/2010

Pages: 342

I like books about twins. Tomorrow River is one such book. Based in Virginia, the Blue Ridge Mountains as its backdrop, it also has beautiful atmospheric feel to it.

Shenandoah and Woody Charmody, both 13, are twins. Their mother has disappeared and they are trying to cope with that. Their father, a well known Judge, too seems to have changed, for the worse. He doesn't want them to mix with anyone else and virtually keeps them prisoners. Woody has not spoken a single word since their mother disappeared.

Shenny kind of takes care of her twin, who tags along with her. It appears that their father is going to remarry and Shenny knows she has to find her mother's whereabouts. Woody is no help and anyone she tries to talk to, considers her just a kid. The fact is no one wants to get in the bad side of their father.

Yet Shenny is determined to find out the truth. With the help of their coloured housekeeper she embarks for the same. And plunges right to family secrets, which have been very well guarded. When she faces Woody's secret, she can't believe that it is her twin , who has been protecting her all along, not she.

I liked Shenny and Woody too, who doesn't speak a word. Their father comes out somewhat evil, although Shenny can't see it. With a surprising ending, this novel was a pleasure to read. I had to keep on reading to know what is going to happen. The starkness and darkness merges yet there is light at the end. A beautiful book, well worth the effort.

Thanks to the author, for my copy.

Teaser Tuesdays: The Cutting by James Hayman

"Where Spencer's legs met, there was now only an open wound. On the wall above the bed, written in Spencer's blood, a line from the English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

~Page 293

Title: The Cutting

Author: James Hayman

ISBN: 978-0312531294

Publisher: Minotaur books/2009

Pages: 336

Detective Sergeant Michael McCabe from the NYPD, has just moved into Portland, Maine. He is trying to get away from his messy and dark past. His wife has left him and his brother has been killed. He thinks he can raise his young daughter there in a relatively peaceful place. Nothing can be farther from the truth.

What he finds in Portland is horrific. Someone is killing young women, meticulously removing their hearts. That person is very well versed in the precise surgical procedure. Then another young woman goes missing. He knows that unless he finds her soon, she too would end up dead, her heart removed. But he doesn't have any profile of the killer.

When he gets around to find the killer, he finds that there is lot more in there other than just murders. Too much money too involved. He has to know why/how. With Maggie Savage on his side, he gets around to it. Meanwhile his ex-wife comes back to claim the daughter she left behind.

AS a crime fiction, it is at par with the best of it. Hayman has created a great character in McCabe and Also Maggie, who is a perfect foil. The description of the crime committed keeps us engrossed. I liked the pace of the novel. It has a nail biting finish. As a debut, it is one of the best. What more can one ask from a crime fiction?

Thanks to the author for my copy of The Cutting.

Lethal Experiment by John Locke

"You've been lying in this bed, unresponsive, for..." he consulted a chart. "Three years, two months and five days."
"You'are shitting me."

~Page 169

Title: Lethal Experiment
Author: John Locke
ISBN: 9781440196249
Publisher: iUniverse/2009
Pages: 264

Back cover:

Donovan Creed, former CIA assassin, is a smart-aleck tough guy who can't resist a noble cause. Despite a ton of baggage and a penchant for call girls, he always finds a way to beat the bad guys. In this sequel to Lethal People, Creed is forced to choose between his thriving contract-killer business and his desire to live a normal life with the beautiful Kathleen Gray and her newly-adopted daughter, Addie. Before that can happen, he has to take care of some lethal business involving a former lover. Lethal Experiment is a breezy, fun page-turner, featuring grisly humor, outrageous characters and sexy dialogue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lethal Experiment" is a stand alone novel even though it is the second one of the Donovan Creed storyline.

In "Lethal Experiment", the best question asked is, "Would you take money, in this case $100 large, with the only stipulation that someone would be murdered?" It is a hard question to answer. The offer is great and the temptation is high. What would one do? Donovan Creed has the ability to surprise us all. His ways might be outrageous, but his intentions are good.


The quirky characters grow into us and we look forward to reading all the Creed novels. There are three in all and I have read all. Locke has created a memorable character in the shape of Donovan Creed.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Title: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsson
ISBN: 978184724692
Publisher: Maclehose Press/2008
Pages: 554

I received this book from my secret Santa (Veens, I think!) in December 2009. It was in my wishlist. I got around reading it last week. Once I started, It was difficult for me to set it aside, even with work and all.

