Quiz with Balls – With how quickly people dropped, I was
impressed with how far the firefighters made it. Almost a win!
I wouldn’t have known nearly as many as he did, so I am very
impressed. I like how so many of them
did dives or flips into the water. Very
prepared. And I missed the prize ball
last week. Either it was a hold over
episode, or I just wasn’t close enough attention last week, I guess.
We've made it to Friday! Time for this week's Friday Post, where I will be linking up to:
Book Beginning
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop
This week, my teasers for the first three will come from In the Spirit of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge.
This is book four in the American in Paris Mysteries. It features Tabatha Knight and her neighbor...Julia Child.
Here's how this book begins:
"It was an absolute disaster!" Julie cried, gripping my arm in desperation.
That grabbed my attention. I needed to know what the disaster was. Meanwhile, on page 56, we find this:
"You, too, have the energy around you. But it is different. It is quieter, but not weaker. You have...It is death, I see."
What could that mean? I'll leave it for you to find out.
The book comes out on Tuesday, and I'll have a release day review. So I hope you'll stop by to find out what I thought.
Meanwhile, let's close things out with this week's Book Blogger Hop. The question is:
Imagine creating a book-themed board game. What kind of gameplay would it have?
I think I'd do something about trying to read your to be read pile. Maybe you are on a quest to lower your list by 20 books. But your opponents can sabotage you by adding to your to be read pile. I'm not completely sure how exactly it would work, but this basic idea sounds fun. Lots of kinks to work out and rules to create, right?
Have a great weekend!
Trying to Find a Kidnap Victim
I’ve really come to enjoy the Nate Ross series from J.R. Sanders, so a new book is always a reason to celebrate. While it’s been out for a couple of months, I read Blues in the Dark as soon as I got my hands on a copy.
Nate is a private investigator in 1930’s Los Angeles. While movies are the big business, he has no use for it and tries to avoid them at all costs. This particular book is set in 1939, and Nate finds himself once again drawn into the world of Hollywood.
You see, Nate’s client is Audrey Chase, one of the biggest movie stars. Her sister has been kidnapped, and the ransom demand is small. Audrey paid it, but her sister wasn’t returned as promised, and now she wants Nate to find her sister and return her safely. Given that this is Hollywood, Nate is wondering if this is more of a publicity stunt than a real crime, but the pay is good, so he takes the case. He quickly finds that, if he gets it wrong, this case will have deadly consequences. Can he figure out what is really going on?
While I haven’t read a ton of the PI novels of the late 1930’s, this feels like it would fit into that tradition quite nicely. No, this isn’t a cozy, but it keeps things fairly clean, which I appreciate.
While the book doesn’t have a ton of supporting characters, we have a few recurring ones. I enjoyed seeing them again. And, of course, Nate is a fun character to follow around as always. We get some interesting new characters that kept me engaged as the story unfolded.
And the mystery itself? It’s strong. It’s the main focus of the book, and it has more than enough action to keep us engaged the entire way through. I couldn’t wait to see exactly what was going on and how Nate was going to figure things out. Yet, when we reached the end, everything made sense.
Other books in the series have delved a bit more into the world of the Hollywood studios of the era than this one did even with a movie star client. I did feel like I was transported to the Los Angeles of the 1930’s, which I always find fun when I pick up one of these books.
Blues in the Dark is another fast, fun read with a great historical backdrop. Now comes to wait for Nate’s next case.
Here are the rest of the Nate Ross Novels.
“What Are You Going to Do?” “You Might Want to Put on Your Helmet for This.”
Despite my best intentions, it’s been a while since I watched a movie in the Fast and Furious franchise. First, Furious 7 wasn’t on any of the streaming services I have when I sat down to watch it. Then I found it on cable, but it sat on my DVR for about six months. However, when I finally sat down to watch it, I was glad I stuck with this franchise.
As always, the plot is just an excuse for the action sequences. But, here goes.
When we check in with our characters, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is still struggling with her missing memory. While Dom (Vin Diesel) is trying to help her, the fact that it isn’t coming back is painful to him. Meanwhile, Brian (Paul Walker) is struggling with being a family man, leaving all the danger behind him. But Mia (Jordana Brewster) has a secret she is keeping from him.
But all of that becomes background noise when Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) continues on his campaign of revenge. After going to visit Agents Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), he leaves a present for Dom. As the gang comes back together to fight him, they are recruited to find a surveillance device called “God’s Eye” before it falls into the wrong hangs. Will they survive the latest extreme stunts in pursuit of their mission?
