Book Cover of the Month: June

I chose two books covers this month. Both have a bright yellow background with one black item on the cover. This design is distinctive.

The Butter book cover was designed by Emma Pidsley. She is a senior designer at Penguin General. After earning a bachelor's degree in english literature from Exeter University in 2014, she obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Design for Visual Communication from the London College of Communication in 2016.

I was not able to uncover the name  of the cover designer for The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagorus. This series is published by Open Road Media. It has a dedicated brand for mystery and thriller books called Murder and Mayhem. The Pot Thief series combines humor with whodunnits. I have read 2 of them and they were fantastic 

Book of the Month: June

Butter by Asako Yuzuki is my best book for June. Butter is the story of a young Japanese female serial killer who was known for her culinary skills. Manako Kanjii was convicted of killing three elderly men whom she had been dating and promised to marry. Kanjii was a foodie who loved international brands of butter. She used the money she received from the men to buy these expensive brands of butter as well as to enroll in culinary school. 

The story is based upon a real life killer in Japan The story follows a Tokyo journalist who starts interviewing Manako in hope that her story will be printed on the first page of the weekly magazine that she writes for. It's an amazing read.

I have 22 books set aside for next month. It's an ambitious program but I just might get it done.

We Called Them Giants

I purchased a hard back of this comic last week. It was satisfying to hold an actual book in my hands. Usually I read ebooks. Turning the pages felt surreal but that matched the dystopian nature of the story.

The main character is Lori. She is a recently adopted teenager who awakens one morning to a mysteriously depopulated world. Lori had heard about the rapture from friends and neighbors but doesn't believe that is why everyone disappeared. She calls it the not-rapture event. Lori ventures outside and finds storefronts and other businesses devoid of employees. Most of the food shelves are bare. A few days later, while rummaging for food, Lori comes across her best friend Annette. They decide to stay together in a cave and forage for food daily. There are gangs, monsters and aliens that they must avoid in order to stay alive. Along the way they meet an elderly lady in the same circumstances and join forces with her. She knows the red giant and the green giant and how they operate. The red giant is benevolent while the green giant exudes evil. You can probably see where this story is going.

We Called Them Giants was a finalist for the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story or Comic. I am rating it five out of five stars.

Bad Lands

I selected this book for the Calendar of Crime Reading Challenge. It was published on June 3, 2025 and is the 5th Nora Kelly mystery by the authors.When I began reading the book this afternoon, I was planning on reading just 3 or 4 chapters. That plan became impossible. I couldn’t stop reading until I finished the story. It's a gripping thriller with plenty of setting references to the climate of New Mexico and Indian artifacts. 

The publisher's summary:

In the New Mexico badlands, the skeleton of a woman is found—and the case is assigned to FBI Agent Corrie Swanson. The victim walked into the desert, shedding clothes as she went, and died in agony of heatstroke and thirst. Two rare artifacts are found clutched in her bony hands—lightning stones used by the ancient Chaco people to summon the gods. 

Is it suicide or… sacrifice? 

Agent Swanson brings in archaeologist Nora Kelly to investigate. When a second body is found—exactly like the other—the two realize the case runs deeper than they imagined. As Corrie and Nora pursue their investigation into remote canyons, haunted ruins, and long-lost rituals, they find themselves confronting a dark power that, disturbed from its long slumber, threatens to exact an unspeakable price. 

I didn't have huge expectations for the novel as I felt earlier books in the Nora Kelly series were OK, not great. Badlands is the exception. The plot doesn't just center on the Nora character but significantly includes her younger brother Skip and his newfound buddy Edison Nash, FBI Agent Corrie Swanson, University of New Mexico professor Carlos Oskarbi and his adoring female students. A few secondary characters added salt to this brew. Emma Bluebird was my favorite. She is a gun-toting, elderly Navajo Indian woman who distrusts white people. When Nora and Corrie knock on her door, they are greeted with a shotgun. She doesn't speak much English but is able to give them a clue for their investigation. They are looking into the deaths of two women, both doctors in archeology. Both women had been walking through a wilderness area, took of all their clothes, and collapsed into the hot sands of the Gallina Canyon to die. Emma is always in control of the conversation and uses that shotgun to tell the ladies when their meeting is over.

The artifacts that are used in the plot are called lightening stones. When they are rubbed together, a soft light emerges. The stones are rare. Only two pair of them are known to exist but it is presumed that there are many in the wilderness areas of the state. As the story progresses, we learn more and more about them. The Gallina people, who existed up to 1200 BC, used them in religious rituals. 

The plot was complex. While the story opened with the death of an unknown woman in the wilderness, it quickly moves to identify her and another body as well as what connected them. Both were professors at the University of New Mexico and while still studying were known to be groupies of Dr. Carlos Oskarbi. Here the plot takes off in several different arcs.

Badlands may be my favorite Preston and Childs novel. It's the most thrilling tale I've read from them to date and I am happy to give it high marks. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Fourth Turning

This book was published about 25 years ago. There is a recent update that came out earlier this year. I wanted to read the initial book first to prepare me for the second. The author has been interviewed on several You Tube channels so I was familiar beforehand with his viewpoint.

