Book Cover of the Month: February

My favorite book cover for this month was done by illustrator Leuyan Pham. She illustrated both the cover and inside pages for Gene Luen Yang's Lunar New Year Love Story. It is also my best book for this month. Pham was born in Vietnam. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles from 1991 to 1993, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1996 from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. After graduation, she worked as a layout artist from 1996 to 1999 at Dreamworks Animation. She then quit to illustrate children's books full-time.

What I love most about this book cover is the color. The reds and purples mix well together and produce an eye catching piece of art. This color pallette is continued throughout the inside The reader knows they are getting a happy story because of the color palette.

Book of the Month: February

Lunar New Year Love Story is my best book for this month. It is a graphic novel written by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Leuyen Pham. As the title suggests, the story is about a couple who cannot get together as a couple during their senior year of high school. They are part of a dance troupe who perform as lions and dragons at lunar new year festivals and other Chinese events. While the two kids can dance together beautifully the girl, Val, doesn't know who she wants as a boyfriend. This book is clean reading, no sex or foul language, perfect for young adults.

Stacking the Shelves #32

As I mentioned last Saturday, it's hard to think about reading another book when you're in the middle of 750+ page biography. Jon Meacham's Lincoln biography And There Was Light was a bear to get through. I am exhausted from reading it and probably won't be able to read anything else until next month. 

However, the show must go on as they say. I obtained copy of Luana Ehrlich's Three Weeks in Washington from Kindle Unlimited for the Clock Reading Challenge. The book is part of her Titus Ray Thriller Series which I have been enjoying this year. 

In Three Weeks CIA intelligence operative, Titus Ray, arrives in Washington, D.C. on the day a terrorist enters the Washington Navy Yard and murders five people. He is convinced the incident is connected to a Hezbollah plot to use chemical weapons on an American city. As usual, Titus will jeopardize his own career in order to interrogate the killer and learn the truth.

The story sounds interesting and I am looking forward to reading the book.

And There Was Light

Last year I bought a copy of Jon Michael's newest  book, And There Was Light. It is a biography of Abraham Lincoln and it covers his entire life from birth to death. It has received a couple of awards. The book won the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize and was longlisted for the Biographers International Plutarch Award. Both Kirkus Reviews and the Christian Science Monitor said it was one of the best books of the year for 2022. It took me awhile to get through it's 750 pages but it was well worth it. Note that this review is going to be long. There is a lot to say, yet I have left much comment out.

It is obvious that Meacham idolizes Lincoln as he describes Lincoln’s self-education, romances with women, bouts of depression, political successes and failures, and his faith. In America Lincoln tends to be seen as the greatest of American presidents. I don't disagree with this statement but in this book Meacham gives the reader a new portrait of a very human Lincoln, an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment, essential to the story of justice in America, began as he grew up in antislavery Baptist churches. What was surprising to me was the number of times in Lincoln's life that his friends had to watch over him for several weeks or months to prevent him from killing himself. After his first love Ann Rutledge died he was despondent and unable to work for months. When his son Willie died, he had to be watched over again. It is interesting that history tells us that Mary Todd Lincoln lost her mind after this loss. However, Abe was in worse shape. He was suicidal. I counted the number of times that he was suicidal to be 7 times during his life. 

Meacham addresses Lincoln’s religious faith by stating in the Prologue: 

Raised in an antislavery Baptist ethos in Kentucky and in Indiana, Lincoln was not an orthodox Christian. He never sought to declare a traditional faith. There was no in-breaking light, no thunderbolt on the road to Damascus, no conviction that, as the Epistle to the Philippians put it, “every knee should bow” and declare Jesus as Lord. There was, rather, a steadily stronger embrace of the right in a world of ambition and appetite. To Lincoln, God whispered His will through conscience, calling humankind to live in accord with the laws of love. Lincoln believed in a transcendent moral order that summoned sinful creatures, in the words of Micah, to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God—eloquent injunctions, but staggeringly difficult to follow. “In the material world, nothing is done by leaps, all by gradual advance,” the New England abolitionist Theodore Parker observed. Lincoln agreed. “I may advance slowly,” the president reputedly said, “but I don’t walk backward.” His steps were lit by political reality, by devotion to the Union, and by the importuning of conscience.  Meacham, Jon. And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (pp. 15-16). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

 

“I have often wished that I was a more devout man than I am,” Lincoln said in his White House years. “Nevertheless, amid the greatest difficulties of my Administration, when I could not see any other resort, I would place my whole reliance on God, knowing that all would go well, and that He would decide for the right.”  Meacham, Jon. And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (pp. 16-17). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

 

