July 12th's Sunday/Monday Post

It's that time of the week again.  Time for this week's Sunday/Monday Post, where I link up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

We got some summer weather this week - upper 90's.  Yes, it will go higher before summer is over, but I'll take this.  Remember, I am a warm weather person.

I went into the office for a few hours this week.  For the next year, we do still have an office building, so my director had the locals who report to her in.  Turned out I was the only one who just came in for lunch and a meeting as opposed to working in the office all day.  Oops.  I'll know for next time.  Still, it was nice to see people.

And I did go paddle boarding Thursday night after work.  Got to enjoy the evening hours while I still can.

Saturday is Hallmark's ornament premier (half their ornaments for the year are out).  And it's game day.  So let's get to this, shall we?

Pun-Official Holiday of the Week:

July 14 – Americans do not meter out the lengths they’ll go to celebrate Tape Measure Day.  Many enjoy the day in a yard.

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: Toy Story 5

Tuesday - Book Review: The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts by Robert Thorogood

Wednesday - Movie Review: The African Queen

Thursday - Book Review: Death on the Back Nine by Caleb Wygal

Friday - Friday Post featuring Strong Medicine

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - TV Show Review: The Golden Girls - Season 1

Tuesday - Book Review: Strong Medicine by Steve Hockensmith

Wednesday - Ornament Review: Happiness Is...A Warm Hug

Thursday - Book Review: Lie Down with Dogs by Liz Milliron

Friday - Friday Post featuring All Aboard for Murder

Saturday - TV Show Review: Survivor - Season 50

Book Haul:

I got another four books this week.

Up first is an ARC.  Murders in the Marquee is the first in a new historical series set in San Francisco written by Dana Mentink.  I have enjoyed the previous books from her I've read, and I always enjoy reading books set in California.  Between the two?  I had to get an ARC.

P.J. Fitzsimmons offered an ebook copy of his latest Anty Boisjoly Mystery, The Case of the Accomplished Accomplice, free to his newsletter subscribers.  Of course, I jumped on that since I enjoy his series so much.

I was looking to get free shipping on an order from Amazon (no, I don't have Prime), and so I decided to get The Pie & Mash Detective Agency.  This debut from J.D. Brinkworth sounds fun, and I am hoping I can get it read before the sequel comes out early next year.

Finally, I got an audio book out of the library.  Dead Days of Summer is the next Dead on Demand Mystery for me.  None of my libraries had an electronic audio copy.  And only one of them had it on CD.  Fortunately, my car still has a CD player, so I can listen to it that way.

What I'm Currently Reading:

In fact, I've already started Dead Days of Summer by Carolyn Hart.  I'm very curious as to what is happening, so I'm looking forward to more time in the car so I can find out.

I'm also working on The Glass Thief, the sixth Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery from Gigi Pandian.  I was hoping to read it for a Christmas in July review since it's set around the holiday, but I don't think I'm going to make that.  But I'm enjoying it.

Have a great week!

July 11th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Would you look at this?  I have two shows to talk about!

American Ninja Warrior – Wow, they were moving fast.  I couldn’t believe some of those times.  And two people beat the Mega Wall, too.  On the other hand, I was surprised at the people who struggled with the regular wall.  It’s been a while since they focused on something who didn’t make it up the wall, and we saw that twice plus someone in clips.  I mean, I get it.  That’s a hard thing to get up (I’ve tried) so I’m not criticizing.  And that one teen?  So inspiring!

Press Your Luck – I’m wondering when they thought this would air.  Talking about the Super Bowl?  Either they are very early or very late.  Did enjoy the football theme, however.  And an amazing come back in the bonus round.  So close to taking it all home.  So very, very close.

July 10th's Friday Post

Welcome to Friday and this week's Friday Post.  I'll be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

My teasers for the first three will be coming from Strong Medicine by Steve Hockensmith.

This is book eight in his Holmes on the Range series, featuring two cowboy brothers who have turned detectives, inspired by Sherlock Holmes.

Here's how the fun begins:

When you’re a cowboy, you learn to be both a heavy sleeper and a light one.

Meanwhile, at 56% into the book, we find the main characters trying to get some information from a cabby.  That leads to this exchange:

“My rate,” he went on, “is a dollar a question.”

“What?” Old Red said.

“Is that question number one?” the cabby asked.

“It wasn’t a question,” I clarified. “It was an expression of disbelief.”

