I’ll have to admit to a bit of prejudice about both the writer and the subject of this book. Mama Pajama is a real Whippet that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. She’s a Whippet whose heart is huge and whose will is made of iron. She’s  a credit to her breed in many, many ways. Patience Renzulli is a writer of great talent who is sure to charm you as well as entertain.

Mama Pajama Tells a Story is a collection of short stories and poems by Patience Renzulli. While Mama Pajama features in many of them, she’s not the only subject of the stories. Mama Pajama is one of the gaggle of eight owned and loved by Patience and Bill. Patience possesses this uncanny ability to do scrapbooking with words while husband Bill, talented artist that he is, provides the unique and charming illustrations that are sprinkled liberally throughout the book.

You will laugh uninhibitedly at the tales of Patience and Bill and the Warburton Whippets. You’ll know each and every one of these wonderful hounds by page 10 and have tears rolling by page 110.

Even if you’re not a dog lover in particular, Patience’s stories and poems carry charm, wit, and even a little bit of teachings in how to be a better person.

Mama Pajama Tells a Story by Patience Renzulli
Illustrated by William F Renzulli
Published by Author House 2007
ISBN:978-1-4343-0624-1

I’ve managed to catch a rather ugly cold and have accompanying fever and chills, so snuggling in bed with hot tea, plenty of Kleenex, my electric blanket turned up high and a couple of not-very-deep books are just the ticket for this weekends’ activities.

Of course, I won’t be able to get away with just that, but hubby is usually pretty good about letting me have plenty of bed rest when I feel like I need it. I am the one who  pushes herself to do things when she would be better off staying home and out of the weather.

Which our weather is cool and damp. Think that makes it even more important I stay out of it.

The books on tap are romances — one a period romance and the other is contemporary. I don’t know if either will be worthy of a review at this point or maybe I’m just not able to concentrate enough to review them…whatever. I do hope you are healthy and doing well this New Year!

As J.D. Robb writes more and more of her “Death” series of books featuring Lieutenant Eve Dallas, the better the plots get and the more suspenseful the writing.

Nora Roberts writing under the pseudonym of J.D. Robb incorporates her formidable talent in creating tension filled scenes between romantic interests into the murder/suspense genre and does quite well with it! She still writes sizzling intimate scenes between love interests, but ramps up the complexity of these novels with interesting suspense plots.

Salvation in Death begins with a local priest being poisoned by the wine he’s presenting as the sacrament at the funeral of one of New York’s most beloved citizens of the year 2060. Lt. Dallas’ investigation soon reveals that this priest is not all that he seems to be.

Then, before Eve can close in on the killer of the priest, a popular television evangelist is killed in like manner! This throws Eve off the scent but only for a minute as she quickly determines that, despite the similar m.o. and profession of the murder victims, this is a copy-cat murder and swiftly brings the murderer to justice.

All throughout the book is the recurrent theme of child abuse, rape and gang wars. Eve herself was abused and raped by her father as a child, and when it became too much, she killed her own father in self defense. It’s because of this past that she is empathetic to several of the individuals she sees as prime suspects in the murder of the false priest.

Eve wastes no time on building bed frames to house her case against one parishioner with a long-established motive for wanting the false priest dead. She just has to tie the prior gang moll to the actual crime.

Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb
Published by Putnam Adult (November 4, 2008)

• ISBN-10: 0399155228
• ISBN-13: 978-0399155222

Kinsey Millhone is someone I can totally relate to. She’s independent, smart and her friends tend to be older people. She doesn’t like to jog, but makes herself jog in order to stay in shape. It also helps offset the poor diet of Quarter Pounders she likes to live on. Harry, her landlord gave her a headset for Christmas so she has music to jog to — the book is set in 1978 which is pre-MP3 players, so it’s more like a Walkman. Harry is 86 years young. Her neighbor, Gus is also in his 80’s.

When Gus falls and dislocates his shoulder, his only living relative, Melanie - a great niece - flies to California from New York to make decisions about his living condition. She decides he needs a companion and hires Kinsey to check out the only applicant for the job.

Solana Rojas is not what she seems. She’s stolen this identity and it’s not the first time shes stolen one either. Kinsey, although not at all comfortable with the woman can find nothing on her resume to warrant telling Gus’ niece not to hire her and Melanie is desperate to get someone to stay with Gus so she can return to New York and her job.

Once hired, Solana begins taking over Gus’ life, his bank accounts and selling off his antiques and painting collection. She’s also sedating Gus to keep his irascible personality at bay as well as keep him confused and unaware of all the things she’s doing to ruin his life. Kinsey picks up that all is not well with Gus and when she sees a cutoff notice for his electricity bill and then sneeks a peek at his bank book, she sure something is wrong.

