Stay, by Allie Larkin

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This well written, humorous story in the first person point of view of Savannah “Van” Leone, is not a favorite storyline of mine. The characters are well developed, especially Van, but Van finds herself drunk and whining and crying way too much for my liking. Kinda stuck in the muck and wallow phase. Absolutely love Joe the dog, and that he’s from Slovakia, thus he only understands commands spoken in his native tongue, Slovakian. So funny! Of course, Van was drunk when she bought the awesome german shepherd dog on the internet. I got excited on page 131, which seemed like a pivotal moment for Van from victim to freedom and control of her life. Then BAM! Peter, the love of her life who just married her best friend, Janie, calls from JFK airport, “Van, I need you”, and here we go again with the whining and drinking and crying. The author, Allie Larkin, pulls it all together in the end, plunging beneath the surface characters, into their hearts, and was able to illustrate deep-seated human experiences that are riveting, and relatable. Exquisite writing really. The story line just didn’t ring my chimes.

DEATH OF AN ARTIST, By Kate Wilhelm

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This mystery is more about how justice will be served than it is about who-done-it. It is clear early on that Stef, the hyper-sensitive, restless, yet very successful artist is killed by her greedy sleaze of a husband, Dan Oliver, soon to be ex-husband if he hadn’t killed her first. Marnie Markov knew things about her artist daughter, as only a mother can know, and she knew Dan Oliver had killed her daughter. Van, Stef’s daughter, is about to graduate medical school, so she knew the medical examiner’s diagnoses of accidental death wasn’t consistent with the physical evidence. So I, the reader, knew too and wanted to kill him myself along with the Marnie and Van, rather than see him get away with it. But, that kind of justice has unjust consequences that would destroy these sweet women’s lives beyond their already traumatized lives by the death of their loved daughter/mother.

The server of justice is Tony, formally Anthony Mauricio, a NYC Policeman now retired, who had recently moved to the small community of Silver Bay, Oregon, to find peace; to heal from the wounds he had acquired while serving as a peace officer in the big city. He’s introduced on page one and becomes part of the family. He knows Dan Oliver killed Stef and having seen how justice has a way of being buried in the legal system after risking his life to apprehend thieves and murderers, and how this sleaze was still a threat to Marnie and Van, he too wanted to kill Dan Oliver. It was no secret to him how they felt, and he had to beat them to it to protect them.

The out of nowhere, sweetest of sweet justice served up at the end of the story was so very satisfying. No spoilers here. You’ll just have to read the book. Any reader will find this story well worth their time. Sweet, sweet justice - you’ll love it!

Book Review - 3 Sleuths 2 Dogs 1 Murder, by Maggie Pill

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This light-hearted murder mystery is told by each of the three sisters own point of view from chapter to chapter. I like that. It’s like getting to be alone with each one of their bias and rivaling sibling opinions to find out what they really think of each other outside of the being polite dialog to their sister’s face. It is like being each of the sisters best friends, giving me insight about why each one is acting the way they are when the other is around. I just wish now I

Book Review of THE RETRIBUTION, by Maggie Allen

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          In this, the third book in the TOTOBOAN TRILOGY, Virginia decides she has to set things straight before she leaves Africa this time. She must

Book Review of THE REVIVAL, by Maggie Allen

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Everything in THE RETURN is built upon, and clarified in THE REVIVAL. Virginia Wilson is drawn back to Totoba, Africa. She doesn’t clearly realize why. I don’t want to include any spoilers

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Animal Future by Robert McGraw
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This story starts with a bang, and ends with a shoot ’em up bang, bang! Then all is satisfyingly wrapped up in the epilogue. These authors, Robert and Darrin McGraw, are intelligent, extremely competent writer’s, who trust their readers to catch on. I LOVE IT!