"Deeper Than The Dead" by Tami Hoag: 3 1/2 stars

The "romance" in this book isn't a full-fledged romance but it is enough to distract a little from suspense part of the book. Without it, the book could have been a stronger period police procedural. "Period" because the book is set in 1985 and the science of crime fighting has come a long way in 25 years. As the author notes in the introduction, DNA is not yet a standard part of the investigation, fingerprint evidence is compared manually, not by computer, and the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI is not yet popular enough to have its own TV show.

A series of murders in a small California town leads the police to suspect they may have a serial killer in their midst and they call the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit. There isn't enough evidence for the BSU to send a team but injured agent/profiler Vince Leone offers to go help on his own. His injury was distraction enough, the romance he starts with a local teacher pushed the distraction a little too far for me, and a troubled child brought it too close to soap opera to be a really good mystery. With the various other local detectives, I didn't get a strong enough feeling for any of the characters to really care about them.

I thought the killer's identity was telegraphed a little too much (though the author gives the reader a few obvious options); I like to be surprised and learn who it is along with the investigators. Even so, it was a pleasant summer hammock read.

There is a second book coming out later this winter, "Secrets to the Grave."  I will probably read that book just to see where the series is going but it won't be at the top of my reading list.

I got this book from the library.  Support your local library!

"Dead in the Family" by Charlaine Harris: 3 1/2 stars

I started reading this series long before the TV series and the main reason I liked it was because it wasn't the dark and broody kind of vampire story. There was humor and a lot more lightness. The last couple books have become so dark, I don't think I would have kept reading if the first books had been like this.

"Dead in the Family" picks up shortly after the ending of "Dead and Gone." If you haven't read that one, you probably should wait to read this book because it will spoil the ending of the earlier book. Even though the ending of Dead and Gone was pretty traumatic, there isn't much emotional continuity with this book -- new events come into play and dominate the story.

I don't want to say too much about the plot because I don't want to spoil it but on both the vampire and Were sides, the stuff that happens is dark and unhappy. And on the vampire front, it is pretty far out there with another historic figure as vampire. I think the idea of Bubba is hilarious. This particular vampire is just weird and icky.

I want more lightness and humor back in the stories. The TV series seems darker than the books on which they were based and I hope that is not steering the author away from the humor that was present in the earlier books. Sookie needs a break from the drama and, as a longtime fan of the series, I do too.

I got this book from the library.  Support your local library!

"The Taking of Libbie, SD" by David Housewright

This is the 7th book in the McKenzie series of mystery thrillers and it is one of the most enjoyable, in part because it is such a change of pace for the character. The series starts with "Dead Boyfriends" but if you haven't been reading the series all along, this would be a very good place to jump in.

Rushmore McKenzie is a former cop who left the St. Paul police force so he could collect a multi-million dollar reward for catching an embezzler. He has a deep sense of justice and chivalry and keeps himself busy doing favors for friends. Up to now, all the books have been set in the Twin Cities area -- and many are set in St. Paul. I love Minnesota mysteries by Minnesota authors so I have enjoyed the whole series, even if the last couple books came a little close to being travelogues.

The reason this would be a good book to try and see if you like the series is that the people and places that fill the other books are present mostly by phone -- and even then only occasionally. So the reader doesn't have to know the emotional nature of the relationships. McKenzie is completely out of his comfort zone (and out of the Twin Cities) in this book. The book starts as intruders break into his home, kidnap him and drive him in the trunk of a car to a small town in South Dakota.

A con man has used McKenzie's name and character to swindle the town and they sent bounty hunters to bring him back. They soon realize McKenzie is not the con man and ask him to help them find him and their money. McKenzie is angry at the treatment he received but eventually decides to do this, as much to learn why the con man chose to impersonate him as to help the town.

This is one of my favorite of the series, even though it isn't set in Minnesota, because the focus of the story is on the people -- McKenzie and the people of Libbie, SD -- rather than on geographical landmarks. It was fun following along as McKenzie talks to people to see what he can learn about the imposter in order to find him. There is plenty of action as well -- McKenzie hates bullies and he comes in contact with a couple of them in this small town.

I enjoyed this book a lot and recommend it. If you read this one, you will want to read the rest of the series!

I got this book from the library.  Support your local library!

"The Double Comfort Safari Club" by Andrew McCall Smith

Reading the books in this series is like visiting some distant relatives who are so relaxing to be around that you feel comfortable sitting down with them. After so many books the characters feel like old friends or family members and the descriptions of Botswana's landscape and people -- especially the traditional values loved by Precious Ramotswe -- are enjoyable to read.