She calls a county agency for elder abuse, but the investigator is young and not savvy to the ways of the accomplished abuser, and Solana is able to convince her that Kinsey has a grudge against her and the complaint is totally unfounded. Solana has alredy gotten  herself appointed as Gus’  conservator under her real name of Cristina Tasinato which gives her total power over Gus’ finances and property.

Now it’s a race against time to  see if Kinsey can save Gus from the clutches of this wily and tough woman who has stolen from elderly people before.

Sue Grafton’s character, Kinsey is a well written one –she’s not miss perfect and revels in that fact. She’s no good at personal relationships that are deep as is evidenced by her two divorces and the fact that she lives alone. I’ve watched Kinsey grow and mature through the books Ms. Grafton has written around her. All set in a smallish town in California.

The protagonist in this book is probably one of the best that Ms. Grafton has created in this  series. She’s complicated and yet we see her evil and abhor the things she does to her elderly patients.

T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton
Published by The Berkley Publishing Group 2008
ISBN:978-0-425-22484-7

I’m in the process of reading Sue Grafton’s T is for Tresspass — that review will be coming by the weekend.

Waiting in the wings is Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb who as you may or may not know is Nora Roberts writing under a pseudonym.

Eve Dallas is the heroine in Robb’s Death series of books. They are all set in the future, but not so far in the future that the familiar things of our world are completely missing. There is still a need for acne treatments, weight loss pills and there are still murders, gangs and crimes committed even in the year 2060. State-of-the-art investigative tools notwithstanding, Eve has her work cut out for her in solving the murder of  Father Miguel Flores.

I’m also looking forward to reading Brisingr, Christopher Paolini’s latest in the series of books about the Inheritance Cycle. I’m wondering if this is the last of that series or if, as was hinted on his website, there might be one more to come. I think I’ll have a clearer picture of the answer when I finish reading Brisingr.

And last but not least, on order and coming soon to the Reading Nook is Andrew Vachss‘ latest and last in the Burke series, Another Life.

I’m thinking about getting the other books in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series — what do you think? Should I or not?

I am a fan of Nora Roberts and have been for a goodly number of years. While I don’t profess to having read even a fraction of this prolific writers works, I’ve read a fair number of them in all genres she choses to write in.

I have especially enjoyed the ones where she includes bits of magic lore or “witchcraft”, so when the first of this trilogy came out “Blood Brothers” I read it with relish. She drew me into the town of Hawkins Hollow and the story of the three boys all born of different mothers on the same night at the same time and how, when they were 10 years old, they snuck out and performed a ritual that made them blood brothers. The ritual also unleashed a terror that had been held, contained for centuries. A terror waiting for the three boys to unleash it so that, in time, it could be vanquished forever.

Every seven years, on the seventh of July starting at midnight, many of the inhabitants go a little crazy and do things they wouldn’t normally do. They kill each other, burn and maim. As the years pass, each successive seven gets worse and more frightening. Then, the year of their 31st birthday, twenty-one years after they unwittingly unleashed the terror, three women come to town and the six people discover a bond.

It’s a bond of family; a bond of shared history. Together the six research, plot and plan to finally bring the horror to an end.

Nora Roberts is a skillful weaver of tales. Her characters are all very human in their needs, desires, strengths and weaknesses. While none of them need fat burners, they are otherwise pretty much like you and me. She writes compelling and erotic love scenes that make every hero a lover beyond compare and every heroine a sexy, desireable woman.  While the events they may find themselves caught up in are challenging they are well within the bounds of do-able.

I enjoyed very much Blood Brothers and The Hollow, but the third in the series, Pagan Stone which is the climax of the trilogy left me unsatisfied. It was too cookie-cutter like many of the –other trilogies she’s written in scope and scenes. Even the two main characters seem way too -familiar and it’s not because they were introduced and were part of the other two books.-

So, while the series is a good one, it’s not a great one. If you’re new to Nora Roberts, and you don’t mind a little dark arts in your stories, you’ll enjoy this trilogy a lot. It moves along at a good clip and never leaves you wanting to rush through it.

Blood Brothers, The Hollow, Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts
Published by Jove Books, 2008
ISBN 978-0-515-14466-6

Cover via Amazon

I just got the last of the series of three in Norah Roberts’ the Sign of Seven Trilogy. I wanted to wait until I had read the last one before reviewing the series for you. A small hint –My magnetic bracelet has had to work hard to keep my wrist from seizing up as I hold the book up to read it

Another book coming down the pike is Sue Grafton’s T is for Trespass. It’s about identity theft — an issue we all should be concerned with! I’m looking forward to reading it and hope that you’re looking forward to my review of it.

I was given several boxes of paperback books that I’m slowly getting read. Since these were yard sale and flea market purchases for the most part, they are all older books that were published some time ago for the most part. Most of the collection are pulp fiction romance novels, but there are a few gems among the chaff.

