It's that time again!
Sweet Little Lies, by Caz Frear. D.C. Cat Kinsella is hesitant as she investigates the murder of a young Islington housewife. The woman's body was found not far from the pub run by Cat's estranged father. When the woman turns out to be a girl the Kinsellas had met on holiday years earlier, Cat finds herself torn between loyalty to her dysfunctional family and dedication to her job. Full of twists and turns, this was a riveting procedural.
The Moth Presents: All These Wonders, edited by Catherine Burns. I am hopelessly in love with The Moth podcast. For those of you who are unfamiliar, The Moth is a non-profit group based out of New York City that is dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. The group presents a wide range of themed storytelling events across the country--many of which have been recorded for the long-running podcast, which was my introduction. Celebrating their 20th anniversary (The Moth was founded in 1997), this collection of 45 stories culled from their events focuses on stories about risk, courage, and facing the unknown. I read this collection over two days, so enthralled was I in these people's stories. I very highly recommend both the book and the podcast--they are honest, wise, insightful, life-changing.
On Call in the Arctic, by Thomas J. Sims. As Sims was finishing his residency and on the cusp of beginning his career as a pediatric surgeon, he was alerted to the impending change in his life: he was going to be drafted as a M.A.S.H. surgeon and sent to Vietnam. His alternative was accepting a commission in the U.S. Public Health Service for an assignment in Anchorage, Alaska--he took it, and brought along his very pregnant wife and young daughter when the moved days later. His life changed again when he was reassigned: instead of being Chief of Pediatrics in Anchorage, he would now be serving as the sole physician in Nome, providing medical care to not only Nome's residents, but also those of thirteen surrounding Eskimo villages, with very little support and in archaic conditions. The stories he relates in this memoir are truly amazing, by turns spine-tingling, jaw-dropping, and heart-warming. I'm recommending this to readers who also liked The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel.
Leverage in Death, by J.D. Robb. When a marketing executive walks into a board meeting wearing a suicide vest and takes out friends and coworkers on the day his company was set to sign a significant merger, NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is puzzled. She soon finds that the man's family was held hostage as collateral, forcing the man to commit this unthinkable act. But who would do such a thing? And why? The motive seems murky, only slowly clearing as the case progresses. I have to say, this was not one of my favorites in this long-running series--the pacing was off, there was a huge amount of stock market information that I personally found tedious. Your mileage may vary.
Today Will Be Different, by Maria Semple. This morning, Eleanor will take small actions to get her life in order. She will follow through. She will be a responsible adult, a good wife, an attentive mother, a patient friend. This ordinary, responsible day begins a slow-but-sure nosedive after her son finagles his way out of school for the day and then she finds that her husband, Joe, has told his office (but not her) that he's on vacation for the week. Eleanor abandons all of her best intentions in favor of unraveling the mysteries before her, because how is a person supposed to be a responsible adult when everything you counted on being true may not be? This second novel by Semple, author of the best-selling Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, was everything I needed it to be: introspective, funny, irreverent, and deeply relatable.
The Stranger Beside Me, by Ann Rule. Ann Rule, former policewoman, crime journalist, was volunteering at a crisis call center in Seattle as a series of murders occurred in the area. Then the crimes stopped as quickly as they started. Several years later, a man in Florida was arrested after a horrific multiple murder in a sorority house. The man was Ted Bundy, and man who was eventually linked to more than thirty murders across the country, and a man who had once been a fellow volunteer in the same crisis center as Ann Rule. This is her story, both of the crimes and of the man who committed them. I'm a true crime buff, and this really is the ultimate true crime story.
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