Lincoln, who knew slavery, saw it, and was likely exposed to teaching and preaching that declared it wrong. Still, there was something in the faith of his father that kept Lincoln from declaring himself a believer and joining the church in which he was raised. Perhaps he disliked following his father, a parent with whom he had a complicated relationship on the best of days. Perhaps he was uncomfortable with the Baptist expression of predestination, which held that an omnipotent God had previously determined who was to be saved and who was to be damned, a theological assertion derived from John Calvin. Perhaps he never truly felt the call to make a public assent to the claims of the frontier Baptist sect he knew. And perhaps he sensed, at some level, a discrepancy between scripture, which Lincoln was coming to know well, and religious doctrine.  Meacham, Jon. And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (pp. 60-61). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  

 

Lincoln's step-mother Sarah Bush Lincoln recalled. “He read all the books he could lay his hands on.” The psalms of the King James Version were favorites, as were the hymns of Isaac Watts. Meacham, Jon. And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (p. 70). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  

 

I personally believe that conflicts over his father's abusive treatment was the reason he never joined a church. Lincoln did, however, get his anti-slavery stance from his father so it was complicated. Another reason I believe Thomas Lincoln was the reason is that Abe never introduced his children to Thomas or his step-mother.  

A president who govered a divided country has a lot to teach us in the twenty-first-century given the polarization and political crisis we are currently experiencing. I was amazed at how similar our past is just like our present. There are the same calls for state's rights. In fact, until the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, the U.S. Constitution was interpreted to mean that the federal government could not force the states to do anything. This is the reason that abolitionist leaning leaders did nothing to stop slavery. Lincoln changed this interpretation which angered both pro-slavery and anti-slavery people. Lincoln also ruled by executive order. He was the first president to do this and we know from current headlines how well this goes over. Citizens called for Lincoln to be assassinated the day after his election and then continued until he was assassinated. Also, he had to come to Washington for his inaugural disguised as someone else. In addition, I was surprised to learn that the southern states began seceding a few days after his election and all but one state had seceded before his inaugural. Southerners knew that Lincoln would outlaw slavery and did not wait until he was in office to take action. There was speculation that they would take over Mexico or the Central American countries and create a new nation based on slavery. Many of the confederate leaders were U. S. Senators and willingly resigned their offices in support of the south.

And There Was Light is a fantastic account of Abraham Lincoln's life. While there is a lot of minutiae concerning his political fights, it is good that we have this record to lean back on.  I am rating the book 5 out of 5 stars.

Stacking the Shelves #31

It's hard to think about picking up another book when you've just begun a 750 page non-fiction book. But . . . I noticed that J. M. Cannon has come out with a new book titled Girl in the Dark. Cannon wrote Blood Oranges which was one of my favorite books in 2023. Girl in the Dark was published two days ago on February 15, 2024 and I obtained a free copy from Kindle Unlimited.

Here is how the publisher summarized the story:

On a cold evening in November, Zoey Knight gets a frantic call from her sister. Their childhood home in remote Maine has burned to the ground. Two bodies have been discovered in the basement.

When the FBI suddenly takes over the case, it's clear something more sinister than a random double homicide has taken place.

Rumors go back to The Family-cult or commune, the wealthy enclave of Black Castle, Maine has never been sure. Twenty years ago, after the disappearance of a local girl, the group vanished. Now, signs of them are resurfacing.

Zoey finds this is no ordinary conspiracy. It doesn't just involve strangers, but the very people she loves. And if she wants the truth, she'll have to risk everything to find out.

The book has mixed reviews on Goodreads with ratings spanning from 2 stars to 5 stars. I have high hopes for the book based upon Blood Oranges. If I ever finish Jon Meacham's Lincoln biography And There Was Light, I will start reading this novel next.

The Kind Worth Saving

The Kind Worth Saving is another fabulous thriller from Peter Swanson. Published in 2023, the novel follows the devious plots of Joan Grieve Whalen to get rid of, rather to kill, anyone she does not like.

It all began the summer of Joan's sophomore year in high school when her family spent a month by the beach in Maine. After a new friend, Duane, tries to force her into making out she flees back to the safety of the Windward Resort where both are staying. Bored by her parent's activities Joan visits the hotel's library the next night looking for something to read. There she meets Richard Seddon, a fellow student at Dartford-Middleham High School. They never before crossed paths though. Richard was a loner who was the subject of much ridicule while Joan was a popular gymnast.

The two strike up a long conversation wherein Joan talks about a jerk she met the previous evening. Richard already knew about it because he shared a room at the hotel with Duane, who was his cousin. He told her that Duane said she had slept with him. Continuing, Richard said he would like to kill Duane because he was a bad person. Possibly a rapist. He spent the next hour talking about ways to do it. Feeling that he was joking, Joan made suggestions in jest.

