Musing Monday...A Rose by Any Other Name

 Monday! Let's get going!
But be sure to check out the other Musing Monday posts at  Should Be Reading...

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

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Well, I have nothing to rant about this week, so I will tell you about a few books I got my hands on recently...

Holy Orders by Benjamin Black
"When the body of his daughter’s friend is brought to his autopsy table, Quirke is plunged into a world of corruption that takes him to the darkest corners of the Irish Church and State.

So begins the latest Quirke case, a story set in Dublin at a moment when newspapers are censored, social conventions are strictly defined, and appalling crimes are hushed up. Why? Because in 1950s Ireland the Catholic Church controls the lives of nearly everyone. But when Quirke’s daughter Phoebe loses her close friend Jimmy Minor to murder, Quirke can no longer play by the Church’s rules. Along with Inspector Hackett, his sometime partner, Quirke investigates Jimmy’s death and learns just how far the Church and its supporters will go to protect their own interests."

I just know this one is going to get me mad...lol
But still I requested it, so I will do my best to read it and stay calm.


Louisiana Fever by D.J. Donaldson
"Andy Broussard, the plump and proud New Orleans medical examiner, obviously loves food. Less apparent to the casual observer is his hatred of murderers. Together with his gorgeous sidekick, psychologist Kit Franklyn, the two make a powerful, although improbable, mystery solving duo.
When the beautiful Kit goes to meet an anonymous stranger—who’s been sending her roses—the man drops dead at her feet before she even could even get his name. Game on."

This one was offered to me and although I swore never to take another book from a publicist or author, I accepted this one...and am happy I did. I really must write the review, but I will just say I love books set in New Orleans. As you can see, this one has another coroner as the lead character. And a great character Broussard is.


The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

"After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
The Cuckoo's Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith."

I am sure most of you have heard about this last book. It seems Ms. Rowlings, she of Harry Potter fame, wrote a mystery under a pseudonym but got found out. Now the book is rocketing up the best seller list and I admit it, I was interested. Interested because it got good reviews before the true author was discovered.
So, yes, I had to buy it.

Of course, writing under a pseudonym has a long history in the world of literature, for a variety of reasons. The Bronte sisters and George Elliot are two of the most well known, in their cases to disguise their genders. But other have written to disguise their fame as well. Stephan King, who wrote a letter in USA Today in defense of what Rowlings did, wrote under another name. Sadly, he killed off his nom de plume Richard Bachman when he was uncovered, saying Poor Richard died of "cancer of the pseudonym".

Tell me, what do you think of this Rowling thing?
Was it all a ploy, the revelation set up to boost sales.
How cynical! No, I think she just wanted to write, as King said, "just for the joy of it", to see what people would honestly think of the book on its own, without the Famous name.
Well, either way, I will be reading it.

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Weekend Cooking..A Mess, a Big Eton Mess!

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I am really not a great dessert person, but I distinctly remember two I loved. Oddly, both were eaten in Ireland.
One was a Sticky Toffee Pudding that I had one chilly rainy day, all alone, in a restaurant in Dingle Town.
The second was a Pavlova that I had in a hotel restaurant in Waterford after touring the Waterford Crystal factory. I had never had it before but I was sold! It was a layer of baked meringue, a layer of whipped cream and then topped with fruit. Delicious and a rather common special dessert in Ireland, as I was to come to find out.

But the English have their own take on that combination, fruit, meringue and cream, which goes by the lovely name of a Mess. Oh Wiki, tell us about it....

"Eton mess is a traditional English dessert consisting of a mixture of strawberries, pieces of meringue and cream, which is traditionally served at Eton College's annual cricket game against the pupils of Harrow School. The dish has been known by this name since the 19th century. According to Recipes from the Dairy by Robin Weir, who spoke to Eton College's librarian, Eton mess was served in the 1930s in the school's "sock shop", and was originally made with either strawberries or bananas mixed with ice-cream or cream. Meringue was a later addition, and may have been an innovation by Michael Smith, the author of Fine English Cookery. An Eton mess can be made with many other types of summer fruit, but strawberries are regarded as more traditional."

The first time I ever heard of this dish was in an article about Prince William at the time of his marriage, how a so-called Eton Mess was one of his favorite desserts. In one ear..out the other...until I came to buy a big container of very ripe strawberries at Sam's Club this week and needed something to make. That very night I happened upon an article by David Levovitz about how he had all these cherries and decided to make a Mess, in his case a Cherry Mess. Then that very night I was reading a book, set in England, and the dessert at a banquet the hero attended was an Eton Mess.
It was kismet!! A Mess it would be!! But not too messy a Mess...

