Library Loot Review: The Little Wartime Library

I cannot remember exactly where I first heard about The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson but where ever it was? Thank you from the depths of my A-grade read deprived soul.  This book was a venerable gem chock full of kickass female characters, dynamite world-building, angst and drama.  Even with it clocking in at nearly 500 pages I didn't want it to end.

Content Warnings: Domestic violence, Germans bombing the hell out of London = civilian causalities including children

Before the war Clara Button was happily married and the children's librarian at Bethnal Green Library. Then Hitler's bombs started to fall, making the library uninhabitable and killing Clara's boss.  She and her best friend turned Library Assistant, Ruby Munroe, move the library underground - to the unfinished Bethnal Green tube station, the work having been abandoned due to the war. Everybody in working class Bethnal Green has been touched by the war, and the unfinished tube station has become a defacto bomb shelter to some, home to others whose homes are no longer habitable thanks to German bombs. The library is a lifeline - Clara peddling hope, escape and nightly storytime to the children who sleep in the tunnel. Clara loves being a librarian; the work has been what has kept her going after her husband's death at Dunkirk and the miscarriage she suffered. And while her working annoys her mother and mother-in-law no end, her work has not gone unnoticed. She's been recognized with an award from the higher ups - unfortunately they've also gifted her with a sexist new boss who thinks Clara's "ideas" about librarianship are not only scandalous, but dangerous.

The other main player in this book is Clara's friend and Library Assistant, Ruby Munroe a brash, blousey girl hiding a lot of pain. Her older sister died in a tragic accident that Ruby partly blames herself for (had she not been late to meet her sister, would she still be alive?).  Her mother is a shell of her former self, married to her brutish, abusive second husband. Ruby is desperate to get her mum to leave the lout but she's become smaller and smaller, shrunken in, scared, frightened, with not an ounce of gumption left to call her own.

In between the personal trials and tribulations of Clara and Ruby is the story of a community living in a war zone, of the joy and triumph that can sprout amongst and around tragedy, and that romance can bloom even in the most trying of circumstances.  For Clara it's learning to love again when she meets an local ambulance man who served at Dunkirk but turned conscientious objector.  For Ruby it's the handsome American GI who is determined to woo her even as she sets seemingly impossible challenges for him before she'll say yes to a proper date (this guy ends up scouring half of England for 10 copies of Gone With the Wind for the library book group all because he's desperate for a date with Ruby - how can you not fall for this guy?)

This is a hard book to write a review for because a lot happens.  Thompson sprinkles in a lot of conflict into the book with key points getting resolved along the way.  The author does not wait until the end to resolve all the conflict, with issues like Clara's sexist boss and Ruby's vile stepfather dispatched well before the finish line.  What takes up the rest of the space in the book?  The characters and the world of wartime Bethnal Green. The trials and tribulations. The joys and the sorrows. The children growing up in a war zone (and not all of them surviving it...), the adults finding happiness when and with whomever they can. 

It's the little touches that make this book so great.  Thompson took a real moment in history (the Bethnal Green Library operating in a tube station during the war truly did happen) and sprinkled it with a ton of period color - including a notable appearance by Forever Amber by Kathleen Windsor that Ruby's American GI gets copies of and sends Clara's boss into a fit of apoplexy. Romance readers should totally read this book for this section alone - with Clara's boss berating the bodice ripper for giving the women using the library "unnatural ideas" and Clara should be providing "quality" so that the poor working class citizens can "better themselves" - assuming they're even capable of such a task. Seriously, this guy is like the villain of the century for genre readers everywhere.

This is first and foremost historical fiction but it does feature strong romantic elements. Clara and Ruby both get happy endings but there are tragedies along the way.  It's heart-wrenching and joyful all at the same time, the kind of book so rich in detail (and yet, firmly rooted as fiction) that I immediately went scouring the Internet after finishing to learn more about the Bethnal Green Library and why hasn't some publisher picked up more of Thompson's fiction for the US market yet?!

Is this an easy book to read? No. The violence that Ruby's mother is experiencing at the hands of her husband is very, very hard to read.  He gets his in the end, but the cost is high. There are Jewish characters in this book, the lack of news and uncertainty regarding family in Nazi-occupied areas is tense, to put it mildly.  It's a book set during a time of war, with Hitler dropping bombs on civilian targets.  People suffered, children died, but the resilience portrayed by the fictional characters in this story will stay with me for a long time.  Also, dare I say it, it reminded me of how powerful my profession and books can be.  There's a greater good to be found in books, fiction especially, don't let anyone take that away from you.

Final Grade = A

Note: A great nonfiction companion piece to this book is When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning. Seriously, every GI wanted to get their hands on the scandalous Forever Amber....