As I said, the plot is just an excuse for the stunts. Honestly, I’m a little unclear about why they had to go after the program. It really serves as a McGuffin that just adds another group of characters and a level of complexity that felt superfluous.
But, those action sequences? They are excellent! Don’t get me wrong, my brain is scream that there is no what any of it would actually work as I was watching, but I still enjoyed watching them. They get more extreme again here, but that’s part of what made them fun. And, with a couple of exceptions, what we were watching looked real.
Likewise, the acting was fine. These movies don’t spend a lot of time on the characters, but the actors do the best they can with the scripts they are given.
Sadly, actor Paul Walker died while this movie was being filmed in an accident having nothing to do with the film. They used a variety of filming tricks to finish out his part of the film. But they also gave Brian a fitting on screen send off. I found it much more touching than I was expecting it to be.
These movies aren’t great cinema, but they aren’t trying to be. If you are looking for a mostly mindless action flick, you’ll be glad you watched Furious 7.
Naomi Solves Her First…Side Quest
It had been a while since I tried a new to me author. I kept coming back to The Bush Tea Murder by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier. Billing itself as the first Caribbean Island Mystery, the combination of the setting and the fact that it also has a culinary theme convinced me to give it a shot. I wish it were as good as I hoped it would be.
Naomi Sinclair is a culinary journalist living her dream with her job at EAT TV hosting a show where she gets to interview chefs. When a potential new show investigating culinary related cold cases is presented to her, she immediately thinks of a famous case on her native St. Thomas. Four decades ago, the owner of a tea company on the island was killed while locked in her office. It’s the perfect case for her potential pilot. But will she be able to solve it?
If the book had focused on that case, I’m sure I would have enjoyed it. However, that’s not what this book turned out to be. Along the way, Naomi finds herself involved in a series of shorter mysteries that pull her focus. Since the author has previously published some short stories, I’m wondering if these stories were previously published elsewhere. Or maybe they were just the format she feels most comfortable with. Either way, there are attempts to tie these stories into the over arcing mystery since Naomi will often get something she needs from someone we met in these side quests after the short story is over. Honestly, if we connected all the parts focused on the main mystery together, it would probably be a short story itself.
This is all presented as Naomi talking to the executives at the television network about what has happened over the last year as she investigated the story. So we kept jumping forward and back in time. Yes, it was all clearly marked, so I had no trouble following it all.
At this point, I am sounding like Naomi’s annoying co-worker who is also competing for the gig hosting this potential new TV show. He keeps commenting about how Naomi gets sidetracked and wanting her to get on with it. I started out being very annoyed by him, but it wasn’t long before I agreed with him. Which also annoyed me. I didn’t want to be like him.
Here’s the sad part. If the structure of this novel had been better, I am sure I would have loved it. The characters came to life for me. When I was reading, they’d pull me into whatever side quest Naomi was involved in at the moment. Her parents, her boyfriend, her best friend, other friends and neighbors – all outstanding.
And the writing itself is very evocative. I felt like it was on St. Thomas with Naomi and the rest.
I tried to give the book a chance since I quickly realized this wasn’t going to be a typically structured novel. The problem was, the constant interruptions made it hard to stay invested. I couldn’t keep the suspects straight when we were talking about the main mystery since it might have been 75 pages since we’d talked about any of them.
If this has been billed and set up as a short story collection, it would have worked for me. And I would have savored every page.
Also, while this might appear to be a cozy, there is a fair amount of foul language, at least for that subgenre.
If the next book in the series is a more traditional novel, I would gladly give the series another chance. But the structural problems keep The Bush Tea Murder from being anything other than average.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.
Mickey Tries His Hand at Animation
I really liked last year’s From Sketch to Screen ornament from Hallmark, but with the price increases, it was hard to justify getting it. But I jumped on it when it went on sale after Christmas, and I’m glad I did.
This ornament features Mickey as an animator. He’s wearing a cap and sitting at a large desk. He’s holding a pad of paper in one hand, and you can tell he is concentrating at drawing Chip.
There are so many great details to this ornament, like the reference drawings or the cup of coffee. I just love those details.
Since the biggest part of this ornament is a desk, it’s no surprise to me that it could easily be set out to be displayed. In fact, since there is nothing truly Christmassy about it, you could enjoy it year-round. I’ve had mine out for the last couple of weeks, and I’m really enjoying it.
However, when you go to hang it, you’ll find it tips significantly to the left. Yes, you could use tree branches to disguise or support it, but it is rather surprising just how much it leans if you can’t do that.
But that’s the only flaw in this ornament for me. Disney fans will love having From Sketch to Screen in their collection.
Welcome to this week's Sunday/Monday Post. I will be linking up to:
Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
Mailbox Monday
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?
