The Girl in the Ground

The Girl in the Ground is the 4th Nikki Hunt Mystery and I couldn't read it fast enough.  It is an edge of your seat crime thriller that captured my full attention in the first pages. Nikki is an FBI special agent working in her home town of Stillwater, Minnesota. The story opens with construction workers unearthing the skeleton of a girl in Stillwater. Nikki's boyfriend Rory Todd is working at the site and calls her when the bones are found. While Nikki knows instantly that the girl was murdered, she is shocked when Rory tells her that he knows who the girl is. The dead girl is his childhood girlfriend Becky, and he was the last person to see her alive before she went missing twenty four years earlier.  Rory, of course, becomes a suspect and Nikki is told to step away from the investigation. Soon it becomes clear that Becky was pregnant and that Rory was the father of her baby. However, Nikki still believes that he is innocent and investigates that case anyway. When Nikki finds a potential link to two pregnant girls who were found murdered years before, she believes that she may solved the mystery of all of the murdered girls.

The character Rory seemed somewhat different from his appearance in earlier novels in the series. He is incredibly untrusting of the police despite that fact that his girlfriend is one of them. While it is normal to fear law enforcement when you are a suspect in a murder, he even began lying to Nikki over mundane matters. I think if I was a suspect, I would take some comfort from knowing that my girlfriend could help me. Rory acts differently.  

 

The mystery concerning the pregnant girls being murdered was well thought out. The main missing woman is a surrogate for a wealthy couple who are unable to have kids. When she disappears they think that something sinister must have happened to her because she was not the type of person who would just disappear. Nikki is a close friend of the couple and decides to help them out and look for the girl. Her main investigation, though, is to figure out how Becky died and why. Nikki believes that the missing surrogate is connected to all of the other missing girls as all of them were pregnant. She has alot of cases to look into in order to solve the crimes.  

This latest installment of the series was a fun read. 4 out of 5 stars.

The Girl in the Painting

At 495 pages, this epic story of India more than meets the requirements for the Chunkster Challenge. Four alternating plots are gathered together in this captivating story. One plot takes place in 1913 where our heroine Margaret is growing up in Charleston, England. During the same time, Archana is growing up in India. In 1926, Margaret has fallen in love with her new husband Suraj and his native country, India. Having moved from England to India after Suraj obtained his law degree, the couple moved to his parent's home after their sudden deaths. In 2000, Emma McEwen plans to divorce her husband and seeks solace from her grandmother Margaret, now back in England.  

The publisher's summary:

India, 1926:  Margaret is in love, with her new husband and her new home, a sprawling villa amidst beautiful rolling hills, the air filled with the soft scent of spices and hibiscus flowers. Yet, she's unwelcome with the locals and grows close to Archana, her maid, who reminds Margaret of the beloved sister she lost in the great war.  

Overjoyed with her pregnancy, Margaret could stay forever, sipping tea, chatting with Archana, painting in the sun beside the stream full of water lilies. But when Archana finds herself in danger and Margaret makes the choice to save her, she doesn't realize the devastating consequences that will tear her and Archana apart, destroy her marriage, and haunt her for the rest of her life.

England, 2000:  Emma's relationship is falling apart, and her beloved grandmother, Margaret, is dying.  Margaret has one last request:  find Archana.  It's the first time Emma has even heard the name, but desperate for an escape and to bring Margaret closure, she travels deep into the heart of the Indian hills, to a crumbling house overgrown with vines, searching for answers.  

The more Emma learns, the more she sees of herself in her grandmother, and the stronger her need to uncover Margaret's secret.  But if she finds Archana and the truth is finally revealed - the story of a day spent painting by the stream, and a betrayal that tore three lives to pieces - can it help each woman find peace or are some rifts too deep to heal?

For the first time, an English town sounds appealing to me. Charleston, where Margaret met with fellow artists, was a place that intellectuals and artists of every persuasion met to discuss the arts. It was enlightening for Margaret. The cacophony of Bombay even feels appealing to me even though I don't like alot of noise. It seems charming though. I can smell the food being sold in the market places. Margaret, however, must have a few allergies because she initially cannot handle the smells and always has a coughing fit. It amazes me that writers can make a place that I don't think I would like seem so romantic. India has always captured my imagination even though I have my own allergies to outdoor fragrances and cannot stand noise. These are great writers who can accomplish this.