The book will be out on Tuesday, and my review will be up then.

Meanwhile, let's turn our attention to the Book Blogger Hop for the week, shall we?  This week's question is:

What’s your biggest pet peeve about the book community?

That's a hard question.  I do have some pet peeves, but I'm not sure what the biggest is.  And what I really do like is that you can find just about every opinion represented.  So, I try to avoid those who harp on things I don't like.

I guess the one thing that stands out the most are the people who think you can only do things one way, and then tell others they must enjoy books that way or it doesn't count.  As I like to say, we aren't in school.  This is a hobby.  We can enjoy books however we want.  Physical, ebook, audio.  Multiple a week or just a couple a month.  Best sellers or indie authors.  It's all good as long as you are enjoying it.

Have a great weekend!

Book Review: Death on the Back Nine by Caleb Wygal (Myrtle Beach Mysteries #6)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Clark and a decent mystery

Cons: Needed a good edit to cut things down

The Bottom Line:

A golf course murder

There’s solid mystery here

But needed edit

Taking a Whack at Murder

I have gotten caught up in the Myrtle Beach Mysteries.  There’s an ongoing storyline that I really want to see through to the conclusion, which I know happens in book seven.  But first, I needed to go on a fatal round of golf with book six, Death on the Back Nine.

The series follows Clark Thomas, a widower who owns a bookstore in Myrtle Beach.  Over the last year plus, he’s found himself involved in a series of murders that have happened in the area.  Along the way, he’s been piecing together clues to what happened to his wife several years before.

This book finds Clark’s brother coming for a visit.  He hasn’t seen Bo in several years.  One thing Bo wants is to play golf on one of the fantastic golf courses throughout the area.  Clark arranges for the two of them to join Detective Moody for a round early one Saturday morning.  But, the foursome directly ahead of them isn’t the most fun to follow around the course.  When they get to one hole with a wicked dogleg, one of that foursome hits their ball into the woods…and never returns.  Someone has hit him with a golf club.  With Clark on the spot and Moody’s partner out of town, the mayor asks Clark to help out.  Will he be able to find the killer?

The series took a darker turn with this book.  Even Clark is bothered by what he learns about the suspects along the way.  It’s hard to find much sympathy for any of them.  So know this isn’t quite cozy going in and you’ll be okay.

Honestly, I felt like Clark’s involvement here was a bit of a stretch.  Yes, Clark has been recognized by the mayor for his previous help solving murders.  But there are still things that didn’t sit well.  And we really focus on the case to the point that some of the potential subplots are left to dangle.  I’m not talking about the ongoing storylines, but some things introduced here that get wrapped up in a rush at the end.

The author does acknowledge at the end that this is the longest book in the series to date.  It could have been shorter.  We got several repetitive passages that would have been easy to cut or summarize.  And, we got too much lead up to the murder.  Yes, we were getting to know the victim and suspects, but we could have gotten the feel for the characters in fewer pages.

We also got extensive use of foreshadowing to the point that it was annoying.

I can’t fault the plot itself.  It was very cleverly done, and I didn’t have it figured out before Clark did.

And I do like Clark.  I didn’t feel like we saw too much of the regulars except for Detective Moody, but it was nice to get to know him better.

As is usually the case, we got a cliffhanger related to Clark’s wife’s murder to pull us into the next entry in the series.  A predictable cliffhanger, in this case, but I am curious where it is all going to lead.

This series continues to be just okay.  I good edit would solve so many of the issues with Death on the Back Nine.  But I am hooked enough to give it at least one more book.

Here are the rest of the Myrtle Beach Mysteries.

Movie Review: The African Queen

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong acting and interesting story

Cons: Definitely shows its age

The Bottom Line:

Trip down a river

Filled with plenty of danger

Dated but good film

Treacherous Trip Down the River

I’ve heard of The African Queen for years.  It’s a legendary classic movie, after all.  When I spotted it on Turner Classic Movies, I decided to watch it.  While it definitely shows its age, I did enjoy it.

The movie is set in Africa in 1914.  Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn) and her brother, Sam (Robert Morley) are missionaries in a remote village until World War I finds them.  Germans come in, kidnap the natives, and destroy the village.  In the aftermath, Sam dies, so when Charlie Allnutt (Humphrey Bogart) returns with his boat, The African Queen, Rose is all too willing to leave with him.