Fast forward twenty years and Joan turns up at private inves­tigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her realtor husband whom she believes is cheating. Joan makes him feel ill at ease. The sight of her stirs up a chilling memory. He knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher at Dartford-Middleham High School, when he was at the center of a tragedy. What should be a simple investigation of infidelity becomes much more complicated when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a for sale sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself, and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth. He wonders whether Joan knew anything about that day, something she’s hidden all these years. Henry is determined to find out, enlisting help from his old nemesis Lily Kintner.

The Kind Worth Saving is a sequel to The Kind Worth Killing, which I did not read. I understand that the relationship between Henry and Lily is explained in the earlier book. It didn't seem to make any difference though because the current story doesn't involve Lily that much, at least not until the final third of the book.

The chapters alternate between multiple points of view and always ended with more and more questions concerning what happened between the characters in the past. This was what made the book suspenseful. I hated for each chapter to end but as the next chapter began I was immediately drawn into it as the continuation of a different character's story was so gripping.

All of the characters had grudges and obsessions from the past that were slowly revealed. Henry instinctively feels that he should stay away from Joan but he doesn't. Henry wants to follow through on his doubts about Joan to whatever end it takes him. It is the first time in his life that he follows anything through. He has had jobs as a teacher, policeman and a private detective. Each time he had conflict in those jobs he quit the jobs.

Richard Seddon does not have much contact with Joan but thinks about her every day. They have a special bond, though, from what they shared at the Windward Resort. Joan is the villain. On the surface she is the perfect housewife who falls victim to her husband's infidelity. However, deep down her uncontrollable anger gets her into trouble over and over.

The Kind Worth Saving was a pleasurable read. Mystery lovers will want to read it. 5 out of 5 stars.

Seoul Before Sunrise

Seoul Before Sunrise is French cartoonist Samir Dahmani's first graphic novel to be translated into English. It is scheduled for publication by Humanoids on May 21, 2024. Thanks to Net Galley I received an advanced review copy of it. The book follows a young woman who sparks an unlikely friendship with a stranger and begins walking the streets of Seoul with her at night.

The publisher's summary:

Longtime friends Seong-ji and Ji-won are excited to begin university in Seoul, swearing to stay close in the big city, but from the moment they arrive, they begin to drift apart.

Her focus split between her rigorous accounting program and her overnight job at a grocery store, Seong-ji tries to make peace with the loss. It’s during her overnight shifts that she encounters an enigmatic young woman who spends her nights entering the empty homes of other people to paint and photograph these places. Now, the normally rational Seong-ji finds herself swept up in a dreamlike otherworld, made up of freedom and creativity. As she explores these quiet places, she uncovers not only an intimate portrait of strangers, but perhaps even herself.

But as the nocturnal walks reveal the possibilities of the future, they also force her to relive the pain of her lost friendship with Ji-won…

This is a coming-of-age story where Seong-Ji eventually discovers that she is in love with her childhood friend Ji-won. When she finally tells Ji-won of her feelings, Ji-won is horrified and immediately ends their friendship. However, Seong-Ji has found a new friend in the stranger, a ghost, who befriended her at the store she works at. The ghost helps Seong-Ji see life more clearly through the lens of that liminal space between the end of the night but before the sun rises.

Seoul Before Sunrise is an emotional and sad story. I felt bad for Seong-ji as she waited day after day for contact from her childhood friend. She was an unhappy person due to the loss of this friendship. Seong-ji admitted to herself that she doesn't make friends easily and didn't have any other friends. She was lonely. When Ji-won finally contacts her 149 days after they arrived in Seoul, she is ecstatic. The story ends with the ghost entering the store looking for Seong-ji. However, she no longer was employed there because she was fired for leaving the premises during her shift. It's a sad ending but realistic. The artwork was done in watercolor by the author. One of his paintings was selected for the book cover. He has a diffuse style that perfectly fits a story that takes place in Korea. 5 out of 5 stars.

Lunar New Year Love Story

I adore Gene Lien Yang's graphic novels. They are always comical and light reading even is the topic is serious. His novels are also clean reading, no sex or foul language. I was not aware of his newest title until last week and immediately bought a copy. It is fantastic! This one is about a couple who cannot get it together during their senior year of high school. There are a few magical creatures as characters as befitting a Chinese story.

The publisher's summary:  

She was destined for heartbreak. Then fate handed her love.

Val is ready to give up on love. It's led to nothing but secrets and heartbreak, and she's pretty sure she's cursed—no one in her family, for generations, has ever had any luck with love.

But then a chance encounter with a pair of cute lion dancers sparks something in Val. Is it real love? Could this be her chance to break the family curse? Or is she destined to live with a broken heart forever?