The Emma character did not do much for me but Margaret and Archana were interesting characters. I cannot pick which one I like the most. Both had awful upbringings but Archana was poor because she married an untouchable so she suffered much more both emotionally and physically. Her culture was harsher toward women who did not fit into the expected mold. I felt bad that society demanded that she keep her feelings bottled up but Margaret had a choice. She chose to mess up her marriage and I am not sure what in her background made her do so. Did she just not have decent enough life skills?  Suraj was a dream boat. However, he was a secondary character. The book is really about Margaret and Archana.

All in all, The Girl in the Painting was a captivating story. I highly recommend it to historical fiction fans.  5 out of 5 stars.

River of Sin

River of Sin is TKO Short Limited Edition #7.  Written and drawn by Kelly Williams, it was published in September 2021. The story opens with children being found dead and mutilated in the woods. Alfonso fears that this might be the fate of his daughter Elizabeth. Feeling desperate, he and the parents of the other missing children decide to take matters into their own hands. They suspect that the kidnapper is Marge, one of the Brujas who steal kids, kill them and cook them, then bathe in their blood and fat. They are known to be able to squeeze into a home through small cracks and lie in wait until kids fall asleep. The group plans on confronting Marge to get answers and possibly find their kids. Along the way they meet the local sheriff who is looking into a report of blood on a trail in the woods. When they arrive at Marge's cabin they get a surprise. Sorry, no spoilers here.

This comic was a little macabre for me. I could not get over the artwork on the first page which showed an owl with blood spilling from its mouth. The owl was just too gory and affected how I experienced the comic. It made a grim story appear more gruesome than it was.  I have alot of questions about the storyline and looked for reviews of the comic. I did not find any reviews at all and will need to wait for reviews to be posted to fully figure this one out.

Since I do not typically read this type of comic I don't know what I should expect from it. Consequently, I cannot give a rating for it.

Purple Lotus

I indulged my love of India fiction with Purple Lotus.  This beautiful book is the debut novel of Veena Rao, who was a finalist in the 2021 Georgia Author of the Year Award.  In addition, she was a finalist in several other book of the year awards for this novel.  Purple Lotus tells the tale of a woman's journey from a pariah in India to a free-spirited woman in the American South. 

The publisher's summary:

Tara moves to the American South three years after her arranged marriage to tech executive Sanjay.  Ignored and lonely, Tara finds herself regressing back to childhood memories that have scarred her for life.   When she was eight, her parents had left her behind with her aging grandparents and a schizophrenic uncle  in Mangalore, while taking her baby brother with them to make a new life for the family in Dubai.

Tara's memories of abandonment and isolation mirror her present life of loneliness and escalating abuse at the hands of her husband.  She accepts the help of kind-hearted American strangers to fight Sanjay, only to be pressured by her patriarchal family to make peace with her circumstances.  Then, in a moment of truth, she discovers the importance of self-worth - a revelation that gives her the courage to break free, gently rebuild her life, and even risk being shunned by her community when she marries her childhood love, Cyrus Saldanha.

Life with Cyrus is beautiful, until old fears come knocking.  Ultimately, Tara must face these fears to save her relationship with Cyrus - and to confront the victim shaming society she was raised within. 

This story ends with a bang.  Tara's newspaper article in the Morning Herald about her journey ends the novel. Her aunt makes an observation about her that gives us the title of the book. Aunty says that Tara has always been a shrinking violet. Tara responds that she is not a shrinking violet but rather a purple lotus. It was lovely ending to a lovely story.  Perhaps, you could say that Tara finally grew up.

It's impossible not to have empathy for this character. Tara has to endure emotional abuse from her parents and then from her husband. After several years of marriage, that abuse becomes physical. Thanks to strangers in her Atlanta, Georgia neighborhood, she finds the courage to face Sanjay and demand a divorce. Sanjay, of course, complains about this demand to her parents. Tara then receives more emotional abuse from her parents who tell her it is her job to make the marriage work. She must sacrifice her needs to her husband and eventually it will all work out. However, her American friends from the local church encourage her to leave Sanjay. Tara breaks free from her marriage but still has to consider her self-worth in order to be free.

