Shell Game by Sara Paretsky, 304 pages

Shell Game is #19 in Sara Paretsky's  V.I. Warshawski series.  Victoria, VI Warshwaski, is a no nonsense private investigator based in Chicago.

In this story she is back in Chicago and trying to find a missing niece, Reno, she didn't even know was in Chicago, along with trying to keep Felix, the great nephew of a dear friend out of jail.

Sara Paretsky comes through once again with a smart, fast paced, and gritty mystery.  I enjoyed every minute of it.

Fallout by Sara Paretsky, 304 pages

I have no good excuse as to why it took me so long to read "Fallout."  This is book #18 in Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski mystery series.  V.I. is a tough and smart female private investigator based in Chicago.  In this outing she travels to Lawrence, KS to find an aging actress and her young biographer who have disappeared from Chicago.

As usual Paretsky delivers smart writing, an engaging fast-paced story and plenty (but not too much) grit.  Happily, in the time it took me to get around to reading this one Sara Paretsky has published another V.I. Warshawski novel.  "Shell Game" is on deck to be read darned soon!

Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie 256 pages

When young Gwen finds the home of her dreams, she is over the moon.  She and her husband are moving to England from New Zealand where she was raised by an aunt.  The house is everything she had hoped to find.  There is only one problem, she begins to suspect either she is clairvoyant or the house is haunted.  How could she know things about the house that were changed years ago?  And why did she have such a terrifying vision of a woman lying strangled in the hallway with a mystery man standing over her?  Lucky for her, Miss Jane Marple is the aunt of her friend Raymond.  This is indeed very fortunate, as Miss Marple may be the only one to figure out what has happened before and prevent it from happening again.  I enjoyed this as an audiobook.

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie 191 pages

When the body of a young lady is found in the library of Colonel and Mrs. Bantry, the whole village is sure to be talking.  Fortunately, Mrs. Bantry is very good friends with Jane Marple.  Miss Marple, in her quiet, gentle way, may be the only one who can untangle this mess and clear her friends' names.  Along the way, she may also help some other people who didn't even know they needed her.  I listened to this audiobook and enjoyed it very much.

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton 307 pages

I have listened to this one before, but I like going back and getting to know Kinsey all over again.  You get glimpses of the character she will become, even though it's not fully there in the first installment of Grafton's Alphabet series.  When a woman who has just been released from prison after serving time for the murder of her husband approaches Kinsey with a job.  She wants Kinsey to find out who really killed her husband.  It was a long time ago, and it means opening old wounds, but Kinsey jumps in.  The real problem will be staying alive, the closer she gets to discovering the answer.  I listened to this audiobook and enjoyed it very much.

X (Kinsey Millhone #24) by Sue Grafton, 403 pages

Sue Grafton is up to "X" in her alphabet series of books featuring private investigator, Kinsey Millhone.  The books are set in the 1980s, pre-internet, pre-cell phones.  Kinsey makes full use of phone books and payphones.  Ahh, those were the days.

I never did figure out why this book was called "X" except that is the letter Grafton had to work with.  There were three stories happening here:  Kinsey and her landlord Henry have some new neighbors who turn out to be a nightmare; Kinsey is following up on cases from Pete Wolinsky, a private eye who died in "W is for Wasted" and ends up tangling with a very nasty man indeed and finally she plays reluctant marriage counselor to a feuding rich couple.

 I listened to this book and enjoyed it.  Sue Grafton has kept me interested and engaged through 24 letters of the alphabet and I'm looking forward to finishing the journey with "Y" and "Z".

Brush Back (V.I Warshawski #17) by Sara Paretsky, 459 pages

Sara Paretsky is one of my favorite authors of female detective stories.  This is #17 in her series about Chicago private investigator, Victoria (VI) Warshawski.  I don't know if her stories are far enough apart that they all seem unique or if Ms. Paretsky is just an excellent author, but I haven't read a bad VI Warshawski yet, and I'm pretty sure I've caught all 17.

These are gritty, adult books.  Meaning, Paretsky has a large vocabulary and isn't afraid to use it.

In this outing, VI is contacted by an old high school boyfriend who never made it out of the tough south Chicago neighborhood where they grew up.  He asks VI to help exonerate his mother of a crime for which she spent 25 years in jail.  VI reluctantly visits his mother, Stella Guzzo, and the meeting doesn't go well.  VI is sucked back into the old neighborhood, the 25 year old murder case of Stella's daughter and worst of all, dirty Chicago politics.  

Kinsey & Me: Stories by Sue Grafton, 268 pages

I have read Sue Grafton since "A is for Alibi" and am waiting my turn for "X."  I've had this book ready to listen to for several months and decided now was the time.  The book is in two parts, the first and majority of the book, features short stories with Kinsey Millhone, the female detective Grafton is famous for.  The second half is "Me" (Grafton) written as Kit Blue, dealing with her alcoholic mother's death.

I am not a usual reader of short stories and the Kinsey stories were not as good as a full-length novel because she just kept figuring stuff out lickety split.  Boom! Solved.  I think the Kit Blue stories must have been very cathartic for Ms. Grafton, but they were dark and difficult to listen to.