Yang gives us realistic characters. Valentina, or Val, grew up with just one parent, her father. When she finds out the he lied about her mother' death she stops speaking with him for almost a year. Val's best friend Bernice is also raised by a single parent, her mother. Bernice cannot stand to be without a boyfriend and within 24 hours of a break up she finds a new love. We all knew someone like that when we were growing up. Val is the complete opposite. The boys in the story are typical Chinese Americans while their parents live a very Chinese life in the U.  S. 

Another reason I enjoy Yang's novels is that they are the same length as a traditional novel. Lunar is approximately 350 pages. This allows him to create fully formed characters and an extensive plot. The relationships among the kids in the story revolve around lion dancing. They are all taking a class on how to dance under a lion costume, as you would normally see at the Chinese new year and other special occasions. Val's relationships with two boys generally take place while they are sharing a costume to dance under. Val cannot decide which boy she really loves. A magical dragon has given her one year to find true love. If she fails then she must give the dragon her heart and foreswear future love interests. Val believes that her family will always be unlucky in love and is not sure that she can find true love.

The illustrations by Leuyen Pham are gorgeous. She has used primarily a red and pink color pallet to fit with Val's love of Valentine's Day. There are some panels colored in blues and greens but all the colors are bright as I like them. Her character's faces illuminate their emotions so when there is no dialogue in a panel strip, the reader knows how the characters are feeling. 

Lunar New Year Love Story is the perfect Valentine's Day story. It would make a great gift for both kids and adults who like comics.  I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Woman Inside

I selected this book for the Monthly Key Word Challenge and am happy to state that I have found another author whose work I love. Anna-Lou Weatherley's The Woman Inside is an absolutely gripping, addictive psychological thriller and I loved it.

The publisher's summary:

Daisey Garrett wakes up in a hospital bed. She remembers her boyfriend has left her for another woman, but she doesn’t remember what happened to her the night she was attacked in her own home. Daisey shouldn’t be alive but against all odds, she’s survived an ordeal most would never recover from. But Daisey’s mind is broken. She’s on edge, drinking too much and, despite the painful breakup, finds herself in bed with her ex, Luke. And while she desperately tries to keep herself together, she can’t shake the feeling that she is being watched. Yet the missing pieces of that fateful summer night are beginning to surface… The lies she told the police. The lies Luke told her. Daisey’s memory is flickering like a faulty light bulb, flashing with images just out of reach. She can’t remember. She mustn’t.

I love serial killer stories and The Woman Inside is one of the best. The book is the 4th book in the Detective Dan Riley series but the first that I have read. The plot is about a killer who selects victims who have flowers as their first name and who work at Warwick's department store. When the bodies of Fern Lever and Jasmin Godden are discovered Detective Riley observes that they have had their throats slashed with their arms are folded across their chests and they are displayed naked with one pink rose. After leaving the store's annual summer party, Daisey is attacked in her home. She is lucky though. Daisey survived her attack but has amnesia and cannot identify the attacker or even how she was attacked. Ex-boyfriend Luke becomes a suspect but because Daisey lied to the police about having seen him earlier in the day he is off the hook. I cannot imagine any other woman lying for an ex-boyfriend. Daisey's agreement with Luke did not seem realistic. It was quite realistic for Daisy to begin drinking a little too much in order to cope with her situation. Luckily, her new flat mate, Iris, helped her think through her memories as well as her problems with Luke.

The story takes place in London during the present day as well as in the 1980s. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Detective Riley and Daisy Garrett. The perspectives were written so smoothly I hardly noticed the changing perspectives.  The ending of the story was quite shocking. I never would have figured it out on my own. There were some clues about the identity of the killer about 2/3s the way through the story but I missed them. Frankly, the title of the book has the main clue. 

The pace was fast but picked up even more quickly at the midway point in the story and never stopped. The Woman Inside was such a good read that I am considering re-reading it in order to check for early clues to the identity of the serial killer.  It is definitely a must read. 5 out of 5 stars.

Two Days in Caracas

The Clock Reading Challenge is a fairly new challenge for me. You need to find book titles with numbers 1 through 12 in them and then add a photo of the book cover to its corresponding clock number. I picked Two Days in Caracas for the challenge this month. I have read several other books by Luana Ehrlich and enjoyed them. Thus, I will be reading books for this challenge from several of Ehrlich's series.

The publisher's summary:

Titus faces a threat he never imagined.

Can he capture Ahmed Al-Amin before it's too late?

Confronting a new operative . . .

When veteran CIA operative Titus Ray arrives in San José, Costa Rica, and meets fresh-faced Ben Mitchell, a hot-tempered new operative with barely any experience in the field, he has a choice to make--ignore him or take him under his wing.