Charlie is all for hiding out since the Germans would want to take his boat for the supplies he carries from location to location up and down the river.  However, Rose has another idea.  She wants them to take the boat up the river and use it to destroy a German ship patrolling a lake there.  Will they make it?

This movie was made in 1951.  You’ll want to keep that in mind as you watch.  The storytelling and acting are definitely different than we get now.  I got impatient as the movie took a while introducing the characters and setting up the story.  But once the duo left on the boat, things picked up.  It was fairly episodic as they faced one set back after another and had to figure out how to overcome it.  But it does entertain as it does so.

The movie was filmed partially in Africa and partially on a soundstage.  You can definitely tell when they are using a sound stage because the effects are obvious today.  However, the fact that it was filmed on location, something that wasn’t done nearly as much back then, makes much of the movie look wonderful.

One last thing I found annoying; the characters called each other by name in most lines of dialogue.  Please, just stop!

With Rose being a missionary, I was expecting a refined woman who shied away from adventure.  Yes, she is refined, and she and Charlie do butt heads upon occasion (more so before they fall in love) because he isn’t nearly as refined as she is.  However, she is much more adventurous than I, or Charlie, gave her credit for being.  That leads to a couple of funny scenes.  Yes, they both have moments of weakness.  I liked that.  It’s realistic that at some point you’ll want to give up.  But I appreciated that the other person stepped up and handled the situation.  That teamwork was fantastic.

While there are some other actors in the film, the majority of the time, it is just Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn on screen.  They rise to the occasion perfectly.  I buy their performances, even with the script gives them some sudden turns.  Bogart won an Oscar for his performance here, and Katharine Hepburn was nominated for one.  It’s easy to see why.

If you enjoy classic movies and have missed this one, it is worth going back and correcting that oversight.  As long as you remember how old the movie is, you’ll appreciate The African Queen.

Book Review: The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts by Robert Thorogood (Marlow Murder Club #5)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Lots of laughs with a great plot

Cons: The ending is a bit overly convoluted

The Bottom Line:

Judith faces past

High profile victim in town

Filled with laughs and twists

Judith’s Past Comes Back to Haunt Her

I’ve really been enjoying the Marlow Murder Club books, and with the way book four ended, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on book five, The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts.  When it arrived, I made it my top priority, and I am glad I did since I really enjoyed it.

This book picks up where the last book ended, which means no time has passed for the characters.  And poor Judith Potts, a seventy-something widow, is facing a woman claiming to be her step-daughter.  But this isn’t a happy family reunion.  The other woman is accusing Judith of killing her husband before the other woman was even born.

While Judith is trying to process all of this, her friend on the police force, Tanika, is contacting Judith and her two friends, Becks and Suzie, about the latest murder in town.  A famous footballer has just been shot on his property.  The ladies of the Marlow Murder Club are a bit surprised since Tanika doesn’t normally try to pull them into a case.  Why is she doing it in this case?  Can they solve it while also resolving Judith’s problem?

With two strong storylines, this book never lags.  I was engaged the entire time I was reading it, and this book juggles both storylines well.  At first, the climax felt a bit rushed, but as the ladies talked through it, I came around.  I still feel like a couple of things were a bit convenient, but I’m willing to let them slide.

Much of that is because I was having so much fun.  While Judith, Becks, and Suzie are great friends, they are all very different, and their reactions to the storylines as they unfold are comic gold.  We also get some fun escapades along the way.  I think I laughed at this book the most since book one.

Given her name is in the title, this is Judith’s story more than the other two.  We really get to see her develop more over the course of this book.  That’s not to say that the rest, including Tanika, don’t have their moments to shine.  And Suzie and Becks get plenty of page time as well.

And the new characters?  They work perfectly as the suspects in this case.  They certainly kept me guessing as the story unfolded.

Fans of these characters will devour this book and put it down satisfied.  While I think it will mean more if you’ve read others in the series first, anyone will find The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts to be fun.

Enjoy the rest of the Marlow Murder Club Mysteries.

Movie Review: Toy Story 5

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Good message; nice to see old friends again

Cons: Missing the charm of the first three

The Bottom Line:

It’s toys vs. tech

Tackles subject thoughtfully

But lacking the fun

Surprisingly Nuanced

It’s been several years since I watched any Disney or Pixar animated movie.  And my feelings on Toy Story 4 have changed over the years (I don’t like it as much as I tried to convince myself I did when I first saw it.)  But I have seen all the Toy Story films in the theater (not counting the Buzz Lightyear movie), and I knew I’d kick myself if I didn’t go see Toy Story 5 while it was still in the theater.