The Andrew Vachss book was one of them and this book, Hour of the Manatee is another.

I grew up in Florida and know it fairly well, so I can tell you from personal knowledge that E.C. Ayres knows it too. The descriptions of the communities, the small town attitudes and habits that are depicted in Hour of the Manatee are accurate and brought back memories of that earlier life of mine.

But you want to hear about the book, not my reminisces from my past…

Hour of the Manatee is about Tony Lowell, a shaggy 1960’s kind of guy (my kind!). He’s an ex professional photographer who, in his past created many award winning shots. He’s now a teacher of photography at a small junior college in the town of Manatee Bay and sometime private investigator.

It’s in the latter profession that he becomes embroiled in finding out just what truly happened back in 1966 when Henry Hartley III was drowned during a party on his yacht.

The late Mr. Hartley’s housekeeper has contacted Tony to begin the investigation, but before she can tell him more than a few of the facts, she’s fatally shot. It seems that she witnessed Henry Hartley being pushed overboard by his wife. The housekeeper, Maureen Fitzgerald was hustled off to a sanitorium after the murder by the man who would eventually become Henry’s wife’s lawyer and then husband and  his friend. She’s kept there for twenty years before a doctor on staff releases her in defiance of the standing orders to keep her there.

He’s killed for his troubles and is just one of the many murders perpetrated by the people trying to keep the murder of Henry out of the public eye.

EC Ayres writes a great character in Tony Lowell, but not so convincing female characters. Detective Lena Bedrosian is supposed to be another key figure in the book, but she’s left to the last half of it and her character is rough around the edges despite the $500 Halston suit. I really got the feeling that Ayres was not very comfortable with her at all.

It’s obvious that Ayres is either VERY familiar with sailing and sailing vessels or did a fantastic amount of research (and I suspect the former here — just too much love of sailing is coming through) as his descriptions of Lowell’s restoration of a sailing schooner and a subsequent chase scene that involves two sailing vessels is very well written with rich detail.

Written in 1994, the story line of Hour of the Manatee could be occurring this very day (and may very well be!). Overall an enjoyable book to read with a well fleshed-out hero and a not-so-well fleshed out heroine.

Hour of the Manatee is the first of four Tony Lowell books published by Ayres. A fifth book is written, but not yet published. Mr. Ayres lives in Southern China where he teaches and writes. He does not have a current website (he used to have one on AOL Hometown which has been closed down now). Per Amazaon.com’s biography, two major books are to be published, but no titles or dates were provided.

Hour of the Manatee by E.C. Ayres
Published by St. Martin’s Press 1994
ISBN:0-312-95406-9

Every once in awhile an established author will use his or her most well known character to put across a social more or call attention to an issue.

James Patterson has done just that with Cross Country.

Alex Cross becomes embroiled in a search for a murderer that takes him to Africa where he witnesses many atrocities and the conditions that the people of Nigeria, Darfur and the Sudan live in every day of their lives. He witnesses one brutal murder after another, genocide in action and is not only repelled by it, but galvanized to do what he can to stop the killings.

Indeed, Dr. Cross should have gotten some insurance quotes before he left because he barely escapes with his life only to return to Washington DC where his beloved family is kidnapped and held while the kidnappers and the CIA try to determine the secrets that Cross brought out of Africa with him.

Secrets that if let loose, might very well start a global conflagration the likes of which the world has never seen!

Not for the weak stomached reader, this Cross is blunt force trauma in written form. Read at your own risk!

Cross Country by James Patterson
Published by Little, Brown and Company, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-316-01872-2

Micki Jordan is publicist to the brightest stars in the sports world. She’s totally comfortable with the world of sports, men’s locker rooms and the media spotlight, she’s not so comfortable with her more feminine side.

But she’s taken a header for the playboy, man about town baseball star, Damian Fuller and in order to get his reciprocal attention, with the help of her sister and the machinations of her uncle, she’s revamping her look to become one hot number.

When Damian is hit with a paternity suit and her uncle is hospitalized with a broken hip, Micki’s world takes on a series of complications that pull her in multiple directions. She would LIKE to punch Damian’s lights out and do the same to her uncle who wouldn’t feel it thanks to his pain pump, but instead she grits her teeth and deals with Damien’s issue with the same clear-sighted and pragmatic approach she’s dealt with other sports figures’ faux pas.

By the time the paternity test Micki’s recommended comes back that Damian is not the father, he’s come to the realization that Micki is the girl he wants to settle down with, but she’s decided that it’s too risky to risk her heart again on him.

So how will Damian win Micki in the end?

Why the way any other star athlete does — he has his agent cut a deal

Hot Number by Carly Phillips
published by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd 2005
ISBN 0-373-77055-3