Busom Bodies by Maria Grazia Swan

Mina Calvi inherited a software company after her mother’s death, but with no head for business, attempts to off-load the company with the help of her attorney Adams. While waiting for the deal to go though, Mina helps out a friend, Ginger, by agreeing to take her place at a local nightclub, Bosom Bodies.

All dressed up with a wig and padded bra, Mina pulls off the transformation, as Ginger had yet to start the job, running off to Vegas to get married at the last moment. Only Barbara the manager was in on the trick. Mina had time on her hands as her boyfriend was traveling in Europe with his mother, so the distraction was timely and she welcomed the chance to help a friend.

When Barbara suddenly dies, and Mina’s Volkswagen is apparently involved in the hit-and-run, the joke she was helping perpetrate suddenly gets out of hand and Mina finds herself in the middle of a mob battle with crooked cops, diamond smuggling, and murder. Add to that a mysterious new neighbor who is a detective with one of the Federal agencies and Mina finds herself in over her head and overwhelmed with seduction. Clueless as ever, Mina stumbles and bumbles through this second-in-a-series chic-lit mystery, witlessly providing proof for the police to follow at every turn.

If you like a lighthearted fun frolic set through a fresh voice, then this new series by Swan will fulfill your needs and garner the author a new following

Impulse by Frederick Ramsey

Frank Smith is a reasonably successful mystery writer, thanks to a TV series based on one of his novels, but that was a few years ago. As we meet him, we learn he is about to attend his fiftieth high-school reunion, the first time he has attended any of his reunions.

The boarding school he attended has bittersweet memories. His brother, a victim of bullying while also attending, had committed suicide and several of those that were responsible for the name calling would be there. Perhaps enough time had passed to see his way past their mean-spirited game playing by now. The school also had a tragedy when four students from that same year went missing, never to be seen again. Plus his daughter lived back east in Baltimore and he could visit with her and not contend with the rigors of the reunion if it was too much for him.

He was leaving Phoenix with a heavy-heart because he was becoming too familiar with mystery investigations. A local detective was investigating Frank in the disappearance, and supposed murder, of his wife, who disappeared on an evening stroll about four years ago.

Now this novel fits in with a rediscovered mystery genre, that of the old codger being the protagonist. One could easily imagine Andy Griffith in the starring role here. It is pleasant writing, with plenty of thought provocation, foreshadowing, and red-herrings. Of course Frank is challenged to do what the cops had not been able to do, deduce what happened to the boys that went missing fifty years ago. With his now-widowed childhood sweetheart helping—much to the horror of his daughter—Frank puts the pieces together on the missing boys, his geriatric love life, and finally faces what has happened to his wife.

The plot gradually edges along as bits and pieces fall into place culminating in a sobbing confession to finally make sense of mystery so long in the making.

Black Heart on the Appalachian Trail - a review

Everyone that sets foot on the Appalachian Trail writes a book, blog, journal or essay. Forrester has not only traversed the trail itself but also written from self-exploration and although not a trail guide, he's put as much knowledge and lore into the storyline as a David Miller trail journal. This one adds darkness to the peacefulness of the long-distance hike.

Taz Chavis, recently released from jail with a yearning for open-air freedom and a chance to make a clean break from an alcohol and drug-addled past, starts his journey on Springer Mountain in Georgia, intent on the northbound journey culminating at Mt. Katahdin in Maine, 2170 miles away. We are treated to not just stories of intertwining journeys of his soon-to-be trail partners - Simone Decker , a scientist with a hidden past, and Richard nelson, intent on discovering his Native Indian heritage and avoiding working in the family business - but to those who help other hikers.

These side stories are as much a teat to the AT reader, or hiker, as the story Forrester presents us with, that of the possibility that perhaps the deaths on the AT are no accident. As the bodies of hikers pile up along steep and precipitous portions of the trail, it dawns on Chavis that there is a murderer in their midst, "... a hiker murdering hikers is a defilement, the worst of mankind..."

The fragile and temporary nature of the relationships these three pals from is tested repeatedly, culminating in a fraught, tense scene in the dying embers of the novel. Like real life, there is always life after the journey and Forrester guides us home to the same helplessness or loneliness that drives many out on the AT, the pervading melancholy of drab lives that persuades many to take that long walk in the first place. After all, it is, as Forrester reminds us, better than the alternative... death, because, "Death is never the answer."