After letting Andy grow up in real time, Bonnie (voiced by Scarlett Spears) has stayed a young girl.  And, as we rejoin her and her toys, she is too shy to make any friends, even with her neighbors.  Of course, soon Sheriff Jessie (Joan Cusack) learns that a plague is sweeping through the world, technology.  It is turning all the kids into mindless zombies who just stare at their screens.

To Jessie’s horror, Bonnie’s parents get her Lilypad (Greta Lee), Lily for short.  This device connects Bonnie with some girls from her dance class.  Will they be good friends for Bonnie?  Or is there someone better out there?

Yes, this is Jessie’s movie.  Honestly, I’m okay with that.  They do give Woody and Buzz (Tom Hanks and Tim Allen) a substantive subplot, while many of the familiar toys are reduced to extended cameos.  I do miss them, but I get it.  If you are going to tell new stories, you can’t keep all these toys in the story, too.  It just gets too cluttered.

This movie really plays on Jessie’s background, first introduced in Toy Story 2.  Again, I’m not sure we needed to go there, but I did feel like it worked, and I appreciated it.  And I especially appreciated the growth Jessie got as a result.  I feel like it’s something that has been missing from the franchise, but maybe I just need to rewatch the original trilogy.

Which brings us to something I especially appreciated.  In the discussion about devices and technology, it starts out fairly black and white, but it becomes gray as the movie goes on.  After all, like almost anything else, technology can be good or bad.  I also appreciated that it clearly showed adults just as addicted to technology as the kids because it is true.  (Admits the guy who spends so much time working on internet reviews.  And thanks for reading them!)

Having said all of this, the movie was missing that spark that made the original trilogy so special.  I’m not sure what they had to say about technology was worth a new entry in the franchise.  I still would have been okay if they had stopped at the original trilogy with the occasional special.

Then there’s Buzz’s storyline.  I’ve always appreciated his romance with Jessie, but I felt like they were trying too hard for laughs with him.  He’s never been the sharpest, but he felt especially clueless here.

On the other hand, there are a couple of running gags with Woody that I enjoyed.

I guess part of the problem is the things that made the originals feel so special, all those little details, are now such a familiar part of the world these characters live with, they’ve lost the special feeling and they’ve lost the ability to make us laugh and smile.  Instead, the majority of the humor came from a new potty-training device.  Yeah, you can guess where those jokes are going.  I wasn’t a big fan.

There is a mid-credits scene you’ll want to watch.  And there is something at the end of the credits as well, but I didn’t think it was worth sticking around for.

I’m glad I saw Toy Story 5, but I’m glad I went on a discounted night to see it.  It’s fun to see old friends again, but the spark that made the original trilogy so special is still missing.

July 5th's Sunday/Monday Post

Welcome to this week's Sunday/Monday Post.  I am way behind where I wanted to be today (Saturday), so let's get to it.  I'll be linking up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
Mailbox Monday

Technology is not being my friend right now.  My TV is not connecting to my wifi.  Everything else is connecting to the internet.  I can wire it in, but last time this happened, my TV broke and I had to get it fixed.  I'm worried that's about to happen again.  The fix wasn't cheap, but was covered by my warrantee, which has now expired.

Meanwhile, I got a new laptop a couple of weeks ago.  I'm just now trying to move stuff into it.  Yesterday, it was music and pictures.  Today, I woke up to a notification from Microsoft that I was over my limits.  Turned out, my photos were automatically put into OneDrive for me.  Deleted them from my new laptop, and I'm now no longer over my limit.  So, now, I need to figure out how to store stuff on my hard drive.  You know, what I actually want to do.  It looks like my documents will all be put to the cloud as well.  Keep in mind that I had to get a new laptop because I was out of storage on my hard drive there, so if all that stuff were in the cloud, I wouldn't have room for it without paying a monthly fee.  But if I were willing to do that, then I wouldn't need a new laptop.  (Yes, there were some other reasons for it, but that was the big one.)

I always hate getting a new laptop, and stuff like this is why.

What else have I been up to this week?  I went over to some friends' to watch Wednesday's USA World Cup game.  I'm not a big sports person, but it was nice to get to spend some time with them, and I did enjoy the game

Other than that, it's been work.  I had Friday off, so I went over to paddle about noon.  It was later than I had planned, but the wind wasn't too bad yet, and I enjoyed it.

