Real Texas Roadhouses by Priscilla Audette

Started: 6/12/2022

Finished: 6/16/2022

Year: 2022

Pages: 258

Genre: literature

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: Paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "This stranger-in-a-strange-land story will appeal to the human heart. The reader will come to know Justine who, like most of us, is a work in progress. Her journey to the heart of Texas is actually a journey to the center of her soul. The Texas she discovers is a place where she meets the divine and becomes anchored once again in life, it is a place where she wrestles with her ghosts from the past, where she discovers her inner grit, and where she transforms from victim into a warrior as she begins to build a future. Justine’s odyssey is more than meditation in motion. Her richly-textured journey into Texas becomes a tool of her self-understanding."

Opinion: My thorough review is on Reader Views

Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases by Paul Holes

Started: 6/16/2022

Finished: 6/21/2022

Year: 2022

Pages: 270

Genre: Memoir/True Crime

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: review for Celadon Books

Type: ARC

Blurb (from Amazon): "I order another bourbon, neat. This is the drink that will flip the switch. I don’t even know how I got here, to this place, to this point. Something is happening to me lately. I’m drinking too much. My sheets are soaking wet when I wake up from nightmares of decaying corpses. I order another drink and swig it, trying to forget about the latest case I can’t shake.

Crime solving for me is more complex than the challenge of the hunt, or the process of piecing together a scientific puzzle. The thought of good people suffering drives me, for better or worse, to the point of obsession. People always ask how I am able to detach from the horrors of my work. Part of it is an innate capacity to compartmentalize; the rest is experience and exposure, and I’ve had plenty of both. But I have always taken pride in the fact that I can keep my feelings locked up to get the job done. It’s only been recently that it feels like all that suppressed darkness is beginning to seep out.

When I look back at my long career, there is a lot I am proud of. I have caught some of the most notorious killers of the twenty-first century and brought justice and closure for their victims and families. I want to tell you about a lifetime solving these cold cases, from Laci Peterson to Jaycee Dugard to the Pittsburg homicides to, yes, my twenty-year-long hunt for the Golden State Killer.

But a deeper question eats at me as I ask myself, at what cost? I have sacrificed relationships, joy―even fatherhood―because the pursuit of evil always came first. Did I make the right choice? It’s something I grapple with every day. Yet as I stand in the spot where a young girl took her last breath, as I look into the eyes of her family, I know that, for me, there has never been a choice. “I don’t know if I can solve your case,” I whisper. “But I promise I will do my best.”

It is a promise I know I can keep."

Opinion: I've seen Paul on some of true crime shows out there and admired his tenacity in solving or even just investigating crimes. This added a whole other in depth level to who Paul is. I enjoyed it and would recommend this for anyone who likes memoirs or true crime as this truly is a book of both.

J is for Judgment by Sue Grafton

Started: 6/12/2022

Finished: 6/12/2022

Year: 1993

Pages: 360

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: reading the series in order, bookcrossing.com book

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Wendell Jaffe looks great for a dead man! He's been six feet under for five years ago―until his former insurance agent spots him at a dusty resort bar in Mexico. Now California Fidelity wants its insurance money back. Can P.I. Kinsey Millhone get on the case?

"Just two months earlier, Jaffe's widow pocketed $500,000 in insurance benefits after Jaffe went overboard. Was his "pseudocide" a last-ditch effort to do right by his beloved wife? Perhaps. But how would that explain the new woman in Jaffe's second life?

"Kinsey is in for the long haul as she delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Jaffe's life and death…and discovers that, in family matters as in crime, sometimes it's better to reserve judgment…"

Opinion: An interesting mystery with Kinsey is sent to see if someone is actually dead. Lots of little twists and turns with some shady characters

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich

Started: 6/9/2022

Finished: 6/12/2022

Year: 2010

Pages: 330 pages

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: booklender.com

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Recipe for disaster: Celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle comes to Trenton to participate in a barbecue cook-off and loses his head – literally.

"Throw in some spice: Bail bonds office worker Lula is witness to the crime, and the only one she'll talk to is Trenton cop, Joe Morelli.

"Pump up the heat: Chipotle's sponsor is offering a million-dollar reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the capture of the killers.