Facing an old demon . . .

In the middle of an active, ongoing operation, Titus is suddenly called back to the States where he must deal with the failures from his past and make decisions about his future with Detective Nikki Saxon.

Opposing a present danger . . .

In an effort to stop Hezbollah assassin, Ahmed Al-Amin, from murdering a high-profile government official, Titus travels to Caracas, Venezuela, where he learns the assassin is but one piece of a complicated international plot to deliver chemical weapons to some of America's most dangerous enemies.

Facing the truth . . .

Titus risks everything, including his future with Nikki, to capture Ahmed, but is it enough? Can his newfound faith sustain him when everything about his operation goes sideways?

While the book is a spy thriller, it is also Christian fiction. In prior reviews of Ehrlich's books I was critical for the Christian side not being mentioned in the plot until the ending. Christian fiction should include spirituality throughout the entire story. In Two Days in Caracas Ehrlich gets it right. We read about Titus Ray's faith struggles from beginning to end. It made perfect sense to include this part of Titus's personality in the story. Also, because this is Christian fiction there is no foul language, immoral conduct or details on how a character was tortured. I read alot of spy thrillers and didn't miss any of it.

I had some personal issues with whether Titus Ray should have a job as a spy given his faith. He regularly kills people for his country. Is this an appropriate job for a Christian? I have read in newspapers over the years that men who work for the CIA are a religious bunch. I can't believe that it's an OK job for them. I was quite uncomfortable when Titus prayed for success before an operation wherein he was going to snatch a terrorist that might involve killing him. I don't see God as taking sides so this felt unseemly.

The story was entertaining. It's unique plot and fast pacing made it  hard to put down. The only difference between this type of spy thriller versus the traditional genre is that this one does not have cliffhangers or any suspense between the chapters. Some folks will be turned off by this but I felt that it was charming.  We still have an interesting plot and characters that are well-developed.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Silent Patient

I selected The Silent Patient for the Calendar of Crime Reading Challenge this month. It was published in February 2019 and qualifies for the challenge based on the February publication month. The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller about a woman’s act of violence against her husband and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

The publisher's summary:

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations―a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

The Silent Patient is awesome!  I did not see the ending coming and was totally surprised. Totally! The book was so well written that it's hard to believe that it's a debut novel. This book definitely had me sitting on the edge of my seat looking forward to finding out why Alicia killed her husband. I assumed that there was some domestic violence but I was wrong. I knew the reason that Alicia stopped talking was going to be a good one and so I read fast in order to finish the story in one sitting. Oh my, it was so good.

The author, Alex Michaelides, created some amazing characters. Alicia seemed sympathetic even though she shot her husband five times. She and Theo were both main characters. I liked Theo alot because he bent over backwards to help his patient. His boss gave him just six weeks to get her talking. With hospital finances being threadbare, the Grove faced being shut down. The boss hoped that if Alicia got better, the press about it would help keep the place open. The family members for both Gabriel and Alicia all hated her passionately. I knew there were good reasons for this and couldn't wait to find out why.

I can't think of any other book where I had to read fast in order to find out the who, what, when, where, how and why. The Silent Patient is an amazing read. Check it out if you haven't already. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Last Patient of the Night

Last Patient of the Night is the debut novel of Gary Gerlacher and the beginning of his medical thriller series featuring AJ Docker. Docker is an emergency room physician who treats Tracy Palmer for a broken wrist in the morning. She is dropped off in the evening and is dead. Tracy was Docker's last patient on his shift.

The publisher's summary:

The death of a nameless young woman in his emergency room spurs physician AJ Docker to seek answers. Together with his policeman friend and a police dog, he sets out on a quest for justice for his lost patient, but he discovers more questions than answers as he delves into the criminal world. 

Last Patient of the Night is an action packed thriller interspersed with lighthearted stories from the emergency room, featuring a cast of interesting characters. 

Gary Gerlacher’s experience as an emergency physician lends authenticity to the ER culture. His debut novel is the first in the AJ Docker series, and will leave you turning pages late into the night.

The back cover blurb states that this book is a mystery but with alot of information on working in an emergency room (ER). This is 100% accurate. It seemed to me that the author wrote a book on the ER and then tried to throw in a murder. The ER setting was more prominent than the mystery. While the setting provided was interesting, the book is supposed to be a medical thriller. However, it falls short of the thriller category description. The author is an ER physician himself which is why he has numerous anecdotes about the ER. I can understand the desire to put everything you know about a setting into a novel but Gerlacher should have pulled back.