Joke of the Week:

Why do restaurants on the moon get such bad reviews? No atmosphere.

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - TV Show Review: Murder, She Wrote - Season 10

Tuesday - Book Review: Pour Choices by Adrian Andover

Wednesday - June Reading Summary

Thursday - Book Review: Murder at Ochre Court by Alyssa Maxwell

Friday - Friday Post featuring The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: Toy Story 5

Tuesday - Book Review: The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts by Robert Thorogood

Wednesday - Movie Review: The African Queen

Thursday - Book Review: Death on the Back Nine by Caleb Wygal

Friday - Friday Post

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

I've got five new books to talk about this week.

Let's start with Serving up the Truth by Debra Klein.  I won it from a blog giveaway.  I'm planning to get to it in August.  Sounds like it's something I will enjoy.

My Kindle buying spree last week was because I had a bunch of Kindle points expiring at the end of June.  I've let some expire this year, but I was close enough to a reward and this was a huge chunk, so I didn't want to let that happen again.  But that also meant I had to use them this week.  Oh darn, right?  I used them to get Homicide on the Range, the newest Hometown Mystery from Rosalie Spielman.  This is book six.  I still need to get book five read, but I'm hoping to do that soon.

Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn went on sale for Kindle this week.  (And it still is as of my typing this Saturday at noon.)  I wasn't the biggest fan of the first in the series, but I've been curious about the sequel, so I decided to snag it.

The last two books are eARCs.  I signed up for a blog tour for A Murderer's Guide to Mardi Gras by Ellen Byron.  The book comes out in August, so I won't be reading it for another couple of weeks, but I've got the ARC for when I'm ready.

Strong Medicine by Steve Hockensmith comes out much sooner.  Like July 14th.  This is the latest in his Holmes on the Range series, which features cowboy brothers solving mysteries in the old west using skills they gleaned from the Sherlock Holmes stories.

What I'm Currently Reading:

I'm sure it's no surprise that I'm currently reading Strong Medicine by Steve Hockensmith.  I'm enjoying it so far, but I need to get more read.  With the morning I had, I haven't gotten as much read as I had hoped Saturday.  I'm still hoping to finish it off on Sunday.

Which means Monday, I'll be working on All Aboard for Murder by Ellen Byron.  Yep, she has books coming out pretty close together again.  I'm part of a blog tour  for it on July 20th, so I need to get it read and the review written.  I always enjoy her books, so I'm looking forward to diving in.

Have a great week!

4th of July's Weekly TV Thoughts

America Ninja Warrior – I wasn’t too surprised to see Joe back.  He’d hinted around last year on social media that he might change his mind.  But that was a disappointing run!  Oh well, it happens.  Did like seeing Flip make it so far.  And several people went after the mega wall.  All in all, a good night.

July 3rd's Friday Post

Welcome to Friday!  And a holiday Friday here in the US.  I'm going to kick off my long weekend with a Friday Post, where I will link up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

My teasers for the first three will be coming from The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts by Robert Thorogood.

This is book five in n the Marlow Murder Club series.  It officially comes out on Tuesday, but my preorder arrived early.  So I read it, and I'll be reviewing it on Tuesday.

Here's how the book begins:

Mrs. Judith Potts looked at the woman standing outside her front door and didn't say a word. She didn't dare say a word. Her heart was racing. Her thoughts were in free fall.

Yes, this is a bit of a cheat.  It's from the prologue and is the same scene that ended book four.  Not that I remember if we had these exact words there.  But it is how this book starts.

Moving on to page 56, we find this:

"I've just received a complaint from a colleague of Gary Wise's at Wycombe Wanderers Football Club," he said to the women.
"Hello, Brendan," Judith said, refusing to be intimidated.

This book is full of humor, and that exchange captures that well for me.  Might not translate out of context, however.

My review will be up on Tuesday, so I hope you come back to get my full thoughts.

Let's move on to the Book Blogger Hop, shall we?  This week's question is:

What book would make a killer soundtrack, and what would that soundtrack sound like?

I'm not quite sure what to do with this one.  I don't think of books as soundtracks.  And I'm the guy who hardly notices the music in a movie or TV show, but definitely notices when it is taken out.  I know, I'm weird.

Have a great weekend!