The cases that come to the detective agency are not the usual mysteries but instead are often about human nature and are handled not with a gun or violence but a listening ear, a kind heart and a cup of tea. In this installment, there is a question of spousal infidelity, a man who has been taken advantage of by a scheming woman, and locating the unnamed beneficiary of a bequest. And a fiance's aunt who wants Mma Makutsi out of the picture.

Reading these books makes me happy.
 
I got this book from the library.

"Once A Spy" by Keith Thomson

What happens when a retired master spy gets Alzheimer’s? This is one of the most creative ideas for a spy novel I have seen. Charlie Clark has a bad relationship with his father and barely speaks to him. Charlie’s mother died when he was young. Charlie believes his father spent his entire career worked for a third-rate appliance company and resents all the things he missed in his childhood because of his father’s job and reluctance to do anything interesting. Now Charlie is a gambler in trouble with the Russian mob for his losses at the track and his father Drummond has memory loss problems.

Charlie gets a call to pick up his father who has wandered away from home and soon learns that nothing about his life is as he believed. Drummond’s job with the appliance company was a front: he spent his career as spy. The book is full of fast-moving action as Charlie and his father are running from people trying to kill them. Drummond alternates between confused forgetfulness and the skilled master spy he had been. And in between ducking bullets and trying to escape assassins, Charlie and Drummond rebuild their relationship.

I loved this book. The premise is creative and it was fun to read.

I got the book from the library.  Support your local library!

"Bodily Harm" by Robert Dugoni

This is the second book I have read in the David Sloane series by Robert Dugoni. The plot stands alone but you will lose some character development/understanding if you haven’t read at least one of the earlier books in the series – I think there was more explanatory character background in "Wrongful Death" than in this book.

The plot of this book is almost more about revenge than about a legal case – it’s much darker emotionally than the earlier book – and that got in the way of the plot for me. I think the book would have been better if Sloane had been acting as a lawyer and not out of personal motivation, but that’s just my personal opinion. The other thing that bothered me is that some crucial plot points often didn’t seem plausible: that a wrongful death malpractice case went to trial before a toy was ready for market, that a manufacturer wouldn’t notice that toys sent out for market research came back broken (or that they’d notice the damage but not take any action), that a manufacturer would be highly secretive about a new product but send it out to individual homes for focus group testing (I’d expect focus group testing to be in a controlled environment), and mostly that safety concerns about a “bet the company” product would be treated so cavalierly.

Readers who like their legal thrillers to have plenty of thrills will appreciate this book – there is danger surrounding several of the characters and lots of action. I love legal thrillers and enjoyed this book despite my reservations so will continue to read this author, but it was not my favorite example of the genre.

"Plan B" by Pete Wilson is a "must read" when you hit hard times.

This book, as one might guess from the title, is about those times when our life doesn’t go the way we planned (and not in a positive direction) and we wonder why God allowed these bad things to happen to us. The author wrote it to help people in Plan B situations move past the feelings of crisis, see God in their circumstances, make peace with doubt, find hope, and learn how to find spiritual transformation out of shattered dreams.

I loved this book as much as I hated being in circumstances that made it essential reading for me. I feel like I have been in Plan B so long I’ve exhausted the alphabet letters for “plans” and am hitting Plan B for the second time. The day I received this book, I had gotten discouraging news about a job I really wanted (and thought could be the job God wanted for me). I sat down to read it and wept as I read because it addressed the discouragement and anxiety I was feeling about my situation.

There are a couple things you need to know about Plan B:

1. It is unabashedly Christian and Bible based. The author brings it back to God again and again.

2. There are no easy answers or magic pill. This isn’t a Christian version of “The Secret” and there is no secret promise in the Bible for you to pray and claim to get out of your Plan B circumstances. The author says he doesn’t know why these things happen, how long they’re going to last and if we will ever understand the reasons they did. But what he does do is turn our focus back to God.

For me, the most important parts in the beginning of the book were the descriptions of people in the Bible whose lives went into Plan B mode (David, Joseph, Job, Naomi, Mary & Martha) and how God was with them during those times. And about halfway through the book, the author turns the focus away from the devastating effect of Plan B events and toward God – what He did for us on the cross, the power and hope of the resurrection (and how God works in hopeless situations) and the transformation that can come from tragedy. It helped me and I expect I will re-read parts of it periodically until I get out of my Plan B situation.

If you are frustrated, discouraged, angry at God, anxious, or whatever emotion you might be feeling because your life isn’t going in the direction you expected, you should read this book.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of writing a review.  You can download sample chapters at:  http://booksneeze.com/blogger/download/9780849946509 .