The publisher's summary:

First comes a High, a period of confident expansion. Next comes an Awakening, a time of spiritual exploration and rebellion. Then comes an Unraveling, in which individualism triumphs over crumbling institutions. Last comes a Crisis—the Fourth Turning—when society passes through a great and perilous gate in history.

William Strauss and Neil Howe will change the way you see the world—and your place in it. With blazing originality, The Fourth Turning illuminates the past, explains the present, and reimagines the future. Most remarkably, it offers an utterly persuasive prophecy about how America’s past will predict what comes next.

Strauss and Howe base this vision on a provocative theory of American history. The authors look back five hundred years and uncover a distinct pattern: Modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting about the length of a long human life, each composed of four twenty-year eras—or “turnings”—that comprise history’s seasonal rhythm of growth, maturation, entropy, and rebirth. Illustrating this cycle through a brilliant analysis of the post–World War II period, The Fourth Turning offers bold predictions about how all of us can prepare, individually and collectively, for this rendezvous with destiny.

Unfortunately, I was bored reading the book. The introduction would have been sufficient for me to understand the cycles. However, 25 years ago this information must have been mind blowing. In contrast, today I didn't find much more information about each cycle as they were presented. I must admit, though, that the categorization of time into these cycles is brilliant. The prediction about our current time of chaos lasting until 2030 was sobering. I am not looking forward to 5 more years of chaos. 

Next month I plan on reading The Fourth Turning is Here. It will be interesting to see what the authors say about our current place in time. While I was bored with the book I am rating it 3 out of 5 stars for the ideas presented.

Feeding Ghosts

Feeding Ghosts is a graphic memoir of three generations of Chinese women. It was published last year and has won many awards. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Memoir and was a winner of the National Books Critics Circle. Also, the book won the Libby Award For Best Graphic Novel and was a Kirkus Nonfiction Prize finalist. This awesome memoir was also named a Best Book Of the Year by Time, Forbes, NPR, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and my library, the Chicago Public Library. It is a chunkster as it is over 400 pages long.

The publisher's summary:

In her acclaimed graphic memoir debut, Tessa Hulls traces the reverberations of Chinese history across three generations of women in her family. Tessa’s grandmother, Sun Yi, was a Shanghai journalist swept up by the turmoil of the 1949 Communist victory. After fleeing to Hong Kong, she wrote a bestselling memoir about her persecution and survival—then promptly had a mental breakdown from which she never recovered.

Growing up with Sun Yi, Tessa watches both her mother and grandmother struggle beneath the weight of unexamined trauma and mental illness, and bolts to the most remote corners of the globe. But once she turns thirty, roaming begins to feel less like freedom and more like running away. Feeding Ghosts is Tessa’s homecoming, a vivid, heartbreaking journey into history that exposes the fear and trauma that haunt generations, andthe love that holds them together.

The story is told in black and white comic strip panels. The dialogue is densely packed into the strips so it is a slow read. However, it's well worth reading. With over 400 pages the book is definitely a chunkster. 

I was fascinated by Tessa's retelling of her mother and grandmother escaping from China and heading to the United States. She explains that there was inter-generational trauma that affected her. How she was raised and her relationships with her family was based upon her mother and grandmother's stunted emotions. Tessa inherited this. When she traveled to China with her mother, her mother was freed from her trauma and acted like she was at home. Mom was at peace from seeing the family she left behind. I wondered whether it would have been better to have stayed behind in Maoist China.

This is a memoir to cherish. I loved the story and learned alot about the immigrant experience. 5 out of 5 stars.

Plan Red: China’s Project to Destroy America

I have enjoyed listening to Gordon Chang on cable news networks. He is an expert on China and speaks well. Chang has lived in Shanghai and Hong Kong for over twenty years. He is a columnist for Newsweek and a regular contributor to The Hill. This is a short book with just 108 pages, perhaps resembling an essay. Chang makes his points succinctly and does not waste words. At the back of the book is a sixteen page bibliography with hyperlinks and a ten page index.

Chang gives the U. S. many warnings that China plans to take over the U. S. He states that Chinese Premier Xi Jinping wants to shape the world in China’s image where there is no place for the United States. Xi Jinping believes he must destroy America in order for China to survive. Xi has not been trying hard to hide his intentions, talking alot about the “Chinese dream.” The “Chinese dream,” is the vision of China’s emperors, who believed they had both the right and the obligation to rule what they called tianxia, “all under heaven.” 

Some of the main points in the book include:

• Xi is implementing the largest military buildup since the Second World War;

• He is trying to sanctions-proof the Chinese regime;

• He is stockpiling grain and other commodities;

• He is surveying America for strikes and sabotage;

• He is mobilizing China’s civilians for battle;

• He is purging China’s military of officers opposed to going to war;

• China’s  Communist Party leaders has been able to kill Americans with impunity. Xi turned an in-country epidemic into a once-in-a-century pandemic and the peddling of fentanyl through the American southern border. Many Chinese are entering the U. S. at the southern border and are here as terrorist cells;

• The Chinese Communist Party is using all its resources to support criminal activity in America by exporting drugs, and Americans are dying as a direct result of those activities;

• The Chinese regime uses every point of contact against America, and at the moment the regime is overwhelming American institutions such as the FBI and state and local governments;

• The regime encourages it's citizens to discuss the mass murder of Americans. It's a frequent topic among the Chinese people;

• Chinese officials now consider outer space as part of the People’s Republic;

• The Communist Party of China, the CCP, views the United States as an existential threat not because of anything Americans have ever said or done but because of who they are and what they stand for. China is afraid of the inspirational impact of America’s ideals and form of governance on the Chinese people.

