A book trio (but they aren't related!)

I've been reading a lot lately, mostly because I've picked some books that I just couldn't put down.  I love that.    I've put links to Amazon for books and Kindle books after each review, if you are interested.  So, here they are:

Book the First:
Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane.  LOVE his books.  Most of them (Couldn't seem to get into The Given Day).  This book has his recurring characters Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro and takes place 12 years after the events in his book Gone, Baby, Gone: A Novel (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro).  In that book, they investigate the disappearance of a 4 year old girl and in Moonlight Mile, they investigate her disappearance again, at age 16.  Patrick has lots of internal conflict about the previous case since it involved him returning the 4 year old to an abusive, drug addicted mother instead of leaving her in the wonderfully loving home her kidnapper (her concerned uncle) took her to.  Now it all comes back to him as he tries to find her again.  Very exciting page-turner.

If you haven't read his books, I highly recommend them.  They are detective stories jam packed with action and suspense.  Patrick Kenzie struggles with right/wrong as he acts on his instincts to bring people to justice.  And his friend Bubba is scary but hilarious.  Then there is Shutter Island (not a Patrick Kenzie book) which I read and couldn't put down but it. was. so. scary.

    Or get it for your kindle here:




Book the Second:
Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr.  This was the first time I had read anything by this author and got the recommendation from the  2 Knit Lit Chicks podcast.  They have read all of the books in the series and highly recommended them.  So I started with #1 in the series (I think there are 13).  This is a series that also has a recurring character, Anna Pigeon, who is a national park ranger and in the course of her work, stumbles upon murders in various national parks around the country.  In this first book, she is in Texas and is investigating the murder of another park ranger.  We get little peeks into Anna's life and how she got to Texas from New York .  Another page turner, with lots of little cliff hangers at the end of chapters.  It was a little difficult to follow the writing when it was describing the national park and the various hills and valleys --- clearly trying to set the scene, but I was having trouble picturing it.  In the end it didn't really matter, but it distracted me a little.  I will definitely read on to the next in the series, since I'm curious to know more about Anna and why she ends up in these various parks.
   or on your kindle here :

Book the Third:
Light on Snow by Anita Shreve.  I really like this author.  My sister loves her.  I have read a few of her books and liked most of them but some I felt plodded along.  Can't remember which ones now.  I have another book by her on my book shelf: Tesitmony.  She reminds me somewhat of Jodi Picoult because often there is some sort of moral dilemma on the line.

In this one, Nicky and her dad stumble upon something while snowshoeing in the woods.  The track their life takes from there is affected by this something (you have to read it to know what it is!) and brings on the moral dilemma.  But brought into it is also their tragic past and how these two worlds are colliding.  Nicky is 12 and the story is told through her eyes, so we also see the struggles a pre-teen goes through with all of these events.  While not action packed like the first two books, I still could not put this down for wanting to know what was going to develop and happen next.
   Or get it for your Kindle here:

So, there you have it.  I'm reading a new-to-me-author, Carol O'Connell, now.  More police detective mysteries and recurring characters.  Stay tuned...

And, remember when I said I really liked putting quotes on my weekly emails when I owned the yarn shop and so I was going to do it here?  And then I didn't?
Ha!  Here's one:

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home."

-- British Poet Edith Sitwell 

(...and for curling up by said fire with a great book!)