Purple Lotus shows us that you may not come of age until you are much older than the 18 year old norm. Tara was 36 when she realized her worth.  Not every person starts out in life with all the necessary tools for a healthy existence. Some of us take longer.  The point here is that you can grow if you have the courage.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Spyglass File

The Spyglass File is book 5 in Nathan Dylan Goodwin's Morton Farrier Genealogical Mystery Series. I have read several books in the series and, to date, all have been awesome. This book counts as a selection for the 2022 What's In A Name Reading Challenge in the compound word category as well as The Cloak and Dagger and Finishing the Series Challenges.

When the story begins, Morton Farrier is no longer at the top of his game.  His career as a forensic genealogist is faltering and he does not want to accept any new cases. Morton prefers to spend time working toward locating his biological father.  However, when an intriguing case appears, Morton is compelled to help a woman find the relatives that she lost during the Battle of Britain in WWII. He soon discovers that the answer can only be found in a secret document called the Spyglass File. 

As always, I enjoyed reading about the methods Morton uses in his geneological research. Every step he takes forces him to look in different places for information. This is how we get the twists and turns of the story. The mystery element is provided by Morton going from up to down and vice versa in his research. 

The Battle of Britain has been well researched by the author. It was fascinating to read about this particular battle. I don't believe I have ever read any WWII historical fiction novels that focused on just one battle. All the others cover the entire period of the war. It was a treat to learn all of the details about it. What made it even more interesting was that one of the characters in the book worked for a spy agency. 

The Spyglass File is an extraordinary tale. I highly recommend it and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

Roofstompers

Roofstompers is TKO Short Limited Edition #8. TKO issues 3 short comics every quarter and Roofstompers is from their September 2021 release. In this comic, New York City surgeon Carrie Thurston tries to unwind from her stressful job by going on a hunting trip to Wind River, Wyoming. However, she does not find any relaxation. Carrie is assaulted by a wild bear and taken in by an elderly couple who live in the woods. Adelei and Seraphine are helping her recover from her physical wounds but as the weeks go by, Carrie suspects that they are not what they seem to be. They have strange visits every night from what they call the roofstompers. The story then turns into sci-fi.

This comic is only 20 pages long but it still has a complete plot. There were many surprising twists and turns and each page forwarded the story using both dialogue and drawing. The eerie atmosphere added even more to the comic. I enjoyed the color scheme for the artwork. Ian MacEwan did both the drawing and coloring for the comic. The passage of time is shown through the use of colors. They show each of the seasons and one page can have more than one season on it. 

Simply fabulous!  5 out of 5 stars.

Double Blind

Double Blind is Sara Winokur's debut novel. Although she lives in California, this story takes place in Iceland during the 1990s. We have a young boy here, Lukas, who disappears in North Iceland. Twenty years later a mysterious poem lands on the desk of his twin sister Brynja, a forensic geneticist. The poem hints that Lukas may have never died. Brynja job is to work with the police using DNA research to catch criminals. The finding of the poem rekindles her hopes that her brother might be found and found alive. As Brynja unravels the clues, more poems arrive, each bearing dire consequences. 

Double Blind has many different components.  We read about old manuscripts, Icelandic myths, DNA forensics, Icelandic birds, farming, fishing, recipes and a touch of megalomiania.  There is even some romance as Brynja is engaged to Ari, Iceland's prime minister.  The medieval Icelandic Sagas are also part of this story as one of them is scheduled to be displayed for the country's independence celebration.  It seems like everything but the kitchen sink is part of the plot. However, these parts all blend well together.  

Being interested in medieval manuscripts, this story was right up my alley. Iron gall ink was used to make the ink that the words were handwritten with. In one of my classes on ancient manuscripts we had to make ink the old fashioned way and stirred up our own iron gall ink.  It's amazing to me that it was used by ancient scribes as well as modern scribes up until the early twentieth century. A few other components of ancient manuscripts were discussed in the story, which thrilled me. Another aspect to the investigation was the specific style of writing that Icelandic poets used. The poems that Brynja received were different though, adding more to the mystery. Ancient recipes for poisons add yet another layer to the mystery.