• China’s rulers, beginning with Mao Zedong, have plans to avenge a century of humiliation and aspired to replace the United States as the economic, military, and political leader of the world by the year 2049 (the one hundredth anniversary of the Communist Party). This plan became known as the Hundred-Year Marathon. 

• The Communist Party’s subversion is not so public. In August 2020, Radio Free Asia reported that a People’s Liberation Army intelligence unit, working out of the now-closed Houston consulate, was using big data to identify Americans likely to participate in Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests and then created and sent them “tailor-made” videos on how to organize riots. Related reporting reveals that the videos were distributed by TikTok;

• The CCP operates “Overseas Chinese Service Centers," also known as prisons, in major cities. They are located in San Francisco, Houston, Omaha, St. Paul, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, and Charlotte. The New York Post believes there are other Chinese police stations in New York and Los Angelas;

• The 2017 edition of the Science of Military Strategy, mentioned a new kind of biological warfare of “specific ethnic genetic attacks." American officials are concerned that China's relentless efforts to collect the genetic profiles of foreigners while preventing the transfer from China of the profiles of Chinese are indications of sinister intentions. If Chinese scientists succeed in designing pathogens that leave Chinese people alone but sicken only foreigners, the next disease from China;

• Chinese war doctrine is to hit the United States on the first day of the war with nukes but only after weakening people with a virus;

• China cannot attack America without American money and technology. America should stop supplying them. 

Chang's recommendation to America is to cut all ties with China. The president can exercise authority under either the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 or the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. 

I enjoyed reading this book. It is a fast read despite the seriousness of the topic. Chang's writing is quite straightforward. However, much of the information I already knew about from reading news reports. That said, I am not sure if this information was widely known at the time of publication in August 2024.

4 out of 5 stars.

Lincoln's Lady Spymaster

Lincoln's Lady Spymaster was published two days ago. I pre-ordered a copy of it after reading an interview the author gave online. I love the history included in the book. Her story is about real life Southern belle Elizabeth Van Lew. Elizabeth was an abolitionist who lived in the best mansion in Richmond, Virginia. She supported the Union even though she lived in a Confederate state. She put everything she had at risk in order to assist the Union Army.

The publisher's summary: 

Why would Southern belle Elizabeth Van Lew risk everything in order to spy for the Union Army?  The answer was simple: freedom. Right in the heart of the Confederate capital, Elizabeth played the society lady while building a secret espionage network of slaves, Unionists, and prisoners of war.

It would cost her almost everything. Flouting society’s expectations for women, Elizabeth infiltrated prisons and defied public opinion. Her story is filled with vivid personalities, including:

Assassin John Wilkes Booth

Washington socialite and Southern spy Rose Greenhow

Prison escape artist Thomas Rose

Cavalry hero Ulrich Dahlgren

Cross-dressing intelligence agent Frank Stringfellow

From grave robbery to a bold voyage across enemy lines, Elizabeth’s escapades only grew more daring. But it paid off.

By the war’s end, she had agents in both the Confederate War Department and the Richmond White House, and her couriers provided General Ulysses S. Grant with crucial, daily intelligence for his final assault.

With extensive and fresh research, Gerri Willis uncovers the Southern abolitionist heroine that the Lost Cause buried—an unbelievable tale of one woman’s courage, resistance, and liberation. Heartfelt, thrilling, and inspiring, Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster restores a forgotten hero to her rightful place as an American icon.

This is an engaging history of abolitionist Elizabeth Van Lew. Most history books are academic but Willis wrote this book in a historical fiction style. It reads fast. I enjoyed reading about this unknown American heroine. I had no idea that women could be spies. Van Lew lost all her wealth from her advocacy on behalf of slaves and Union soldiers. Her political views were more important to her than money and a position in society. She lived forty more years after the end of the Civil War in near poverty but never regretted her actions during the war.

It was eye opening that women served as soldiers if they wore men's clothing. Women also collected charitable donations for the care of Union soldiers in the amount of $400 million. Very impressive. "Phoebe Pember served as a matron at the nation’s largest military medical center at the time, Richmond’s Chimborazo Hospital. It treated 75,000 patients over the course of the war. Women physicians were rare, but Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was a surgeon who treated soldiers on the front lines."

So how did Van Lew become a spy? She learned information about troop advances from attending balls and dances. The prisoners of war that she attended to left her written messages inside borrowed books with information also. Van Lew was bold enough to visit the wife of Jefferson Davis after hearing Mrs. Davis was seeking a maid. Van Lew offered her one of her servants, which was another way to obtain information. Using servants  she forwarded her information to General Ulysses S Grant.