Finished meringues...

If you can buy pre-made meringues as many recipes call for, that's good. They are not available in my supermarket sadly, but they are easy enough to make.
I love David's addition of the candied almonds to the dish.
First, I love almonds.
Second they add a nice crunch.

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Eton Mess
Adapted from David Levovitz's Cherry Mess

For the fruit
4 cups strawberries...or fruit of your choice
1 tablespoon sugar
A few drops almond extract

Hull and chop the strawberries and put into a bowl, add the sugar and leave to macerate while you whip the cream.

For the candied almonds
1 cup  sliced almonds
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon water
A pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Spray or lightly coat a baking sheet with vegetable oil. Heat the water and sugar in a skillet until it starts to boil. Remove from heat and stir in the almonds and a pinch of salt, until well coated.

Scrape the almonds onto the baking sheet, break up any large clumps, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring once or twice during baking so they toast evenly. Remove from oven when golden brown and crisp, and let cool completely. Store in an air-tight container until ready to use. 

Almonds ready to go into the oven for a few minutes..

For the meringues
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Reduce the heat of the oven to 225ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a clean, dry bowl, or with a stand mixer, whip the egg whites on medium-high speed with a pinch of salt until they start to hold their shape. Add the sugar a tablespoon at a time, while continuing to whip, until it’s all incorporated and the meringue is stiff and shiny. Whip in the almond extract.

Divide the meringue into 6 mounds on the baking sheet, then flatten each one into a disk with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake the meringues for 1 1/2 hours, then turn off the oven and let the meringues continue to remain in the oven with the door closed, to dry out further, until they are cool.

For the whipped cream
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar

In a chilled bowl, whip the cream until it holds its shape when the lift the whisk. Whip in the sugar until the whipped cream is thickened, but not too stiff.

The parts, ready to assemble.

To assemble the desserts...
Choose four wine glasses or other vessels. Spoon some of the fruit in the bottom of each glass with a little bit of the juices. Crumble 3 or 4 of the meringues into rough 1-inch pieces and fold them into the whipped cream – the cream should be pretty-well riddled with meringue pieces. Spoon some of that mixture over the fruit in the glasses and add a bit of candied almonds over the cream.

Continue to layer each glass with more fruit, a bit of their syrup, more cream with crumbled meringues in it, and a few candied almonds, however you wish, ending with a few berries and some of their syrup on top. Sprinkle each mess with a scattering of candied almonds and serve.

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It seems like a rather long recipe, doesn't it, but each step is quite simple. And if you are serving for guests you can, if you wish, made all the parts... the fruit, the almonds, the whipped cream, the meringues... ahead, and just assemble right before serving. I must say, for me, the highlight of this dessert is those candied almonds. All the rest is very nice, especially the nice bits of the meringues in the whipped cream, but the little crunch of the nuts is excellent. An easy, delicious dessert and I suggest you make in in honor of the soon to be born new little British Prince or Princess!!

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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Review of "Countdown City" [54]

Countdown City: The Last Policeman Book II by Ben H. Winters
Quirk Books, ISBN 978-1594746260
July 16, 2013, 320 pages

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If the world were going to end in a few weeks, 77 days to be precise, what would you do?
Run off and do something you always wanted to do like learn to surf or have an affair or see the Pacific Ocean?
Or end it yourself before the giant asteroid on it's inevitable path, hurtling toward Earth, has the chance to?
Or perhaps, like former police detective Hank Palace, your just try to keep on doing your job.

Former job, because in this new, shortly to end world the government doesn't see a role for solving crime. No, the only police left are the para-military, now under the auspices of the Justice Department who are just trying to keep, not too successfully, some degree of public order.

But when someone from Hanks past, his former childhood babysitter, comes to him, heartbroken, comes to him, he can not say no. Her husband, who promises to stay by her side until the end, has disappeared and Hank take the job and try and track him down.

"Brett Cavatone disappeared without a trace—an easy feat in a world with no phones, no cars, and no way to tell whether someone’s gone “bucket list” or just gone. With society falling to shambles, Hank pieces together what few clues he can, on a search that leads him from a college-campus-turned-anarchist-encampment to a crumbling coastal landscape where anti-immigrant militia fend off “impact zone” refugees."