Crash & Burn by Lisa Gardner, 400 Pages

Oh boy, I love Lisa Gardner's books.  This is the 3rd book featuring private investigator Tessa Leone.  It may be billed as a Tessa Leone book, but it more prominently  features her now-boyfriend New Hampshire Sheriff Department Sergeant Wyatt Foster.  Besides working hard on a case he is also struggling to get Tessa's 9-year old daughter Sophie to warm up to him.

One thing I like so much about Lisa Gardner's books is that while she writes many different series, featuring different characters, those characters often pop up in her other books.  Boston Detective D.D. Warren has a cameo here.

Okay, on to the story.  Nicky Frank crashes her car in a deep ravine.  She is desperate to get help for Vero so crawls to the top of the hill through rain and mud and flags down a motorist.  But who is Nicky and who is Vero?  That's what Wyatt works to unravel after he is called to the scene.  This is a top notch thriller.

The Job by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, 304 pages

"The Job" is book 3 in the Fox and O'Hare series by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg.

The books feature Kate O'Hare, straight laced FBI agent, secretly tasked to work with the con man she worked so hard to catch, Nicolas Fox.

Nick now works for the FBI, though very few people know that.  He helps take down bad guys through elaborate, crazy, hilarious cons with the help of a zany crew that includes Kate's bored, retired, elite military dad.

The books have laugh out loud humor and fun, if implausible adventures.  But who cares?  Just relax and enjoy it.

"A" is for Alibi by Sue Grafton 307 pages

This is the first in Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone Mysteries series.  We meet Kinsey, a woman who quit the police force because the politics and restrictions limited what could actually be accomplished for the sake of justice.  She has been working as a private investigator for a while, mostly for the insurance company with whom she shares office space.  Running down false insurance claims is quite a bit different from the case presented to her by Nikki.  Nikki has just finished serving time for her husband's murder and she wants Kinsey to find out who really killed him.  Kinsey is intrigued.  If Nikki had really murdered him, it seems unlikely she would bother hiring a P.I. to track down a phantom murderer.  Unfortunately, every time Kinsey follows a good lead, someone else dies.  If she makes it out of this alive, she might make it to "B" is for Burglar.  This is a fun little book and I like Kinsey as a character, especially as the series matures.  I listened to this book on CD read by Mary Peiffer, who was adequate, but nothing special as a reader.

Fear Nothing by Lisa Gardner, 400 pages

"Fear Nothing" is the 7th Detective D.D. Warren book.  I found author Lisa Gardner last year, with a push from Carolyn Cunningham.  We'd just gotten a batch of new audiobooks in at the Downtown Library and I selected one to checkout and Carolyn told me I also needed to listen to the Lisa Gardner book.  Since that time, I have listened to all of Lisa Gardner's books that I can find.

D.D. Warren is a tough female homicide detective in Boston.  In "Fear Nothing" she is injured on the job after returning to a gruesome crime scene after dark.  She has no memory of what happened, but is unable to return to work due to the injury.  The crime harkens back to a long dead serial killer, Harry Day.

The other major character in the story is D.D.'s pain doctor, Adeline Glen, who happens to be the daughter of serial killer Harry Day.  Adeline has a rare genetic condition that makes her unable to feel pain.  Adeline's sister, Shana Day, is also a notorious murderer who seems to know something about this new killer.

I thought a couple of times towards the end that I was going to be disappointed in the outcome.  I was wrong.  Lisa Gardner has produced another great suspense story.

Critical Mass by Sara Paretsky, 480 pages

Critical Mass is the 16th V.I. Warshawski book by Sara Paretsky. One of the great thing about this series is it's not necessary to know the back story from the previous books to enjoy the current one.

Victoria Warshawski, otherwise known as V.I. or Vic, is a successful private investigator in Chicago. She's tough, she's smart and she doggedly pursues the bad guys. This story involves a missing man who is a computer wizard and grandson of an old acquaintance of V.I's dear friend Lottie. Lottie and the grandmother, Kitty, were Jewish children who escaped Austria during World War II. The story involves the current missing man and goes back to World War II and the competition to develop the first atomic bomb. It's all intertwined. 

Sara Paretsky is a great storyteller. I read this book between Thanksgiving and after-Christmas and had to frequently put it down to deal with, you know - life. I begrudgingly put it down each time and eagerly picked it back up. The story shouldn't be read like that, but you do what you gotta do. I love that these books provide advanced vocabulary lessons too. I always learn a new word or two . . . or three from Paretsky's books. She writes intelligent, well-written fiction. I couldn't ask for more.

W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton 496 pages



I've been with Sue Grafton and her character Kinsey Millhone since "A is for Alibi" was published way back in 1982 while I was in highschool. Thirty-one years have passed in my life, but in "W is for Wasted" it is only 1988 for Kinsey so only 6 years have passed in book-time.

I find it refreshing that she still heads to the library to peruse the old city directories and phone books when she is looking for someone and has to use a map when detecting out of town, instead of using the GPS on her cell phone.

Sue Grafton continues to write a good story and I'll be with her through Z is for  . . . whatever it is.  Though I am eagerly awaiting what she comes up with for "X."  So far I've never guessed correctly for any of her titles.