Lincoln's Lady Spymaster is a fantastic history of women during the Civil War, or as some say the War of Northern Aggression.  5 out of 5 stars.

Feral Volume 1

Feral is a cute graphic novel about a group of cats who are friends. When the government evacuated their neighborhood due to a new strain of rabies, they are picked up by animal control for euthanasia. When the truck they are inside crashes the cats escape and try to find their way home. All of them are indoor catswho are lost outdoors. Elsie, Lord Fluffy Britches, and Patch encounter threats from foxes and wolves as they rush to find their way home and their usual food. The cats are smart enough to notice that the creatures they encounter have an illness of some sort and they have to stay in the trees as they travel home to avoid getting bit or scratched by them.

I loved this story from the first page to the last. It reminded me of 2024's Animal Pound comic. It's definitely kid friendly with no foul language, sexual content or graphic drawings. The comic was drawn by Trish Forster and Tone Rodriguez with coloring by Brad Simpson. Simpson used a muted pallette of blues and purples and reds. It's gorgeous. 

Volume 1 collects issues 1 through 5 of the series. It was published in March 2024. There are currently 10 volumes available. I hope that they all are eventually published in an omnibus edition. It would be nice to them all contained in one big book.

5 out of 5 stars.

Save Her Life

Save Her Life is my choice for the Key Word Reading Challenge for June. Hostage negotiator Sandra Vos is the protagonist of a new police procedural series with Save Her Life being the first installment of the series. Sandra chose law enforcement as a career because her brother was murdered when they were young. When her teenage daughter disappears, Sandra feels like life is repeating itself. The book was published on May 27, 2025.

The publisher's summary:

The tears fall down the girl’s pale face as she desperately tries to struggle free from the ties around her wrists. The only sound in the room other than her muffled cries is the ticking of a clock. Her mother has less than one hour to find her alive.

It’s been more than thirty years since Special Agent Sandra Vos’s twin brother was shot dead, an innocent victim caught in a kidnap gone wrong. It devastated Sandra’s family, but it made her who she is today, one of the FBI’s most successful negotiators.

After dropping her teenage daughter, Olivia, at school, Sandra is alerted to a potential hostage situation at her local grocery store and races to the scene. A man has pulled out a gun and is refusing to talk or let anyone out of the building until his demands are met. The fate of dozens of lives rests in Sandra’s hands.

But as Sandra starts to make a breakthrough with the hostage taker, she receives a call that makes her blood run cold. Someone has taken Olivia, and their demand will push Sandra to her absolute limit. If it’s not met within twenty-four hours, she will never see her daughter again.

Sandra knows she should step aside, letting her team take over, but she doesn’t trust anyone else to bring Olivia home alive. Breaking every rule in the book, Sandra is ready to go into her most personal negotiation yet. But how much will she have to sacrifice to save her daughter?

The story opened with Sandra attending a parole hearing for the man who killed her brother over thirty years ago. The man was denied parole. The story then moved to a hostage negotiation that Sandra lead. I don’t think I needed to read 80 pages of Sandra negotiating with a hostage taker to understand her job. It was overkill. Also, her daughter wasn't kidnapped until 40% of the way into the story. Since saving daughter Olivia's life is what the book is supposed to be about, I think the kidnapping should have occurred early on in the story.  

The book concentrates more on procedure than relationships and I was somewhat bored. I did not connect with Sandra as a character. I felt more for the criminals instead. After reading other reviews of the book I am aware that my opinion is a minority opinion. Given that these criminals are not going to be involved in future stories, I don’t see much to entice me to continue to read the series. There aren't any secondary characters that were drawn upon either. We basically only read what their names are.

The plot was interesting but I had a few issues with the writing. I am rating the book 3 out of 5 stars.

The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras

This is the first book in a humorous mystery series featuring a New Mexico pottery dealer who has a side job as an amateur sleuth. Hubert Schuze studied math in college and is familiar with Pythagorus and his theorems. Hubie uses his knowledge of math when creating his own pots, most of which are duplicates of ancient pots.

The publisher's summary:

A dealer of ancient Native American pottery, Hubert Schuze has spent years combing the public lands of New Mexico, digging for artwork that would otherwise remain buried. According to the US government, Hubie is a thief—but no act of Congress could stop him from doing what he loves. For decades, Hubie has worn the title of pot thief proudly. Outright burglary, though, is another story.

But an offer of $25,000 to lift a rare pot from a local museum proves too tempting for Hubie to refuse. When he sees how tightly the relic is guarded, he changes his mind, but the pot goes missing anyway. Soon a federal agent suspects that Hubie is the culprit. After things take a turn for the serious, Hubie knows he must find the real thief quickly, or risk cracking something more fragile than any pot—his skull.

Hubert used many Pythagorian measurements in order to plan his heist. Hubert is not only a math major but he is also a treasure hunter turned pot thief. He is only considered a thief because of a new American law disallowing archeologists and other diggers from keeping things they find. Hubert doesn't dig on Indian lands or private property, but he feels that he's part of the public, so public land finds belong to him too! He runs a pot store in New Mexico selling his great finds.