"Stir the pot: Lula recruits bounty hunter Stephanie Plum to help her find the killers and collect the moolah.

"Add a secret ingredient: Stephanie's Grandma Mazur. Enough said.

"Bring to a boil: Can Stephanie hunt down two killers, a traitor, five skips, keep her grandmother out of the sauce, solve Ranger's problems and not jump his bones?"

Opinion: Oh the crazy antics that Stephanie gets into. The antics do sometimes take away from the mystery but the mystery is still there and enjoyable to see resolved

A Patchwork Murder by Jan Fields

Started: 6/6/2022

Finished: 6/8/2022

Year: 2013

Pages: 218

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: TBR pile

Type: hard cover

Blurb (from book jacket): "Meet Emma Cotton, expert quilter, founding member of the Nimble Thimbles quilting group, and co-owner of Cotton & Grace designs in the seaside town of Mystic Harbor, Massachusetts. Emma is a warm and caring woman who expresses herself through her unique quilted creations. But behind her easygoing exterior lies a troubled heart that is haunted by the suspicious death of her childhood friend, Rose Peterson.

"When Rose mysteriously died fifteen years ago, Emma and her best friend and business partner, Kelly Grace, didn't believe it was an accident, but the police refused to listen.

"Now Emma has discovered a clue-a list of suspects-hidden inside an old quilt that could finally help bring her dear friend's killer to justice, and she is shocked by one of the names on the list: Allyson Vernon. Not only is Allyson a well-respected attorney at a top firm in Boston, she's also a current client of Cotton & Grace.

"As Emma and Kelly begin their unofficial investigation of Allyson, they quickly become ensnared in a web of deceit. They're stonewalled by the police, frightening things start happening at their show, and it's clear someone is warning them to leave the past buried...or suffer the consequences.

"Is Allyson as guilty as she seems, or is there someone else with blood on their hands lurking among the townsfolk, waiting for their opportunity to halt Emma and Kelly's investigation...permanently?

"Join Emma, Kelly, and the members of the Nimble Thimbles as they try to uncover the cause of the mysterious events happening in Mystic Harbor while they piece together new clues surrounding the untimely death of their beloved friend, Rose."

Opinion: The main mystery was not resolved. This is the first of a very long series of books. It's a cozy so I wasn't expected glorious writing. It did keep me entertained.

Officers Down by Eliot Sefrin

Started: 5/27/2022

Finished: 6/5/2022

Year: 2021

Pages: 422

Genre: Fiction

Grade: A

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "A pair of highly regarded New York City police officers – one male, one female, both white – accidentally kill an innocent Black teen in a poverty-stricken, minority neighborhood and face the consequences of an enraged community, a racially divided city, and their own emotional unraveling.

This powerful and timely novel, based on a composite of real-life events, explores the sensitive and divisive issue of race relations in America within the context of a tragic police shooting that becomes a lightning rod for racial tension and the focus of a landmark civil rights case, while profoundly reshaping the lives of those most closely impacted by the incident.

As the riveting drama unfolds amidst controversy, false charges, racial bias, and political maneuverings that threaten to overwhelm the facts of the case, both the officers and the family of the slain teen become immersed in intense inner crises as they struggle to come to terms with the tragedy. In the process, they come to experience the stereotypes, antipathy, and misunderstanding that often divide our communities – as well as the wisdom and emotions that can ultimately bind them and help them heal."

Opinion: A thorough review will be on Reader Views

Keep Strong Together: 7 Habits of Great Couples by Dr. Patt Pickett

Started: 6/6/2022

Finished: 6/6/2022

Year: 2021

Pages: 67

Genre: self-help/relationships

Grade: D

Reason for reading: librarything.com giveaway

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Whether you have or seek a "keeper relationship" which grows in in love and closeness, Keep Strong Together provides practical tips and tools to help you increase strength as a couple. Like The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman, this guide includes quizzes and homework developed by a professional, who is the author Dr. Patt Pickett, PhD, a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in practice for decades. As a bonus, the book is concise and written simply without jargon and with humor for the "reluctant" self-help reader and as quick pick-up reading for all."

Opinion: My review is on librarything.com