I'm typing this Saturday night after spending the day at USC for the LA Times Festival of Books. Unlike last weekend, when it cooled off and rained a little, today was warm and sunny. While I do prefer to have it be sunny, it was pretty hot to be out walking around in the sun. But it made the time I was sitting in the shade feel that much better.
It was crowded, which is mostly nice to see. It did make some of the booths hard to get into and actually look at the books they were selling. As always, I walked around and looked at all the booths, but I mainly hung out in the section where the Sisters in Crime and the Mystery Writers of America booths were. I mean, that is the kind of book I tend to read, right? I got to chat with some authors I know, which is always fun. And I made several impulse purchases. Why else do you go, am I right? But we'll get to those purchases in a minute.
Sadly, the friend I usually go with wasn't able to make it this year. I missed getting to hang out with her.
One author I was really hoping to get to see is only there on Sunday. I was tempted to go back, but I've decided against it. At least I think so. We've discussed me being indecisive before, right?
So, sorry, you'll have to wait one more week for the resolution of the cliffhanger.
So, what did I get today? Let's start with the two books I knew I was going to buy going into the day.
I met Elle Jauffret last year at Malice Domestic. Somehow, I didn't come home with her first book, Threads of Deception. I had to fix that. The main character is a lawyer forced to move back to Southern California. That setting alone makes me interested.
I was also planning to buy Angel City Beat, which is the latest anthology from the LA Chapter of Sisters in Crime. I had to keep my collection complete. Someday, I need to start reading these short story anthologies I keep buying.
Friday, I saw an Instagram ad from Marissa Malson that she was going to be at the festival selling her book, The Not So Average Life of Average Jane. I hadn't heard of her before, but the book sounds fun. It's about a woman who is used to being overlooked pulled into a mystery in her mother's neighborhood. So I decided to give it a chance.
I often ignore the people trying to hand out bookmarks, etc. as I'm walking from booth to booth. Usually, I'm not interested, and I don't want to just bring stuff home to throw away. But I did get stopped by the person trying to get people to learn more about A Reluctant Spy by Roselyn Teukolsky. More suspense than mystery, we'll see what I think of it.
Nicholas George's first series, about walking tours in England, didn't appeal to me. But he was there, and that's when I realized he had a new series out. You've Lost That Livin' Feelin' appealed to me with the punny title and the fact that's it's set in California.
Finally, I got Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimand. I still haven't read the first book (I know, I know), but I got book two since the author was going to be there signing. Sadly, she had to cancel last minute. I wish I'd asked before buying the book, but I'm sure it won't be that big a deal. If I like the first, I'll be glad I have the second.
With all this time spent buying books, I didn't get as much reading time in as I might have today. That means, I'm still reading Between a Roquefort and a Hard Place by Linda Reilly, which I started on Thursday. I'm enjoying it and very curious exactly what is going on. Which for a mystery is perfect Hopefully, I'll finish it up on Sunday.
Which means I'll be starting Stakeouts and Strollers by Rob Phillips on Monday. I'm looking forward to this debut mystery about a man who is a new dad and new PI trying to juggle the two. Hopefully, it's as fun as it sounds.
That does it for me this week. Hope your week is great!
The Quiz with Balls – I would have gotten that first
question wrong myself. I wasn’t paying
close enough attention to the scores, I guess, and I was shocked with which
team won. Glad the show is back.
RJ Decker – I felt like I missed something – since when was RJ working for a supermarket? I get it, they needed him there for the rest of the plot, but it felt more like something from old school TV where continuity didn’t matter. The mystery was okay. I felt like they were trying a little too hard to be clever. But I’m curious where they are going with the ending.
Survivor – Coach is gone!!! That was quite a twist. I know I didn’t vote for that one. Unlike some of their other twists, I did really like this one, however. It added a fun new dynamic to the episode. I wonder how that idol will come into play next week. Because I’m sure he’s not going to fess up right away.
Happy’s Place – I do like the message about people over
machines. But I don’t feel like that’s
going to be the case with bigger companies.
And I’m not sure I still trust the machines without human
supervision. I did like the subplot
involving emojis. So fun to see it
getting out of control like that.
Second Part Holds Up Better Than Expected
I decided I really needed to watch Wicked: For Good very close to my first viewing of Wicked, so I set aside some time just a few days later to watch the second part. No, I’m not considering this a sequel. It’s one story broken up into two parts, and I will stand by that. Anyway, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did despite some flaws.