This book is a humorous, intellectual mystery full of stories about Pythagorus' life and theories. Hubert and his friend Susannah have intellectual discussions on this mathematician while they enjoy their daily evening drinks. The book is a great start for this new cozy mystery series.

Brownstone

I loved reading this YA graphic novel. The main character is Almudena, a fourteen year old girl, who is sent to live with her father for the summer because her mother is taking a once in a lifetime trip. The problem is that she has never met him and he does not speak English. Xavier is Guatemalan and is happy to see her, but he expects her to live in (and help fix up) his old, broken-down brownstone. Along the way, Almudena must navigate the language barrier. 

As Almudena tries to adjust to this new reality, she gets to know the residents of Xavier’s Latin American neighborhood. Each member of the community has their own joys and heartbreaks as well as their own strong opinions on how this young Latina should talk, dress, and behave. Some can’t understand why she doesn’t know where she comes from. Others think she’s “not brown enough” to fit in.  However, Almudena becomes fast friends with them all.  By summer's end, she hates leaving her new friends behind but is happy to return to living with her mother.

I loved the Almudena character. She is a happy go lucky girl who can deal with any situation. She helps all of her new neighbors with their problems without skipping a beat. Somehow she is able to communicate with her father and new friends who only speak Spanish. Note that the novel is bilingual. While it is mainly told in English, there is dialogue in Spanish that is not translated.  The artwork was primarily colored in brown tones to match the storyline.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Doctor's Secret

The Doctor's Secret was published last year. It's a psychological thriller featuring city coroner Stacy Lewis as the protagonist. Her fiance, emergency physician Dr. Henry Goldberg, is the prime suspect in a serial murder case wherein three women who look like Stacy are killed. The killer always leaves the bodies naked in an alleyway. Stacy does not believe that Henry is the killer. However, her ex-boyfriend Matt Ensor does. Matt is the detective on the cases. Stacy is convinced that Matt’s judgment is skewed by his hatred of Henry and desire to get Stacy back. She is willing to do anything to clear Henry's name, even abuse her position as city coroner. After getting Henry out of jail on bail, women begin disappearing again.

Stacy was an annoying character. I could not stand to hear her acquiesce to everything Henry desired. Henry disagreed with all her plans for dinner, wedding planning, and even the books Stacy was allowed to read at home. He was a bully. I thought she was a weak character. Because she grew up in an abusive home, Stacy was trained to cater to bullies. I cannot imagine how she obtained a medical degree or was able to perform autopsies without a mental breakdown. As the coroner, Stacy autopsied the victims of the serial killer. Some of her findings she shared with her husband but he refused to listen because it was macabre.

While Stacy was annoying, Henry was the typical mama's boy. He felt he was the king of his household because his mother held him up on a pedestal. Whenever Stacy was speaking he cut her off. He dictated their dinners, the TV shows they watched and Stacy's reading material. I am astonished that Stacy would accept this behavior. She was highly educated and I expected more from her.

I figured out the identity of the whodunnit early on. The whydunnit was hard to determine and it wasn't revealed until the end of the story. It was an OK ending but I wish that it had been more complex. 

3 out of 5 stars.

Butter

When my phone ran out of juice before lunch at TGI Fridays, I ran into a bookstore for something to read while eating. I found this engrossing novel by Japanese author Asako Yuzuki. Butter is the story of a young Japanese female serial killer who was known for her culinary skills. Manako Kanjii was convicted of killing three men whom she had been dating. Kanjii was a foodie who loved international brands of butter. The book was published in English in 2024.

The publisher's summary:

The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer, and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story

There are two things that I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in the Tokyo Detention House convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, whom she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination, but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew, and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a master class in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii, but it seems that Rika might be the one changing. Do she and Kajii have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of a convicted con woman and serial killer—the “Konkatsu Killer”—Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance, and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.

Aside from Manako and Rika, there are other fantastic characters. Rika's best friend Reiko is prominent in the story as is her husband Ryosuke, Rika's boyfriend Kamoto, and mentor Yoshinori Shinoi. Secondary characters Kitamura and Yu work with Rika at Shumeisha, which publishes a weekly magazine called Shumei Weekly. Rika is a journalist but never gets to write stories. She is assigned to do research for other journalists. Rika thinks that if she writes a compelling story on Manoko that she will finally see herself in print. She quietly begins researching Manako, not telling her boss what she is doing. When Reiko advises Rika to write Manoko for a recipe, she receives a letter back asking her to visit her at the prison. A relationship begins between them but Rika has to cook certain recipes to please Manako. One item she hates is margarine. Butter must always be used even though there is a butter shortage throughout Japan. After a few months Manako agrees to an exclusive interview with Rika and Rika continues to visit her all while running the story past Shinoi. 