Perhaps the highest praise I can give this book is for all the entertainment value of a good "whodunnit", I found this book quite disturbing. Yes, parts of it are grim, society breaking down, people attacking others, but not horrible in anyway. No, the scary part is how ordinary, how believable it all is. Food become scarce because no one is working on the farms, driving the truck. No one to come to your aid when someone is breaking into your house, except the gun you hid when the government tried to take them all away to preserve 'order'. No electricity, no phones, but the real fear, and rightfully so, is what will happen when the water from the taps stops flowing.
So why does Hank go off on this quest?

"Because a promise is a promise...and civilization is just a bunch of promises, that's all it is. A mortgage, a wedding vow, a promise to obey the law, a pledge to endorse it. And now the world is falling apart, the whole rickety world, and every broken promise is a small rock tossed at the wooden side of its tumbling form."

Hank will not be the one throwing rocks.

This is the second book in the promised Last Policeman trilogy and while I loved the first book, this one is every bit as good. Maybe even a little better because we get a bit more insight into Hank and Hank is the heart and soul of this book. Not that the other characters are not interesting, because they are, from Hank's sister, to his former co-workers, the elderly waitress at the diner they frequented, to the Utopian seeking mix at the local University of New Hampshire.

And I loved that two of the rare examples of order involved book lovers. First there are the librarians and volunteers that were keeping the local library open 24/7, a rare safe place among the chaos and second, the small group of university students who had moved into the college library, a pile of books beside them, just reading and reading and reading until the Big One hits. When society collapses, stick with the book lovers. Sounds pretty good to me!
This is a book that explores the 'big ideas', but doesn't hit you over the head going it.

And then there is Hank's dog, Houdini, happily his companion on his journey riding in a little trailer behind Hank's bike, with the bottles of water, energy bars and some bags of dog food. If the world is going to end, Big Fat Cat Larry I have to tell you I am getting a puppy dog to share the space in the trailer with you. And a Big Pile of Books.

Highly recommended!

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My thanks to the author and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review. 

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Wordless Wednesday...Ritorno a Venezia

Because of a special request from the Bro, we are taking a short trip back to Venice. 

Boy, that was a great trip...

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...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, 
check these out.

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Review of "Tell Me" [53]

Tell Me by Lisa Jackson
Kensington House Pub Ltd, ISBN 978-0758258588
June 25, 2013, 336 pages

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"The most hated woman in Savannah, Georgia, is about to be set free. Twenty years ago, Blondell O'Henry was convicted of murdering her eldest daughter and wounding her two other children. The prosecution argued that beautiful, selfish Blondell wanted to be rid of them to be with her lover. Now Blondell's son, Niall, has recanted his testimony and demolished the case in the process. Reporter Nikki Gillette is determined to get the true story, and not just for professional reasons. Blondell's murdered daughter, Amity, was Nikki's childhood friend. The night she died, Amity begged Nikki to meet with her, insisting she had a secret to tell, but Nikki didn't go...
And somehow, the events of that tragic night connect to Nikki's own fractured family. But now the killing has begun again. Is Amity's murderer still at large, or is this a new, darker danger? Soon Nikki will discover what really happened twenty years ago, but the answers may come too late to save her life..."

Ok, let me get right to the point.
Good book, worth reading, but not the author's best. If you are a fan of Jackson, no doubt you will want to read it, if only to see if her wedding to Detective Reed actually takes place. But if you are new to her books, I would not necessarily start here.

The good part.
Jackson is a good writer, the plot unfolds in a nice, interesting way, with lots of red herrings to keep the reader on their toes. And I like the main characters, Nikki and her fiance, Police Detective Pierce Reed. Of course, he is the detective charged with looking into the case again, seeing if evidence of Blondell's guilt or innocence may now be found that was not possible 20 years ago, things like DNA. And of course, Nikki will be trying her best, unsuccessfully, to get him to spill some information. Not that she should bother, because it seems she is making more headway than the police. At least if you consider the poison snake someone puts in her car to try and scare her off. Eeek!
Savannah is a great setting and I only wish we saw a bit more of it in this book. Really authors should take full advantage of the place a book is set in. Give is a little tour, a look at th highlights, a real feel for the place. It is often one of the great fun things of a book.
Finally, I did not figure out the villain, which is always a good thing.

