Saturday, August 10, 2019

Books I Read This Week 2 August 2019 to 9 August 2019


I thought about using the book titles I’ve read as a title for each blog, but when you read more than one or two books in a week, the titles aren’t likely to fit. I mean it’s not as if all book titles are only two words. Titles like The Stand or It are pretty uncommon. Most titles are a minimum of three words and in some cases more. For instance, Storm of the Century or 50 Years in the Church of Rome. This also means you won’t know till you at least look at my blog, which books I’ve read. Although, if you, my wonderful reader would rather know the titles at the start, leave me a comment in the comments section and let me know. I could certainly try it.

Okay, on to the reason for this blog: Books!!

Up first, a Stephen King book, which is about the length of a novella and probably the first pulp fiction book I’ve ever read. I’ve heard the term “pulp fiction,” but didn’t know what it meant till I finally got to read The Colorado Kid. I’ve wanted to read this ever since I learned that one of my favorite SyFy shows, Haven was based on it. I originally ordered the book from the library, but didn’t get it read in time and had to turn it back in as others were waiting for it. This time I found a copy on the “Choice Reads” or “Paperback Picks” shelf, which are books that librarians have read and enjoyed and they are not in the system by title, so I don’t have to worry about someone waiting for it. I find a lot of good books that way and every so often a book that I personally would not have published in the first place.

As it turns out, the show was loosely based on the book. To be real honest, they don’t have a lot in common beyond three of the main characters in the show, but it was a good show and it got me to read a book I might not have known about, much less read otherwise.
In any case, I read the introduction to this book, which explained not only why Stephen King wrote it, but what pulp fiction is/was. I hadn’t known of course, but at one time pulp fiction was a genre of its own. They were books with lurid pictures meant to draw you into a world of action and excitement among other things. They were also meant to be cheap. You could buy one book for about the price of a movie ticket. The publishers of The Colorado Kid are trying to revive that idea.

Anyway, The Colorado Kid is a mystery, but it’s not your typical mystery. You aren’t drawn into events as they unfold, but rather told about them through the memories of two of the main characters, Vincent Teague and Dave Bowie (yes, you read that right; I had to look twice, too) as they tell the story to a third character, Stephanie McCann. Vince and Dave are the owners/operators of a local newspaper on an island off the coast of Maine. Stephanie is a journalism student doing an internship with them for the summer. The story they tell involves a man found dead on the beach several years earlier with no ID on him or anyway to really identify him, except for a package of cigarettes.

Telling the story through the memories of the newspaper owners was different, but I liked it. It was more like you were sitting there listening in, rather than just reading it. There are also some terrific black and white drawings that illustrate different parts of the story. Interesting side note, some of them were done by an actress from the series, Kate Kelton who played “Jordan.” I will say, however, if you like mysteries that wrap everything up in a neat little package at the end, then this isn’t a good read for you, because it leaves you with most of the questions about the victim unanswered. The copy I got from the library was a reprint with a forward that not only gives you a history on how this story got written, but lets you know the mystery in this book wouldn’t be solved. It was nice to be warned.

The second book I read this week was Claws for Celebration. It’s a fun little cozy mystery in which Lara Caphart and her Aunt Fran run a shelter for cats. It’s set in Whisker Jog, New Hampshire, a town that celebrates all things Christmas. The have an annual holiday cookie competition, which Lara is trying to get them to add a pet cookie category.

During this year’s competition there’s a substitute judge as the regular judge is unable to be there. When the substitute judge is killed, Lara starts trying to figure out who did it as her best friend’s mother is the prime suspect.

Then to top things off, when Lara’s making cat treats to sell at the competition using a cookbook she got from her local library, she finds a note in which someone confesses to having witnessed a murder the day Lara was born, 30 years prior. In the note, the witness writes that she’s afraid to tell anyone for fear she’ll lose her job. Now Lara has two murders to solve.

In the end, one of the cats Lara and her Aunt Fran take in provides the clue that solves the murder at the cookie competition and a look in the microfiche newspaper archives provide clues for the old murder. In an interesting twist, there’s a slight, but subtle connection between the two crimes, even though they were committed by two different people; thirty years apart.

The third book I read this week was my favorite of them all. No Good Tea Goes Unpunished by Bree Baker is the second in a series, but the first one I’ve haven’t read. The author literally keeps you guessing until the last second when a new character comes on the scene and says something that reveals who the killer is. I know sometimes last minute characters are annoying, especially if they’re the killer, but in this case, the character is someone that even in real life we aren’t likely to see but once in a great while.

Everly Swan came home to Charm, North Carolina nursing a broken heart after following a cowboy around the country who then dumped her. She’s bought her dream home and turned part of it into a successful tea shop. While catering a friend’s wedding reception, the groom is murdered and of course, all eyes are on the bride as the prime suspect because her new husband was rich.

While Everly is trying to clear her friend’s name, her old boyfriend comes to town and wants to renew their relationship.

I really enjoyed this. The characters felt true to life and made me want to read the first book in the series, Live and Let Chai.

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