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed - a review

Hiking is good for the soul. It helps center one's life. And so it was that Strayed took off at a moment's notice to conquer her fears, depression to hike the Pacific Coastal Trail (PCT) the trail that spans 2,650 miles from Mexico to the Canadian Border, crossing through California, Oregon and Washington.
For Strayed it was not so much the distance she hiked but he distance she was away from real life. Starting in Modesto, CA she made it through ice fields, rock falls, bear and the occasional rattlesnake to the far side of Oregon. With all the physical difficulties of hiking, from sore muscles and broken feet to the extra precautions any young woman hiking on her own has to face the journey was accomplished and life began anew.
I was very pleasantly drawn into this story of accomplishment having hike the PCT's eastern cousin the Appalachian Trail, under similar circumstances, about ten years ago and so many times I found myself nodding or uttering agreement to the trials and tribulations Strayed voiced. It was quite the mini flash-back and I really enjoyed basking with her on her backpacking journey.
Like those before and those to come this life's journey was one of abolishing one's fears and striving for a new beginning.

AZ: Anno Zombie by Peter Mark May - a review

On the day that signifies the dawn of the Zombie Apocalypse, Tucson folks could be considered some of the luckier ones. At least their city still exists. Phoenix, Los Angeles, and other major cities around the world have disappeared into a gaping fiery hole, and all their denizens disappear forever. Armageddon has arrived.

As fire rains down on Tucson, Tom Hollinger and his new main squeeze, Casey, raceacross town to rescue his ex-wife and son from an army of zombies. By the time they get toTommy Jr.’s house, there is barely enough time to rescue his son—who witnessed his nowzombie mother eat her baby daughter—and escape with their lives. Heading for a pub run by his bestfriend and former British paratrooper Alan Hopkins, they hole up and decide how to get out of town.

Together with a mixed bag of survivors, they take off, loaded down with all the weapons they canfind. They’re in a school bus heading north on Interstate 10 in an effort to leave the city limits, hoping to discover what life is left in Phoenix. Along the way they encounter armies of rotting zombie corpses, pick up the occasional straggler and lose a few of their own, as well as encountering packs of rabid humans out to protect themselves or provoke others. Night finds them in relative safety atop a mountain where they can watch the approaching zombie army. If they can get out of this one, what can they expect with the dawning of a new day?

Not for the faint of heart, this bloody thriller has all you could ask for and is a great horror story. An average Joe rises to the occasion to help lead his fellow humans, a splendidly written narrative, and ast-pace gore galore. In this good vs. evil thrill-a-minute story, May has found a way to capture a piece of humanity and give us hope that good will prevail in the end.

As the year ended I took a look at the books I have read and reviewed in 2012 to pick the top ten list of my favorites for 2012.


In order that I enjoyed them the most I present:

The One I Left Behind  - Jennifer McMahon

Queen of America – Luis Urea

The Laughterhouse - Paul Cleave

Shadow Walker - J E Gurley

The Leopard - Jo Nesbit

Started Early, Took my Dog - Kate Atkinson

The Cleaner - Paul Cleave

Triple Crossing - Sebastian Rotella

Island of Silence - Lisa McMann

Pig - SBR Martin

The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon - a review

If it was possible to give more than five stars on a review this book deserves it.

In a typical small American town a silent killer stalks the streets kidnapping, maiming and killing five women and disappearing until twenty years later when suddenly it starts all over again. Is it a copy-cat killer or has the murderer the police dubbed Neptune come out of hiding one last time?

For young Reggie, just thirteen when her mother disappeared, life holds more questions than answers. Whereas the severed right hand of her mom showed up on the doorstep of the police department just like all the others whose bodies where all left on public display days later, her mother’s body was never found. Now a successful architect trying to get on with her life, she is thrown a curve-ball when a call from the hospital reveals her mother has been admitted.

Apparently her mother has been a transient, living in homeless shelters for years. How did she get back home, and why did she not die like all the others. As she begins to ask questions, her best friend from her days in high school, Tara, reappears in their life and takes the job as care-giver for her mother only to be kidnapped and her hand placed on the police department’s steps just like all the others. In a race to save Tara’s life Reggie puts her own life on the line.

Trouble is brewing in this small town. Evil is stirring up the cauldron, slowly adding ingredients such as red-herrings and false suspicions as slowly the pot comes to a boil. With the turn of every page you expect to be totally blown away. McMahon is at her best as she raises the temperature and the tempo until it all spills over and leaves you gasping in surprise