But the bad..
First, there are just way, way too many characters, many of them not drawn clearly enough to be memorable. When I find myself flipping back, asking "Wait, is that her cousin, who got killed, or the ex-husband of her uncle client?" I know there are too many people here. Which led to the greatest problem. When the bad folks are revealed...and there is more than one, including one who even Nikki agrees she could not understand the motivation of...I was a bit confused as to who was who.That is not good.

The worst thing? Nikki breaks my cardinal rule of doing something dumb. More than once. One example...Ok, you are in a cabin, hiding from a bad person. They know you are there and looking for you. Where is your only protection, a stun gun? In your HAND? Oh no, that would be too sensible. No, you flee and then look for it in your bag or your pocket or wherever?? Nikki should have her reporter license taken away for that. Well, if they gave reporter licenses out.

Still, I sort of enjoy yelling at stupid things people do. So maybe that is not all bad.

A pretty good read if not Jackson best, another one of those fast, not too heavy beach or airport reads that will keep you entertained if not overwhelmed.

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Musing Monday...First, Get a Book and a Knife..

 

Monday=Musing

And a stop over at  Should Be Reading to check out this weeks other Musings!

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

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I have a little craft project, of a bookish nature, to present to you.
OK, I warn you that this post may cause some of you actual physical pain.
Nausea.
I know it did when the idea was first presented to me.

But then I got over it.
Pretty much.

 

The Niece texted me last week and asked if I had a few books I could give her to deface.
Yes, that is the word she used and it is accurate.
Deface.
But see what you will get above?

Just a few books standing up, you say?

No, in fact, it is a clever storage device, perfect to hide, as the Niece needed to do, a router and all those nasty, ugly wires and blinking lights on a bookshelf.
Look, she even cut out a little door for the wires...cute.
Of course, you could use it to hide all sorts of other things on a bookshelf too.
And your cat might enjoy trying to get in there.

 

Yes, OK, it does require the destruction of a few books.
It also requires an Exacto knife and a hot glue gun.
Which does still make me a little weak.
And I do not mean the glue gun or the exacto knife.

But, if you have the stomach for it, for a more detailed explanation, HERE is the web site with some nice pics and step-by-step instructions.
You might notice, if you look closely that the Niece added some pieces between the books at the top to make it even a little more sturdy. And the little 'doorway'.
Love those hot glue guns!!

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Weekend Cooking...The Better Burger

Gee, I hope I did not post this before, but if so, for me.
Because I love a good burger.

I don't eat that many of them, but when I have one, I want a good one!
No MickeyD!
No preformed supermarket burgers of questionable origins.

No, fresh ground chuck, seasoned to perfection, just the right size, cooked on a hot grill.

 

I love rare beef, but honestly, even if I ground the beef myself, I prefer to eat my burgers fairly well done.
But how to keep them from drying out, turning into a tough, hockey puck?
Well, my friends at America's Test Kitchen have an answer and now it is the only way I make burgers.

I replace the salt and pepper with...salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric, garlic..

The idea is to make a 'panade', a mixture of some fresh bread, a touch of milk, some seasonings, mush it all up into a paste and add the beef, mixing well. It is little enough that I promise you will not know it is in there, yet it is enough to keep the burger juicy no matter how well done it is.
And delicious.

 

Ingredients

• 1 large slice high quality white sandwich bread, crust removed and discarded, bread chopped into 1/4-inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 medium clove garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
• 2 teaspoons steak sauce
• 1 1/2 pounds 80 percent lean ground chuck

Oh, my..that looks good!

Instructions

1. Mash bread and milk in large bowl with fork until homogeneous (you should have about 1/4 cup). Stir in salt, pepper, garlic, and steak sauce.
2. Break up beef into small pieces over bread mixture. Using fork or hands, lightly mix together until mixture forms cohesive mass. Divide meat into 4 equal portions. Gently toss 1 portion of meat back and forth between hands to form loose ball. Gently flatten into 3/4-inch-thick patty that measures about 4 1/2 inches in diameter. Press center of patty down with fingertips until it is about 1/2 inch thick, creating slight depression in patty. Repeat with remaining portions of meat.
3. Add meat patties, indentation side up, and cook until well-browned, about 3 minutes. Using wide spatula, flip burgers and continue cooking, about 3 minutes for medium-well or 4 minutes for well-done. Distribute equal portion of cheese (if using) on burgers about 2 minutes before they reach desired doneness. While burgers cook, toast buns. Serve on buns with desired toppings.