It is the first book in the Millenium triology. Stieg Larsson is not there to see his success. What does one say about a book, which is a huge success? To give it credit, it is not an over-rated book.

Three unlikely people's life gets entangled, Henrik Vangar, head of the Vangar corporation, Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist and Lisbeth Salnder, a somewhat weird security specialist. They get together to find out the missing child in the Vangar family. The girl had disappeared three decades ago with not a trace and Henrik still is pained by that fact.

When Blomkvist dwells deeper into the family secret, someone is determined that he ought not succeed. When the secrets do come out, they are so horrifying that everyone just wants to forget those. Lisbeth is brilliant computer hacker, who can't follow the society's norms. She is her own law and can go to any length to take care of herself.

It is not the mystery that is takes us in. It is Lisbeth who baffles the reader. She is an oddity yet we take to her. We might not agree with her ways but there is some kind of justification of what she does. She and Blomkvist make a great team although both don't seem to be aware of it or if they do, they do not acknowledge it. Lisbeth is not someone one can forget. She is gonna stay there for a long time. I am definitely going to check out the other two books.

Recommend me: The Murder of Roger Ackryod by Agatha Christie (Graphic Novel)

Title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Graphic Novel)
Author: Agatha Christie
ISBN: 9788128614583
Publisher: Euro Books/2007
Pages: 54

I remember reading the novel long time back and I still have a copy of it. When I saw a load of Agatha Christie graphic novels, this was the first one I picked up. It is one of my favourite Christie novels.

When Mrs Ferrar husband is poisoned, she is the suspect and then she dies! Next target is Roger Ackroyd, who was supposed to marry Mrs. Ferrar. When he too dies, there are too many suspects but no one knows how the murder was committed. It seems almost impossible for the deed to be done the way it is. Our good doctor is always there to assist but no one is able to crack the case.

Enter Hercule Poirot, who has retired and leading a peaceful life in King's Abbott. He sets out to get into the bottom of it and we find that each one of the people who are in contact with Roger Ackroyd have something to hide. That means, no one is telling the whole truth about what happened that night. Our doctor plays Hastings for Poirot recording everything for him. Poirot being what he is, finally gets the murderer but with tragic consequences. At the end too, there is a death.

I think the mystery novel works great as a graphic novel. I loved the illustrations and I think I will repeat the experience with more of Christie's work in similar format. Those who have not tried reading graphic novels, I recommend this!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recommend Me is Hosted by Kate of The Neverending Shelf

Dead Floating Lovers by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli

"You mean, you think the bones belong to your ex...or whatever he still is...husband?"

Title: Dead Floating Lovers
Author: Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli
ISBN: 9780738712659
Publisher: Midnight Ink/2009
Pages: 324

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back Cover:
Springtime in northern Michigan: a picture-perfect scene. Until struggling mystery writer Emily Kincaid gets a visit from her foul-weather friend Deputy Dolly, who frantically demands Emily's help. Sandy Lake's receding waters have revealed a bullet-pierced skull, along with a keepsake that could mean serious trouble for a man Dolly once loved.

As another set of bones surfaces, Emily finds herself wading through Dolly's painful past, digging into Leetsville's dark history, and dodging threats from an outraged Odawa Indian-who may be protecting more than just sacred land. Now, Emily and Dolly are deadset on solving the crime whether it breaks their hearts . . . or costs them their lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emily Kincaid is a struggling mystery writer. Her novel has got rejections slips and her money is fast running out. She works as a part time reporter and knows that soon she has to take some hard decisions regarding her life. When Deputy Dolly turns up for her help, she is skeptical. They were never good friends. Yet Emily is compelled to go with her to Sandy Lake, where they find a bullet ridden skull along with what Dolly says is wedding present to her from her absentee husband Chet. Unlike her, Dolly hides that keepsake and only then reports her findings. She has to save Chet. When another skeleton is found, Dolly and Emily go finding out clues without much success. Emily discovers Dolly's painful past.

Odawa Indians claim that one of the bodies belongs to them and should be handed over to them for a proper Indian burial. Emily and Dolly know that there is more to it, the Indians are hiding something and both have to get to the bottom of it even if that might hurt both of them. Even when Emily's life is threatened, Leetsville's dark history has to come out, no matter what.

Dolly might seem high handed yet she endears herself due to her very painful past. Her husband had left her 13 years ago, yet she claims him to be her only family. Emily too is almost forced to take a bad decision regarding her life. Both Dolly and Emily make a great team. They are brusque with each other yet the bonding is apparant to the reader. The novel drags at places, dwelling too much on Emily's personal life. The ending is good and just right.