While Tracy Palmer was dead on arrival at the ER, she was never mentioned again. Another woman by the name of Jenny Smithton seems to have taken her place. There was no mention that they were the same person but I figured it out from their character descriptions. Another odd part of the book is that it begins with Docker performing a tracheotomy on a ski slope. I thought it would be connected to the plot but it wasn't. I am assuming Gerlacher was introducing the reader to his main character.

AJ Docker is a smart ass character. He is arrogant and gets away with plenty of shinnanagans. He is our amateur sleuth. I have never before read a book where a man was an amateur sleuth and it was awkward for me. Also, amateur sleuth mysteries tend to follow a particular cozy mystery formula. Last Patient of the Night does not do this. In addition, while Docker was performing his investigation he killed 3 men on three separate days. The two officers that were in charge of the official investigation were aware and never arrested or charged him. This just isn't realistic. 

This book had many problems and the more I think about them the more disappointed I am. I am rating it 1 out of 5 stars.

We Hereby Refuse

We Hereby Refuse is a graphic novel about the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, tens of thousands of Americans of Japanese descent were rounded up and placed in detention camps around the US. They lost their jobs, their businesses, and even their homes, not because of any crimes committed, but simply for their ethnic roots. Three characters are featured in the book. Jim Akutsu, Hiroshi Kashiwagi and Mitsuye Endo each embody a typical Japanese American experience during this time period.

Mitsuye Endo was a 21-year-old typist who lost her job with the State of California when she was ordered to report to the internment camp. A lawyer asked her to sue the government for causing her job loss. He recruited her because she seemed the ideal candidate at a time when everyone was scared of Japan. She did not speak Japanese and didn’t follow a Japanese religion like Buddhism or Shinto so didn’t believe that she could be threatening in any way. She even had a brother serving in the US army and she had also done everything the government had ordered her to. Her case eventually was heard by the U. S. Supreme Court, where she won.

Jim Akutso, who repeatedly tried to sign up for the Army but was refused because of flat feet. After he was imprisoned in a detention camp he was found out he’d been drafted, but now he refused. His reasoning was that if his country wasn’t willing to let him live freely, then he wasn’t going to fight to protest the freedoms he didn’t even have. He was convicted of dodging the draft and moved from the camp to a regular prison where he was given a sentence that extended past the end of the war.

Twenty yesr old Hiroshi Kashiwagi was waiting for his younger brother to graduate from high school so they could go to college together. Hiroshi was helping his parents on their fruit farm when the internment order came. He immediately registered for the draft but was soon dismayed to find out that the army changed his classification to IV-C, the category for enemy aliens. When army recruiters arrived at the Tule Lake Camp with a questionnaire to be completed, Hiroshi refused to agree to be drafted because of one question that required him to foreswear allegiance to Japan. He never had any allegiance to Japan and believed that to agree made him a criminal. He could be deported though for not completing the form. Hiroshi organized several resistance efforts at Tule Lake.

The graphic novel format helped to tell this story in an engaging and easy to read way. It immediately drew me into the dilemmas that these three characters faced. Chapters alternated between each of the characters and the illustration style was different for each of them, which helped me to follow the subplots easier. 

We Hereby Refuse is essential reading. Each of us should be familiar with this part of American history. 5 out of 5 stars. 

We Are Not Strangers

We Are Not Strangers was inspired by a true story. The plot of this graphic novel follows a Jewish immigrant’s efforts to help his Japanese neighbors while they are interned during World War II. I had never before heard about anyone ever trying to help the Japanese and am amazed, and thrilled, that someone was brave enough to help out. Author Josh Tuininga is the real life Marco Calvo in the story and his grandfather, nicknamed Papoo, is the hero.

The publisher's summary:

Marco Calvo always knew his grandfather, affectionately called Papoo, was a good man. After all, he was named for him. A first-generation Jewish immigrant, Papoo was hardworking, smart, and caring. When Papoo peacefully passes away, Marco expects the funeral to be simple. However, he is caught off guard by something unusual. Among his close family and friends are mourners he doesn’t recognize—Japanese American families—and no one is quite sure who they are or why they are at the service. How did these strangers know his grandfather so well?

Set in the multicultural Central District of Seattle during World War II and inspired by author Josh Tuininga’s family experiences, We Are Not Strangers explores a unique situation of Japanese and Jewish Americans living side by side in a country at war. Following Papoo’s perspective, we learn of his life as a Sephardic Jewish immigrant and his friendship with Sam Akiyama, a Japanese man whose life is upended by Executive Order 9066, which authorized the incarceration of nearly all Japanese Americans and residents of Japanese ancestry. Determined to keep Sam’s business afloat while he and his family are unjustly imprisoned, he and Papoo create a plan that will change the Akiyama’s lives forever.