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You can cook these in a skillet on the stove, which is good, but if possible they are even better on the grill.
Be sure to do that indent thing. When cooked, you will have a nice even, flat burger.

Toasted roll.
Cheese.
A little romaine lettuce.
Grilled onion.
Roasted peppers.
Pickles on the side.

 

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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Review of "The Philadelphia Quarry" [52]

The Philadelphia Quarry by Howard Owen
Permanent Press, ISBN 978-1579623357
July 15, 2013, 240 pages

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I will admit, when I am hoping to win a book on Library Thing or get one from Amazon Vine, I first look for an author I know and like. But when that is not an option, I will take a change on the unknown. On in this case, get suckered in by the title. So let me be clear. There is no connection to the Pennsylvania city in this book.
Or just a very small one. The quarry where the girl was found tied up and raped 28 years ago once supplied stone use in building the city of brotherly love. But it is located in Richmond, Virginia. And I am fine with that.

The victim was the daughter of one of the city's rich and successful families. The accused and convicted man was a black teenager. He was caught at the quarry, swimming with friends who had broken in and then fled. But Richard was the slowest, got grabbed up by police and was identified by the rape victim.
Now, 28 years later, evidence not possible to test back then, in the form on DNA, has proven his innocence and he is released from prison. But the celebration by his family is short. A few days later, that rape victim from so long ago, Alicia Simpson, is dead, shot in her car on the way to the gym. And that newly released man, Richard Slade, with only his mother to alibi him, is suspect number one, soon back in jail, awaiting trial.

It seems cut and dry, especially if you don't look to deep. But Willie Black is paid to look deeper..so long as he still has a job. He is a newspaper reporter for the local daily, an industry that has seen better days, with the Internet giving the news away for free. He drink too much, smokes too much, has three ex-wives and a big mouth. A big mouth and a curious interest in this case that is not making his bosses happy. Seems there are a couple of very rich, very powerful folks in Richmond that are happy to believe Slade is guilty, including people powerful enough to convinces the powers that be at the newspaper that there is no need for further investigation.
When Willie ignores orders, he is suspended.
Great, more time to concentrate on his story!
But the next person who wants to shut him up might not be so gentle.

I said at the beginning that the author of this book was unknown to me, and he was, even though he has written 10 books. The last one Oregon Hill, is also about Willie, newspaper man extraordinaire,  another of his dangerous adventures. I might just have to pick that up next, because I liked this book a lot and I like Willie a lot.
Oh, he is flawed, but he is smart and a bit funny, with a slightly buried sense of justice. And the cast of characters surrounding him are great, none better than his weed smoking mom, with her living in boyfriend who has a touch of dementia and a homeless man, Awesome, who lives part time in their quest room. Then there is Kate, the last ex-wife, for whom Willie still has a sweet hankering, not to mention the Slade family, who Willie discovers he is actually related to. Richard, the accused killer is actually his second cousin or something. Seems the father Willie never knew was a light skinned black man and Willie, unknown to him, has been 'passing' as white all his life. Live and learn!

I certainly can't accuse Owen of writing a book that is too long, since the galley weights in at just 222 pages. But it is not too short either. Enough room for some great character development, a good, solid plot and a great little twist at the end which I almost had figure out. Except for being wrong about the killer. And the rapist.

Good, solid book. Love the Richmond setting, the characters, the plot, very well written. What more can you ask?

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My thanks to Library Thing and the publisher for proving a review copy.

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Review of "The Bat" [51]

The Bat by Jo Nesbo
Vintage, ISBN 978-0345807090
July 2, 2013, 384 pages

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I have read, I believe, all of Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series that has been translated. I am not totally sure honestly, at least in part because they were translated into English and published in the US out of order. Something I have complain about many times as readers here may know. So I was very happy to see that the first Harry Hole book, The Bat, was about to be released and was able to get my hands on a review copy.
So, first, how are we introduced to Harry?

A young Norwegian woman, a minor celebrity who went to Australia to do bar work, is found washed up from the sea at the foot of a cliff. All the evidence points to murder. Harry Hole, of Oslo Crime Squad, goes to Sydney to assist with the Australian police investigation. He is meant to act as an observer, and one of the reasons for him going is that his superior thinks he could do with a break. Not only from his alcohol problems. He was in a car which crashed and a colleague was killed. However, being a passive onlooker is not a role Harry plays naturally; he gets involved and in the end is drawn into the case, also on a personal level, as he falls for Birgitta – a friend of the dead girl.