Rika and Reiko decide to sign up for culinary classes at the school Manako attended, hoping to obtain information for the news story. The two women are having problems with their respective men and all of this gets hashed out throughout the book. Their expectations from men do not allow themselves to be happy. Through their talks, Rika and Reiko confront societal expectations of femininity and body image. Japanese women are supposed to be thin. Manako was plus size and while Rika has always been thin, she gained 10 kilos from her recent cooking. Before the ending Reiko will request a divorce and Rika breaks up with Kamoto. In addition, Rika has issues with how her deceased father lived his life just as Manoko had for her father. She feels that they are similar people.

The pace is slow but I couldn’t stop reading. The story isn't about the crime but rather the relationships between the female characters. Butter is a superb piece of writing and I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars. It's definitely going to be included in my top ten books of 2025.

Book Cover of the Month: May

I love the reflection of a lounging lady in the martini glass. Truth be told, I love the martini glass on its own. The Retirement Plan was a close second for my book of the month but it's cover is exquisite. The cover design was created by Ben Prior but the cover illustrations were drawn by Camillia Pinheiro.

Ben Prior is a UK graphic designer specialising in book design. He studied Graphic Design: Visual Communication at the University of Creative Arts Canterbury. Prior currently works at Little,Brown, a division of Hachette as a Middleweight Designer. He has been Shortlisted for several awards but won the ABCD Awards 2021 in the crime and thriller category. 

Camillia Pinheiro is based in São Paulo, Brazil. She loves using tropical colors in her illustrations, which reflects her Brazilian roots. Pinheiro has illustrated book covers in the U.S, U.K. and French markets. In addition, she is the first woman to design the US Open's Tennis theme art in a decade. 

Book of the Month: May

The Keeper of Lost Art is by far the best book I read this month. The Retirement Plan was a close second but I could not forget the story of the Italian family who hid paintings from the Nazis during WWII. Days after I read it, I was still pondering the story. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. The plot shows us readers what the Italians had to deal with during WWII. This is a viewpoint I have never read about before. The families left behind by the Italian soldiers was fraught with food and gas shortages as well as fear of the Germans who were occupying their country.

The main character is Stella. For Stella's family, they were tested beyond belief. Her uncle, zio Tino, and her aunt, zio Angela, allowed over 200 refugees to live in their wine cellar, for almost a year. Angela, Stella, and her cousins Livia and Mariasole did all of the cooking, using up the family’s private storage of food for these strangers. A representative of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence talks zio Tino into storing a few hundred paintings on the property. Tino is now responsible for preventing the Germans from taking them.

There is so much more to the story but I will leave my synopsis here. Note, however, that the book might be my favorite WWII historical fiction novel of all time. This is a must read.

Spent

Alison Bechdel's Spent graphic novel was published earlier this week. The novel's main character is Alison herself but this Alison has a different life history. Book Alison runs a pygmy goat sanctuary in Vermont. She is upset over climate change and the possibility of civil war in the U. S.  Book Alison’s first graphic novel was about her father’s taxidermy business and was made into a successful, Emmy award winning TV show. Alison is trying to sell her second graphic novel, which is about late capitalism and her guilt over being white. She wants to free people from consumer capitalism and live a more ethical life. However, she wonders whether her love of her middle class lifestyle is a betrayal of her lifelong values.

The book is quite funny. The plot is structured around the contents of a Marxist explanation of money. While this sounds serious, it is written with funny lines by all of the characters who are not afraid to poke fun at themselves and the politicians they follow. Alison has a conservative sister Sheila who is a nationally renowned seed artist. Sheila and Alison just barely tolerate each other. The story became slow in the middle. There was too much dialogue on politics and special interest groups and not much action. We read about Alison’s daily life here.

Alison’s partner is Holly. She is a sculptor by trade. Holly's character resembles the author’s own wife, Holly Rae Taylor, an artist who did the coloring on Spent. The couple meets daily with their friends, which includes Stuart who is a Bernie Sanders look-alike, Stuart's wife Sparrow and their college dropout kid, J.R., and Lois, who acts as a sort of tour guide to other people’s sexual hangups and fetishes.

I would not recommend the book for children. While there is no profanity, the book has several drawings of characters having sex. In addition, there are discussions among them about being lesbians. I don't think kids would be interested in it anyway because the storyline is about middle aged characters. All of the characters are extremely liberal in their politics. They constantly talk about their activities volunteering for many political groups.

I enjoyed this comic but there was too much politics for my taste. I am rating it 4 out if 5 stars.

The Retirement Plan

I chose The Retirement Plan as my selection for the Calendar of Crime Reading Challenge this month. It was published a few days ago. The story is a funny cozy mystery that anyone whoever has been married, yes everyone, will enjoy.

The publisher's summary:

Three best friends turn to murder to collect on their husbands’ life insurance policies… But the husbands have a plan of their own in this darkly funny debut that will delight readers from the first laugh to the final twist.

After thirty years of friendship, Pam dreams of her perfect retirement with Nancy, Shalisa, Marlene, and their husbands—until their husbands pool their funds for an investment that goes terribly wrong. Suddenly, their golden years are looking as dreary as their marriages.

But when the women discover their husbands have seven-figure life insurance policies, a new dream forms. And this time, they need a hitman.

Meanwhile, their husbands are working on their own secret retirement scheme and when things begin to go sideways, they fear it’s backfired. The husbands scramble to stay alive…but soon realize they may not be quick enough to outmaneuver their wives.