The book is a page turner. It is well written, researched, and illustrated. The story opens with Papoo's 1987 funer­al in the Sephardic Bikur Holim Syn­a­gogue, where his grand­son is sur­prised by the pres­ence of sev­er­al Japan­ese Amer­i­can guests. Sub­se­quent chap­ters each begin with dates rang­ing from 1938 to 1945. Read­ers who are unfa­mil­iar with the dis­tinc­tive his­to­ry of Sephardic immi­grants to Amer­i­ca will learn how they were mar­gin­al­ized. Mar­co even­tu­al­ly devel­ops a suc­cess­ful busi­ness career while Sam Akiya­ma opens a fish mar­ket. Both have had to deal with prej­u­dice. Although Mar­co and his fam­i­ly are out­siders in terms of their reli­gion, cul­ture, and lan­guage, they are safe. The Akiya­ma fam­i­ly, on the oth­er hand, is forced to leave their home, busi­ness, and com­mu­ni­ty because of unfound­ed fears about Japan­ese Amer­i­can disloyalty. At the same time, the Cal­vo fam­i­ly is ter­ri­fied about the fate of Europe’s Jews, which ulti­mate­ly con­tributes to Marco’s con­vic­tion that he must help oth­ers fac­ing oppres­sion.

Archival family photos helped Tuininga draw the faces for his characters and visits to Seattle were crucial in re-creating the locations that he drew. A few key scenes between Papoo and his friend Sam Akiyama take place at the waterfront, where the two men companionably fish by the pier. It’s a nod to the real-life Marco Calvo, who owned the Ferry Dock Tavern in the Colman Dock ferry terminal building (a business also depicted in the book).

5 out of 5 stars.

The Amish Quiltmaker's Unlikely Match

The Amish Quiltmaker's Unlikely Match was published last month on January 23, 2024. It is the 4th book in the author's Amish Quiltmaker series. I read the first book, The Amish Quiltmaker's Unexpected Baby, and loved it so I requested this new title from Net Galley and was lucky to receive a copy of the book.

The publisher's summary:

Though Mary Yoder longs to marry someday, she finds caring for her community’s injured and sick is much easier than courting. But when Englischer Clay Markham crashes his car nearby, Mary’s nursing shows her his hidden wounds are more painful than his injuries. Though she’s irresistibly drawn to his kind nature, can she risk letting him into her heart?

On the run from his troubled past, ex-pro baseball player Clay can’t believe the quiet sanctuary he’s found under Mary’s care. Her gentle faith and knowledge are somehow giving him hope he can change his life—and offer her the love she truly deserves. But when his secrets catch up with him, can he and Mary find the courage to face the truth, set things to rights . . . and make way for a future together?

I mainly read Amish fiction written by the two icons of the genre: Wanda Brunstetter and Beverly Lewis. These two ladies are so outstanding that it is difficult for me to trust that another author can write just as well and that I will enjoy their books. I have a theory that the plots from other authors are simple in comparison. I still think that this theory is correct but without reading additional authors I can never really know. I should be trying new, to me, authors. For Jennifer Beckstrand, author of this book, I believe that her plot was simpler. Unlikely Match is a straightforward Amish romance story without any of the modern subplots that you see with Brunstetter and Lewis. 

After saying all of the above, I must admit that I enjoyed Unlikely Match. I enjoyed it immensely. There was some mystery to the story. The reader doesn't know how long Clay and Mary can remain to be friends given that Clay was not Amish. I kept waiting to read that they stopped seeing each other. However, one thing after another happened to Clay that brought him and Mary together. As with all Amish fiction, there is a happy ending. The suspension of belief that you see with cozy mysteries is evident here. I believe that suspension of belief went a little too far to be believable but hey, at least it's a happy ending. This is why I read Amish fiction. When I buy one of them I am looking for a light read and a book that I will enjoy. To date, I have enjoyed every Amish fiction novel that I have read so I will keep reading.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Spice Maker's Secret

The Spicemaker's Secret was published last month on January 3, 2024. It took me awhile to become interested in the story. As I was approaching my personal 50 page limit for a book to engage me or stop reading when suddenly the story grabbed me with full force. It is without question a heartwrenching story about love and betrayal.

The publisher's summary:

Trapped in an unhappy marriage, Bindu is desperately lonely. Before her wedding, she was a highly sought-after cook and although she is not allowed into the kitchen in her new house, she can still taste chilli on her tongue and remember the feel of ground turmeric on her fingers. She finds solace in writing recipes and creating new spice mixes, hoping to pass them down to her unborn child. But when her jealous husband finds out, he confines Bindu to her room alone. As she goes into labour, Bindu is trapped and desperately afraid for her child’s life. Even a recipe cannot rescue her this time. Will she and her baby find a way to survive?