Harry’s stay in Sydney leads him to seamy King’s Cross and the company of pimps, strippers, transvestites, pushers and backpackers. His mental and physical journey across the fascinating continent of Australia is set against the background of a traveling fun fair with boxers and the age-old tradition of clowns. The story seems to follow the – at times irrational – plot of an old aborigine tale about the Bat Man, a human-like creature with bat wings brought to life by crime. As the Bat Man awakens, Death appears in the lives of mortals.

Now, what did I think?
Ok, that whole issue about not publishing this one earlier?
Forget it, I was wrong.

Yes, a look at the young Harry, some stories about his sister, his family, were interesting. As was the story about how his drinking once cause the death of a co-worker, something that was covered up. But, really, except for a few facts that would have been nice to figure out about Harry earlier, like the right way to pronounce his last name, I could have skipped this one.

I will admit I am not a huge fan of Harry. But this Harry is even more annoying than usual, without some of his better qualities, his humor, his sensitivity, that come out in other books and almost makes his likable.
While I like a flawed hero as much as the next person, there is something about Harry and his alcoholism that really annoys me, in this book more than in the others. He has not been drinking for a long time as the story start. Then a man he has known for a week dies, and that sets him off on an unbelievable drunken spree. I just don't mean off the wagon. He is off the wagon, rolled in a ditch, fell off the cliff, washed away in a flood... Really, should this guy be a cop, if he falls apart over the death of a guy he liked, but barely knew?

The first half of the book is not bad, the plot fairly interesting as Harry starts to discover some facts about this girl's death that had not come out yet, make a few connections. And unlike some readers, I did not mind that the book was set in Australia, rather than in Harry's Norway home. Still, "the fascinating continent of Australia" they talk about..I would not go that far.
But then things went south. There were page after page that could, IMHO, been cut, adding little to the story. Aboriginal dreamtime story after Aboriginal dreamtime which, except for maybe one, had no connection to this story that I ever figured out. Honesty, by then it was all so convoluted, the plot, the characters, that I was losing interest in the who and the why of the killings.
And I hate clowns.
Beware any book with clowns.

If you are a huge fan of Nesbo, you will want to read this.
I know you will not be dissuaded. Just knock you expectations down a notch or two, not expecting quite what you liked in his later, better books.

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My thanks to Amazon Vine and the publisher for a review copy of this book.

Wordless Wednesday....Return to the Refuge

Back to the Forsythe Wildlife Refuge. 

Seems it is time for many of the young birds to make an appearance! 

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Baby ducklings with mom.

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Mommy, daddy and baby ospreys..check out the Osprey Cam

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Can you still see me?"

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Gosling with the folks.

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...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, 
check these out.

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Musing Monday..Death Benefits

 Did you have a long holiday weekend? Well, it is over.
It is Monday and time to Muse!
Be sure to check out the other posts at Should Be Reading...

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

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Are you familiar with the web site BookBub?
Cool service.
Every day they send you an e-mail with several e-books from Amazon, Apple and Barnes and Noble that are free or greatly reduced in price that you can download. A lot of them do not interest me. Or rather they do, but I know I must not download books that just look 'good' as I have far too many already. But every once in a while one catches my attention. A real gem! Maybe an early book by a writer I like or one I missed being offered on a special deal.
Or a real weird one.
Like the one I saw when I open Saturday's e-mail. There, last on the list is...

Sidney Sheldon's The Tide of Memory
by Tilly Bagshawe

What? Wait a minute. Sidney Shelton is dead. The guy whose name in on the cover in the Big Type. He can't write books anymore. So why is his name on there? Well, it seems that The Tide of Memory ,"Bagshawe's dynamic novel, is commissioned by the late Sheldon's family and written in his style."

Really? Can I say I am writing a book in the style of Charles Dickens and put his name on the cover as if he wrote it? This is crazy. And dishonest. a ploy by money hungry survivors of his I assume.

Bad enough James Patterson is putting his name on books that he does not write. In an interview he admitted he only comes up with the 'concept'  for the book and someone else actually writes it. Perhaps in Patterson style? I have no idea because I would not read them just on principle. But at least he is still alive and I assume has some involvement with the finished product.
But Sidney Sheldon is long dead.
Dead!

Weekend Cooking...Patriotic Desserts

Ok, I am a little late for the 4th of July, but what can I say. I was too busy cutting out all those watermelon stars and poking my cake to write about it!