This movie, essentially act two of the stage musical Wicked, picks up a bit after the first movie ended. In that time, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) has become infamous in Oz for being…well…wicked. Of course, her best friend, Glinda (Ariana Grande) knows the truth, but she doesn’t have much of a chance to set the record straight. She’s also become the face of hope as Glinda the Good, an idea of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), the real power behind The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum).
But Elphaba knows that The Wizard is a fake. She’s also determined to make sure that the animal residents of Oz are given equal treatment. But will her efforts help or hurt her cause?
This is where I see the musical as more of a look at propaganda than an apology for evil. We know that Elphaba’s motives are usually good even if her actions are questionable. And yes, the way she goes about this are quite often bad. But, the true villain of the piece is Madame Morrible, with The Wizard being pretty bad himself. But, the two of them are able to spin it so that Elphaba doesn’t have the ability to get her side out or share what she knows. The people aren’t willing to listen any way. This is captured perfect in the song “Wonderful.”
Of course, the problem with all of this is you have to be able to think through what you are seeing. Much like with propaganda. It’s not as black and white as the original story. It’s very gray, various shades of gray. And I can see the problem people have with this story since it makes the traditional villains heroes and traditional heroes villains. I enjoy it for the fan fiction it is that makes us think. But that may just be me.
But enough about the themes. Shall we look at this movie itself?
Much of what I said about the first film holds true here, too. Things look great, outside a moment or two. The leads are fantastic. The rest of the cast is good, although a couple really struggle when they have to sing.
Not that much of the music here is memorable. There’s a reason that “For Good” is the best known of the songs from the second half. And the two new songs added to this movie don’t add much to things. Likewise, we don’t get many dance numbers, although I enjoyed what we did get.
I was worried when they took the one hour second act and more than doubled it that this half would drag. And yes, there were some moments in the middle that were slower than they should have been, but overall, I found the pacing worked.
The second half is where we get Dorothy crashing things. We don’t see more than her back here, and we get glimpses of the original Wizard of Oz story. Those nods and the Easter Eggs we get to the original are fun, but the emphasis is on how all of this impacts Elphaba and Glinda.
Back to the beginning of my review for a minute. I talked about how I view this as a continuation, not a sequel. There are so many things that tie back to the first movie, as you’d expect since this is Act two of the play. You really need to watch these two movies close together to get the complete picture. That’s not true with true sequels.
Another thing that bothers me with this story is the melancholy ending. I get it. It is the right ending. But I guess I wish that we’d gotten a full redemption, but that would break Wizard of Oz cannon. Of course, it breaks cannon in another way, but we won’t go there.
In the end, I think fans of the Broadway musical will be satisfied with Wicked: For Good and these two movie musicals overall.
Murder, Mayhem, and Magic in Japan
I’ve made it my goal to try to make progress in multiple series this year, but one of the few I think I can actually get caught up on is Gigi Pandian’s Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries. I took another step closer with The Ninja’s Illusion, the fifth book in the series.
If you haven’t met Jaya yet, she is a history professor at a university in San Francisco who finds herself on the trail of multiple treasures related to her native Indian history. Of course, all of those hunts include a liberal dose of mayhem and even the occasional murder.
As this book opens, Jaya has a week off for Thanksgiving break, and she is heading to Kyoto, Japan, where her best friend, Sanjay, is appearing in a televised magic event along with a Japanese star. And Jaya is hoping to connect with a local professor who has just reached out for her help about a trading ship lost to history.
Jaya has only been there for a few hours when she realizes a mysterious Ninja is following her. The magician that Sanjay is working with is keeping a secret close to his vest. Then, Sanjay and Jaya find a body at the bottom on an embankment. Can Jaya figure out what is going on in time to keep Sanjay safe?
Yes, there is a treasure involved in the story, but it does feel like magic is more prevalent than a treasure hunt in this book. It certainly teases the hook that Gigi would use for her Secret Staircase Mysteries. Not that I’m complaining since I enjoyed that series.
No matter how you define the hook, we have a solid mystery here. Yes, the pacing slowed a time or two, but never for very long. And I appreciated how things came together in the end.
I did get frustrated with Sanjay upon occasion. He just acted a bit too bullheaded. Understandable? Yes. But I still wanted to knock some sense into him.
Jaya is still a fun character to follow around. I enjoyed watching her try to piece things together. We also get some updates on other series regulars, with a tease of more developments coming in the next book in the series.
One thing I enjoy about this series is the history that is part of the plot. This time, I learned a bit about Japan as well as India, all without getting in the way of the story.
The Ninja’s Illusion is another fun entry case for Jaya Jones. If you haven’t picked up this book yet, you’ll be glad you did.
Seek out the rest of the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries.