Teaser Tuesdays: Devil's Food Cake by Josi S. Kilpack

Sadie looked at the body of the man who wasn't supposed to be at the podium at all."He's dead?" She asked, a lump in her throat.

Title: Devil's Food Cake
Author: Josi S. Kilpack
ISBN: 97816064123229
Publisher: Deseret Book/2010
Pages: 348

Thom Mortenson is back at Garrison, Colorado, to speak at the library fund-raising benefit. He is a best selling author with a tragic past. For the said event, Sadie Hoffmiller has made devil’s food cake herself as she wants everything perfect. But no one has forseen the murder of Thom’s manager right on the stage. And he was not supposed to be there either.

When Sadie offers to help, no one takes her seriously and she is told to leave the place in no uncertain terms. But our heroine keeps getting informations from almost everywhere, puts two and two together and knows she has to find out the killer on her own. With her son Shawn, at her side and a weird neighbour joining in, we are in for some hilarious moments and Sadie's arrest takes the cake! She manages to escape and does not give up until she gets into the bottom of it.

With a middle aged food obssessed heroine, this book was very funny to read despite the seriousness of the crime. Almost everyone seems to have skeletons in their cupboards and Sadie has to get those all out. I loved reading this breezy mystery book. Also the recipes given at the end of each chapter are a pleasure!

TSS: the clouds roll away by Sibella Giorello

Title: the clouds roll away
Author: Sibella Giorello
ISBN: 9781595545343
Publisher: Thomas Nelson/2010
Pages: 321

This is my second book by Giorello. I loved the rivers run dry. Sibella Giorello's writing is very different. Full of symbolism and wonderful imagery. That too in a suspense novel makes her writing very interesting to me. Taking a randam example:

'His tuxedo shined at the seams, his red bow tie sitting cockeyed. And his hair was sparse white Caeser ring, almost as white as his tennis shoes."

The book is filled with unusual metaphors. For someone who wrotes poetry, reading these are sheer pleasure.

Our forensic geologist Raleigh Harmon, has just returned to Richmond, Virginia and her welcome is less than luke warm. Her first assignment after her return, is to investigate a cross burning at RPMs house, who is a celebrity of some sort in the music world. Investigations leads to dark secrets which deals with racism. Somehow the KKK seems to be still alive and Raleigh can't find who might be involved. More she gets into it, more confusing it gets for her. There are some who don't want her to help RPM, who they think is an outsider. When many bodies are found, all those being murders, no breakthrough comes to her. She goes back and forth, with virtually no support from her superior. When it does, what with her forensic investigations and her faith, the ending is a surprise..

Raleigh is a believable character and so is her mother, who seems to have flipped her mind but is endearing. There is a romantic element but yet does not stiffle the book in any way. The plot does not seem fictional. It feels as if it can happen at any time at any place. In a way, we are still having hate crimes, against religion, against people of different colours. Has anything changed?

I am going to check out more books by Giorello. Thanks to Thomas Nelson for my copy of the novel.

The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris

Title: The Secret Keeper
Author: Paul Harris
ISBN: 978-0525951025
Publisher: Dutton Adult/2009
Pages: 336

Danny Kellerman, a journalist receives a letter from an ex-lover in Sierra Leone. It is a call for help from him. It had been posted four weeks before and he finds out that she has been murdered since then. He has to go there to find out what Maria wanted from him. When he lands up there, he gets embroiled in political system and finds out certain secrets about Maria.

War has ended but the place is still sitting in the midst of chaos and corruption. Danny doesn't know whom to trust and he has to go for it alone, not knowing exactly where he is going and for what. What was Maria involved in? She was an Aid worker, rescueing children from war zones, including child soldiers. Danny has to know the cause for which she died and who had her killed.

This novel is a very good portrayal of aftermath of a war, its impact on the poeople, and the utter despair of some, the corruption of the powers that are, rampant killing still a norm, people taking sides, children exploited and anyone who wishes to help them is eliminated. Danny has no interest in the country but he knows he has to do what Maria would have wanted him to do.

Maria is dead yet we feel her presence. At times it seems, she is going to walk out of the pages alive. We can feel Danny's emotions and his compulsions. For a debut, this novel is very well written and gives us a bird eye view of after shocks of war. Not exactly a feel good book but it sure is a satisfying read for all those, who want to read something realistic. And of course, it has that mystery element that is maintained till the end.