The idea for the patriotic poke cake I saw online somewhere recently and thought it just looks so festive. But I did not save the link, so I just googled it and went for a recipe from Cooks Country..which is an offshoot of my friends at America's Test Kitchen. It is a cake, that as the recipe says is "a Patriotic Poke Cake that screamed red, white, and blue all the way through."

Patriotic Poke Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup blueberries 
• 2 tablespoons berry-flavored gelatin 
• 1 1/4 cups water, divided 
• 1/4 cup sugar, divided 
• 1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled 
• 2 tablespoon strawberry-flavored gelatin
• 2 (9-inch) baked white cake rounds, cooled completely and still in pans
• 4 cups lightly sweetened whipped cream or a container of Cool Whip

Instructions

For the blueberry and strawberry syrups: Cook blueberries, 3/4 cup water, and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium saucepan over medium-low heat, covered, until blueberries are softened, about 8 minutes. Strain through fine-mesh strainer into medium bowl; discard solids.
Whisk berry-flavored gelatin into juices and cool slightly, about 15 minutes.
Repeat cooking and straining using strawberries, remaining water, and remaining sugar. Whisk strawberry-flavored gelatin into juices and cool slightly, about 15 minutes.

Using skewer, poke 25 holes in top of each totally cooled cake layer, twisting gently to form slightly larger holes. Pour cooled blueberry syrup over 1 cake layer. Repeat with cooled strawberry syrup and second layer cake. Cover cakes with plastic wrap and refrigerate until gelatin is set, at least 3 or up to 24 hours. Run knife along interior of pans. Invert blueberry cake onto wire rack, then flip cake right side up onto serving platter. Spread 1 cup whipped cream over top. Invert strawberry cake and place, right side up, on whipped cream. Spread remaining whipped cream over top and sides of cake. Slice and serve.

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I made a few changes, of course.

First of all, because I was busy and because I had one on the pantry shelf, I used a white boxed cake mix. I added just adding one extra ingredient to it, a cap full of fiori di sicilia. "In English, the Italian ""fiori di Sicilia"" translates as flower of Sicily. While this flavor is often described as a combination of vanilla and orange, it is actually a delightful floral extract...can be used in cakes, cookies and ice cream. In Italy it is used to flavor traditional panettone and other baked goods."
I love this stuff. As you can see I got mine from King Arthur and although it is expensive, a little goes a long way and it will last a long time.

And I used some frozen raspberries from my garden that I had in the freezer rather than strawberries and I used cherry Jello, because I had some. Then I used blue raspberry Jello for the blueberries. I took some fruit and Jello liberties, but it was all fine.
And I look the easy way out and "iced" it with Cool Whip, as every other recipe I saw did, rather than the real whipped cream Cook's Country used.
This cake was, I must say, delicious, light and fruity. You will forgive that photo of the cake. I was icing it as the folks were waiting for dessert and they were getting loud and I feared a revolt if I fussed with it.

For another dessert choice, I made a fruit salad of watermelon, fresh pineapple and blueberries.

But I gave it a festive 4th of July twist by cutting the watermelon into stars. I just cut the whole  melon into slices about 3/4" thick and then cut the stars out a cookie cutter. A little time consuming, but I was channeling my inner Martha Stewart.
And the result was so cute!

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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Wordless Wednesday...Brigantine Wildlife Refuge

A little side trip to the Brigantine Wildlife Refuge...

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Ospreys building their nest..

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...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, 
check these out.

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Review of "When Will There Be Good News" [50]

When Will There Be Good News by Kate Atkinson
Little Brown and Company, ISBN  978-0316154857
September 24, 2008, 338 pages

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Thirty years ago, six-year-old Joanna Mason was the victim of a terrible crime. Her mother and siblings are murdered by a stranger with a knife as they walk along a rural lane, and only Joanna escapes. It is one of the most gripping openings to a book that I remember.
Now, decades later, the man who committed the crime is about to be released from prison and police, in the person of Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe, is dispatched to warn Joanna.

Then we have sixteen-year-old Reggie Chase, a smart girl with more than a few secrets, who gets a job working as a nanny for Dr. Hunter and her husband. She loves the job and she loves Dr. Hunter and her young charge. So when the two go missing, with a flimsy explanation from her husband, Reggie feels she must help to find her. Did I mention that Dr. Hunter's maiden name was Joanna Mason? Yes, that six year old survivor, 30 years later has disappeared with her own young child and no one, least of all her husband, seems concerned.