1990, London. Eve’s most treasured gift from her beloved adopted father was a hand-written Indian recipe book. Grieving his death, she begins to grind and mix the spices penned so carefully in the recipes. Do the crumbling pages hold the key to uncovering the secrets of her past?

Her father never spoke of her birth mother, finding it too painful to talk about his time in India. But now he’s gone, Eve is desperate to understand where she comes from. Will finding her birth family, lost for so long, help Eve to find her place in the world, or will it tear her apart?

The story is told in a dual timeline between Bindu in 1930s India and Eve in England in the 1990s. I could not see any connection between the two until close to the end of the novel. Most of the book was about Bindu with just two pages concerning Eve's mother inserted occasionally. I thought the Eve story was boring until the ending when the connection became clear.  

Bindu's challenges in life made her a compelling heroine. I could not help but root for her to have success in life. Life continued to knock her down but she always got up and kept going. She had incredible coping skills. Bindu's grandmother Ajii was equally heroic and at least half of the story was hers. Ajii was a lovable woman who bent over backwards to ensure that Bindu became successful when she grew up.  The villains in the story were Bindu and Ajii's landlord and his son. If you've ever had a landlord you know that they tend to cause whatever trouble they can for their tenants. I thought son Guru was the biggest villain because of his awful treatment of Bindu after their marriage. He was solicitous of her until the wedding. He then became an overbearing husband, which confused Bindu. She expected to be treated the same as she was before the marriage.

As I mentioned above, the story is told in a dual timeline. Most of the story was about Bindu and rightly so. She is the heroine. Bindu’s family is extremely poor and her mother dies giving birth to her. Consequently, the village that she has been raised in considers her to be bad luck. The villagers constantly whisper that she is the cause of both her parent's death which confirms that she is bad luck. Bindu is raised by her grandmother, Ajii, in a one room hut. Ajii is fiercely protective and loves Bindu wholeheartedly. She feels that Bindu is not bad luck at all and that the double crown she was born with confirms that assessment. I had to google double crowns. Apparently it refers to their being two whorls in the hair.  Bindu has many gifts, among them being the cooking skills that she learned from her grandmother who cooks for the big landowner in exchange for rent. Bindu's  dreams of being independent and going off to college are supported by Ajii but, of course, that are obstacles in the way.

I loved reading The Spice Maker's Secret. Historical fiction fans will enjoy it too.  I am rating it 4 out of 5 stars.

Public Anchovy #1

Public Anchovy #1 is the third book in the Deep Dish Mystery Series by Mindy Quigley. The series is set in a pizzeria in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin owned by Delilah O’Leary. Her best friend Sonya Dokter is her sous chef and bartender Daniel, hostess Melody and dishwasher Rabbit round out the staff. Delilah’s elderly Aunt Biz, police detective Calvin Capone and her cat Butterball complete the regular characters in the series.

In this installment of the series Delilah is catering a Prohibition-themed fundraiser for the local library. She is hopeful that she will get some new catering gigs from the wealthy residents in attendance that will help her struggling restaurant get through the winter slow season. Pam Phillips, the hostess of the fundraiser, makes a last minute request for a new “free-form” pizza recipe for a last minute guest with many food allergies. Of course, it wouldn't be a cozy mystery unless one of the guests gets murdered during the bash. An elderly guest, Edgar Clemmons, falls down the stairs and dies. Did he trip or did someone help him fall? With a winter storm in full force all of the roads are blocked and Delilah, her staff, Capone and several guests are trapped in the Phillips mansion. They all must spend the night together until the roads are cleared the next day. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. I am not sure what the reason was for giving the book its title. No anchovies were on the pizzas and I do not believe the deceased was public enemy number 1. He had several people who opposed him on the library board. He also uncovered a scam over forged rare books. Yes, forged books. It's a thing. I googled "forged books" and found several articles concerning this topic. In one CNBC news story art forgery expert Curtis Dowling stated that rare books are especially valuable collectors' items. They are also among the most frequently faked, and hardest to detect.

"Fakers ply their trade by replicating the same sensations that anyone would perceive when walking into a used bookstore. It's one thing to make a book simply look old and weathered, a feat that can be accomplished with a little paint and an inscription dated back a century and a half. But it's necessary to fool all of the senses, especially touch and smell, to make the experienced collector accept a faked book as the genuine article."

I had never heard of this scam before. While I was reading, I was not sure whether it was plausible. My internet search was performed after I finished reading the book. Now I am wondering whether I missed clues in the storyline. 

The next book in the series, Sleep in Heavenly Pizza, will be published in October 2024. I cannot wait to read it as every book in this series has been fantastic.

5 out of 5 stars.