In the beginning of the story it seemed like the death of Lukas and the manuscript plotlines could not be intertwined. However, they were and the author also showed her expertise in RNA and DNA matching. The reader learns more about RNA but the information was written in layman's terms. I found it all fascinating. As the plot progresses we see Brinja's co-workers poisoned from eating sweets that are delivered to the office. Clues to the location of her brother are written on the paper used to wrap the sweets in.

Double Blind is unputdownable.  I highly recommend it for mystery fans.  5 out of 5 stars.

Happy New Year!

2022 New Release Reading Challenge

The 2022 New Release Challenge is a year-long challenge in which we aim to read books released in 2022.  Brandee and Linda at the Unconventional Bookworm Blog are the hosts of the challenge. There is one post on the top of their homepage for all review links for the year, where the link is open for books you read and review each quarter. While I read 55 new release novels in 2021, I am signing up at the New Release Newbie Level which requires me to read between 1 and 30 books.

There is a 2022 Release shelf on Goodreads and a Facebook Group for the New Release Challenge, to have a place where we can keep up with each other, cheer each other on, and get to know each other better. It is also a place where we can help each other find even more new releases. For those of you who have participated in the challenge before, it’s the same group as before.

The rules for the 2022 New Release Challenge are simple:

• Books have to be released and reviewed in 2022.
• Other challenges can be used as well. Books can count towards more than one challenge, as long as the ones you use for the 2021 New Release Reading Challenge qualify to the other rules.
• The minimum length for a book to qualify is 100 pages, it can be in any format though, physical, e-book, ARC or audiobook.
• The New Release Challenge is open from January 1 through December 31, 2022 and sign-ups are open until September 1, 2022.
• You don’t have to be a blogger to participate, you can link to your review on Goodreads or Booklikes instead.
• If you want to spread the love, please use #2022NewReleaseChallenge on Twitter.

There are five levels  in the 2022 New Release Challenge:

1. 1-30 books per year – New Release Newbie (my challenge level)
2. 31-60 books per year – New Release Pro
3. 61-100 books per year – New Release Veteran
4. 101-200 books per year – New Release Enthusiast
5. 200+ books per year – New Release Obsessed

Top Ten Books I Want in 2022

Several of my favorite authors will be publishing their latest novels in 2022.  We readers wait all year for new books from our favorite authors and then they are read in a day or two. The waiting begins again.  It's an awful affliction to have.

Top Ten New Authors

I read 99 books this year by new (to me) authors. Some were more special than others. These ten have me excited about the future.

Edward Rutherford (historical fiction)

Charles Finch (historical fiction)

Stacy Green (psychological thriller)

Alka Joshi (India fiction)

Balli Kaur Jaswal (India fiction)

Elzbieta Cherezinska (historical fiction)

Ronald Balson (historical fiction)

Jess Ryder (mystery)

Karen McQuestion (mystery)

Sharon Mitchell (mystery)

Top Ten Book Covers 2021

My top ten book covers for 2021 are all from graphic novels. I am surprised that the fiction books I read did not have covers as phenomenal as these.  In past years I did not have any comic covers on the list so this is a first for my blog.

Primer is my best book cover for the year. I love its colorfulness and the girl known as Primer has a curious look on her face that's appealing. As an artist, I am always drawn to these colorful covers.

Top Ten Books of 2021

I read 154 books in 2021!  99 of the authors were new to me.  I primarily read historical fiction, mysteries and graphic novels but also read a few science and political books.  My top ten list combines my favorites from all genres.  Here they are:

10. Twisted Tea Christmas (cozy mystery)

9.  Primer (comic)

8.  Hemlock (cozy mystery)

7.  Superman Smashes the Klan (comic)

6.   Peril (politics)

5.  Dominus (historical fiction)

4.  The September Society (mystery)

3.  Tunnels (graphic novel)

2.  Defending Britta Stein (historical fiction)

And my number 1 book is:  China (historical fiction)