And finally we have Jackson Brodie, ex-police inspector, ex-husband and ex-PI, off on a personal journey that become a matter of life and death when he boards the wrong train, one hurtling toward disaster.

This is the third Jackson Brodie installment, in a series that now contains four books and a very good installment it is.
Atkinson has this wonderful ability to tell these different stories, each great on its own, and gradually blend them all together in a seamless, satisfying way that the reader will never quite see coming..and I love it. There are so many ways that these stories all come together, intersect. For example, there is the fact that Reggie, who is house sitting for her dying Latin teacher, saves Brodie's life and then hires him to find her missing doctor and child. And this is not the first time Brodie and DCI Monroe have met, bringing their own past to the story.
But I will leave the rest of the interlocking threads for you to discover yourself. Not the least because it is great fun, as you start to see how they will tie together! Some you might see coming, but I guarantee there are many that will take you by surprise. As Brodie often says "A coincidence is just an explanation waiting to happen." and Atkinson is the queen of coincidence and making it all seem very believable.

Jackson Brodie is a great character, in his heart, a man who can't "rest until the flock was accounted for, all gathered safely in. It was his calling and his curse. Protect and serve.” But he is far from the only excellent character in this book. In fact, there are so many good characters I couldn't name them all, but without question Reggie Chase, that 16 year old girl is an outstanding one. She has had a tragic life and she is not beyond a little moral sleight of hand and looking the other way to create a better future..and you will not mind one bit I think. She is smart and funny and resourceful and the heart of this book.

Yes, it is another series that is best read in order, starting with Case Histories, One Good Turn, them this one, When Will There Be Good News and finishing with Started Early, Too My Dog .
Now, I will admit that I did not do that. I read the last one first when it first came out and I paid the price a bit in this book.  I knew something that happens in Brodie's personal life that gave away part of the excellent ending. Granted it was not a big issue..honestly I forgot what happen to a degree. But not ideal. So don't do as I did, do as I say, and start with the first.
You will not be disappointed!

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Musing Monday..."The Young and Bookless"

 

Let's start the week

 by checking out the questions at Should Be Reading and pick something bookish.

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

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Ok, I admit that I stole that title, but as someone who watched the soaps with my grandmom, I though it was cute. Yes, once again, it is from an article in the Wall Street Journal.

"A landmark 2007 study by the National Endowment for the Arts noted a sharp decline in reading for pleasure among young people. The number of 17-year-olds who never read for pleasure increased to 19% in 2004 from 9% in 1984. According to the report, almost half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 never read books for fun.

When the NEA study appeared six years ago, I convinced myself that the young non-readers identified in the report were probably mediocre students with little aptitude for language arts. But meeting my own students—smart young people who were trying to write English without reading much of it—made me realize that the grim numbers about America's reading habits have real faces among some of the best and brightest members of the next generation."

Did you get that part..."According to the report, almost half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 never read books for fun."
Wow, that just makes me so sad.

Since I was a child, I have gotten great pleasure from reading, a pleasure I wish everyone shared. And I really thing they could if they just gave it a try and found some boos about a subject that they like, some subject they really enjoy. I think that might be key to getting people, especially kids, to take a look at books, getting to read a book about a subject they are really interested in. They can see all the information that is out there, all the great stories, fictional or non-fictional, and will be book fans for life! If only it were that easy.
I can remember thinking as a kid that with books you could travel anywhere, any place, in any period of time, past, present or future. And IHMO, with a book, unlike a movie or TV, you are so much more an active part of the experience because your mind is totally involved. Sure, I like TV and movies but push come to shove, give me a book.

And, as I believe it was Steven King who said in the article, there is another practical consideration to not reading. Kids, even good students, who do not read can not write and can not spell. If you have not seen it again and again in print, in context, through and threw are the same to you. Throw in texting and thing like grammar go out the window as well.

But there is so much competition for people's time, more all the time. TV and school, and sports and movies and computer games and iPods and iPads  and getting drunk and getting tattoos...how do you convince people, especially young people, that reading is fun and worth their time? And that at least when you read you won't wake up 5 years from now wondering why you have a giant bumblebee tattooed on your arm.

Most likely, if you are reading this, I am preaching to the choir, so to speak.
But when I see articles like that, with figures like that, I just have to scream!
In a quiet bloggish sort of way.

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