I feel that the first few chapters were slow while the author set up her plot. There were alot of characters introduced as well as the backstory on the two retirement plans. This plot is the most ingenious plot I ever heard. I knew the book would be entertaining so while it began slow I kept reading and soon was hooked. 

The characters are hilarious. The three wives and the three husbands behaved ridiculously. None of them could successfully carry out a plan and they all bumbled their actions. The person in the middle of it all is the barber, Hector, who just happens to be an organized crime killer from Central America. The story was revealed through four alternating points of view. The wives had one viewpoint, the husbands had theirs, the new manager of the casino where the husbands worked, Padma, had hers  and then we have Hector's. The novel switches points of view frequently. And while I enjoyed the antics of the husbands and wives tremendously, I think my favorite chapters were probably from the perspective of Padma, the frazzled casino boss of two of the husbands with an overbearing mother. Hector is also a cool character to follow.

Humor exudes throughout the story because of the zany plot. You can't help but chuckle at everyone's antics. The Retirement Plan is the type of yarn that all will enjoy. I highly recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars.

Ms. Tree Volume 3: The Cold Dish

Volume 3 of the Ms. Tree comics series was published in November 2021. It is the usual 262 pages and collects Ms. Tree’s Thrilling Detective Adventures 1-9 and The Files of Ms. Tree Volume 1 originally released by Eclipse Magazine. Unfortunately, the first part of volume 3 was drawn in black and white comic book panels. Then the color releases followed.

The story opens with Ms. Michael Friday meeting Mr. Mike Tree. Yes, she was Girl Friday. They soon marry and plan a one day honeymoon. However, Mr. Tree is shot and killed in their hotel room by the Muerta Mob. The remainder of the book deals with how she copes with life, taking over Mike's private investigation company.

This volume has republished the earliest Ms. Tree releases and contains the beginning sequences of the series. It would have been nice for these volumes to have been republished in order. I guess you can't have everything.

4 out of 5 stars.

Can't Wait Wednesday #44

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Wishful Endings blog. This meme spotlights the books that we are excited about but have yet to read. Generally, they're books that have yet to be released. 

This week I am highlighting Gary McAvoy's first book in his Vatican Archeology series: Covenant of the Iron Cross. He has previously written the Mary Magdalene series and the Vatican Secret Archives series. All three series feature Father Michael Dominic as the main character. The book was published on February 18, 2025.

The publisher's summary:

When Vatican archaeologist Marcus Russo uncovers the fabled Nazi Gold Train buried deep within the Owl Mountains of Poland, he expects to find a forgotten trove of looted treasures. Instead, he unearths a chilling codex that points to a dark and dangerous legacy: Operation Eisenkreuz, a Nazi plan to seed chaos and power across the globe long after their fall. But Marcus soon realizes the train’s secrets are only the beginning. Shadowed by an elusive and ruthless faction known as the Covenant of the Iron Cross, Marcus and his allies—Father Michael Dominic and journalist Hana Sinclair—must race against time to stop the Covenant from using the artifacts to reignite their deadly ambitions.

As Marcus pieces together the codex’s fragmented clues, he discovers it holds more than history—it holds the key to a network of hidden Nazi caches and an unfinished plan that could shift the global balance of power. But the Covenant will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried, infiltrating even the highest echelons of the Vatican itself. From the war-torn archives of Rome to the frozen depths of Eastern Europe, Marcus, Michael, and Hana are drawn into a treacherous game of cat and mouse, where every discovery raises new questions. Who can they trust, and how deep does the Covenant’s influence run?

In Covenant of the Iron Cross, suspense and intrigue collide in a race to unravel a conspiracy decades in the making. Combining historical mysteries with modern stakes, this gripping novel explores the cost of uncovering forbidden truths—and the resilience of those who dare to stand against evil. This thriller delves into the shadows of history, challenging readers to confront how the echoes of the past still shape the present.

So, what books are you waiting to read? 

Ms. Tree Volume 2: Skeleton in the Closet

Volume 2 of the Ms. Tree graphic novel saga was published in October 2020.  It collects Ms. Tree Quarterly releases 2, 4, 6, and 10. These issues were originally released by DC Comics and have been republished under Titan Comic’s Hard Case Crime imprint.

Our protagonist Ms. Michael Tree is a 6 foot tall, gun toting female private investigator. She solves crimes of passion, murder and intrigue. Ms. Tree doesn't think any case is too small, or too violent. All she cares about is getting the job done. Along the way she fights to get revenge for her murdered husband.

Skeleton in the Closet was set and written in the 80's. It's definitely for mature audiences as the story deals with cases of Satanic worship, homophobia, date rape, and missing POW's from Vietnam. It was quite innovative at the time it was originally written, being one of the first comics to not only deal with homophobia but have a supporting character come out in the book. The storyline also takes a hard look at date rape decades before the MeToo movement began. 

This was a fascinating look back in time. I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

Ms. Tree Volume 1: One Mean Mother

I recently discovered this book from Comixology Unlimited. It is the first collection of five classic Ms. Tree comics. Collection #1 collects issues #1, 4, 7, 8, and 9 of the “Ms. Tree Quarterly,” the follow-up series by DC Comics to the fifty-issue series by smaller publishers. The Ms. Tree comics began 37 years ago and over the years has been optioned to several TV stations.

Ms. Michael Tree is a 6 foot tall,  gun toting female private investigator. She solves crimes of passion, murder and intrigue in these  satisfying stories. Ms. Tree doesn't think any case is too small, or too violent. All she cares about is getting the job done. Along the way she fights to get revenge for her murdered husband.

One Mean Mother begins with Ms. Tree being hired to find out who killed her arch nemesis at Muerta Investigations, Dominique Muerta. She was hired by the deceased's daughter who just happens to be dating her stepson, Michael Tree, Jr. Ms. Tree begins her investigation by taking over the security of the Muerta company and tightens up security at the building in which it is located. Then we backtrack in time to when Ms. Tree met her husband while they were both in college. The book continues to move back and forth in time, but telling a complete story.

If you like hard boiled mysteries and/or are looking for a strong female character in your comics then you want to get this book. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Secret Keeper

The Secret Keeper is a historical fiction novel of 1937 India and England. It was published last year on August 12, 2024. The story has a dual timeline from the character Rani in the 1930s and 1940s India to Esme in the current time period.

The publisher's summary:

1938, Rani - the bright and spirited daughter of an Indian Crown Prince - leads a privileged if lonely life. But everything is about to change. Longing for freedom and purpose, she escapes the confines of her father’s palace and meets Prasad – a poor young man – with whom she falls deeply in love. But her plan to gain her father’s approval for the match disastrously backfires.

Estranged from her family and haunted by guilt, Rani’s path takes her from Cambridge to Bletchley Park and a new world of intrigue and secrets. Against the backdrop of war, Rani finds comfort and a sense of belonging with fellow codebreaker William and his young son. Could they heal her heart and become the family she craves?

Then Prasad reappears – and past and present collide, shattering Rani’s fragile happiness. As retribution for the hurt she caused him, he demands she pass him secrets from Bletchley. But at what cost? Torn between her past and her present, love and loyalty, Rani must face up to a heart-wrenching sacrifice . . .

I knew this book would be entertaining because Renita D'Silva always crafts a fine story. The Secret Keeper is another beautiful example of her writing. The novel's setting in India was described must better than that in Britain and Germany. The exotic foods, clothing, and atmosphere brought it to life for me and I can never get enough of reading about India. As such, I loved Rani’s life there. However, most of the story takes place in Bletchley Park. This is where Rani shined as a person. She was able to break through the constraints imposed upon her gender and perform work equal to any man. Her actual workplace was the only setting portrayed in Britain.

In the beginning of the story I had a difficult time connecting the lives of Esme and Rani. The Esme timeline was written with short paragraphs here and there compared to Rani’s. This suited me fine because Rani’s path was the more compelling. The connection between these two ladies was gradually revealed, keeping me hooked. 

Rani’s conundrum was that as a young girl she had lived a life free of the usual constraints against women. Her father was a prince of India and had left his royal life behind him. He supported Rani’s desire to be educated and encouraged her to think critically. However, after his father died he was called back to India where he became the opposite of who he had been. Rani and her mother were forced to live in separate quarters from the men and only saw her father and brother whenever they decided to visit. All of her father’s ideas of equal education for women disappeared. Rani wanted to attend college in Cambridge but was constantly rebuffed. After Rani met Prassad, she stole her father’s sword and gave it to him. The result for her was banishment from India but Prassad was tortured. Rani got what she wanted, though, a Cambridge education.

While Rani appears to be a strong woman, she seems to be a weak woman in her decision-making. I feel that she made some bad decisions while in England. I don't want to give any spoilers here, but many times she acted like the simple woman her newly crowned father believed her to be. I was struck by this dichotomy as I was reading. Rani is a complex character.

The Secret Keeper is a heartwarming tale about cultural differences in gender between the west and east. I loved it and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

Can’t Wait Wednesday #43

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Wishful Endings blog. This meme spotlights the books that we are excited about but have yet to read. Generally, they're books that have yet to be released. 

This week I want to feature Bad Lands by authors Preston & Child. The book will be published on June 3, 2025. It is a Nora Kelly Novel wherein archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson, while investigating bizarre deaths in the desert, awaken an ancient evil more terrifying than anything they’ve faced before.

The story takes place in the New Mexico badlands, obviously given the title. The skeleton of a woman is found and the case is assigned to FBI Agent Corrie Swanson. After the victim walked into the desert, she died of heatstroke. Two rare artifacts are found clutched in her bony hands. They are lightning stones used by the ancient Chaco people to summon the gods.

Agent Swanson brings in archaeologist Nora Kelly to investigate. A second body is later found exactly like the other. As Corrie and Nora pursue their investigation by visiting remote canyons, haunted ruins, and long-lost rituals, they find themselves confronting a dark power.

I have read most of Preston and Child's novels and all of them were entertaining. I am looking forward to reading the novel. What books are you looking to read?