Hop To It: Unusual Historicals for April 2023

I don't know about y'all but I can't believe we're already into April. This month I broke up the monotony of work, home, sleep, with a trip north to see my niece, Lemon Drop, compete in an equestrian event.  Once she started school I stopped sharing photos of her on this blog, but long time readers will be shocked to hear she is now 13.  I know, I don't know how that happened either.  Also, SHE'S A ROMANCE READER!  She likes rom/com type stuff, so yes - all those illustrated covers her Aunt Wendy turns her nose up at because I am an old fuddy duddy.  I told her she needs to share the books she likes with me because I am nothing if not nosy. 

Will I eventually get her hooked on Harlequin Presents and Unusual Historicals?  Well, time will tell.  In the meantime, let me pique all y'alls interest with the April Unusual Historical releases that caught my eye.

 

Desert Phoenix by Suzette Bruggeman (Kindle Unlimited)

A woman with a past is not a woman without a future. 

Nevada's gold country, 1901. 

No longer young or fresh, Tempa is staring face to face with the whore's unholy trinity: alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide. While her best friend, Belle, has chosen laudanum, Tempa finds escape in literature, which she shares with the illiterate prostitutes in a book club-like setting at the cribs. Forced into prostitution as a girl after losing her family to yellow fever, Tempa also retains a sense of self-worth by using her knowledge of herbs to heal others. 

When she nurses Henry—a good-natured, young German immigrant on the run from a man who has reason to want him dead—Tempa sees a future she longs for but cannot allow herself to claim. So when the noose tightens around Henry's neck, she ransoms her life for his. 

At once a sweeping love story and a harrowing account of the harshness of the American Old West, Desert Phoenix is the tale of a middle-aged, crib prostitute who gains an unlikely ally in her struggle for physical and emotional survival. Based on local history and family stories passed down from Bruggeman's grandfather, this engaging and evocative novel for fans of Kristin Hannah and Kate Quinn interweaves Tempa's rise from the ashes of her old life with Henry's turbulent passage into manhood.

There are a lot of self-published historical westerns out there and to be honest I'm naturally wary unless I've got some sort of "history" with the author.  So I'm really happy that AztecLady posted a review for this one recently.  Y'all I want to read the hell out of this book and I've already downloaded it.  

Ana Maria and the Fox by Liana De la Rosa

A forbidden love between a Mexican heiress and a shrewd British politician makes for a tantalizing Victorian season. 

Ana María Luna Valdés has strived to be the perfect daughter, the perfect niece, and the perfect representative of the powerful Luna family. So when Ana María is secretly sent to London with her sisters to seek refuge from the French occupation of Mexico, she experiences her first taste of freedom far from the judgmental eyes of her domineering father. If only she could ignore the piercing looks she receives across ballroom floors from the austere Mr. Fox. 

Gideon Fox elevated himself from the London gutters by chasing his burning desire for more: more opportunities, more choices. For everyone. Now, as a member of Parliament, Gideon is on the cusp of securing the votes he needs to put forth a measure to abolish the Atlantic slave trade once and for all—a cause that is close to his heart as the grandson of a formerly enslaved woman. The charmingly vexing Ana María is a distraction he must ignore. 

But when Ana María finds herself in the crosshairs of a nefarious nobleman with his own political agenda, Gideon knows he must offer his hand as protection . . . but will this Mexican heiress win his heart as well?

Publishers seem determined to move historical romances into trade paperback and slap illustrated covers on them no matter how much I dislike the trend.  Yes, yes, profit margin blah blah blah - my blog = all about me.  Anyway, the cover is at least pretty (I love the colors and it's a clinch even if it is illustrated...) and it's a Victorian (I love this era for historical romance).  Also the back cover blurb evokes some actual history - which isn't always a guarantee in historical romances.  It's also the first book in a new series and De la Rosa's debut with big boy Berkley / Penguin Random House.

Bound to the Warrior by Ella Matthews 

A tense battle of duty and desire in this Medieval romance 

Wed to a stranger 

Awakened by his touch 

As the new wife to stoic knight Benedictus Monceaux, innocent Adela finds herself in a whole new world… Their union is one of convenience and power, but her feelings for the warrior unsettle and excite her. Hiding an inner strength, Adela knows she can be a strong ally to her husband—but she must walk a fine line between duty and desire, both at court and in the bedchamber…

At this point I could literally not read anything but Harlequin Historicals for a year and I'd still have plenty in my TBR.  Matthews is a relatively newer writer for the line and this is the fourth book in her second series for them. Seriously, if you love medievals, Harlequin Historical is more than happy to keep you in a steady supply.

A Manhattan Heiress in Paris by Amanda McCabe 

Step into the roaring 1920s Parisian music scene 

Leaving Manhattan… 

For a secret Parisian affair… 

New York darling Elizabeth Van Hoeven has everything…except freedom. But now Eliza’s traveling to study piano at the Paris Conservatoire and falling for jazz prodigy Jack Coleman in the process! A love like theirs is forbidden back home, and as they make beautiful music together under the Parisian lights, Eliza and Jack face a difficult choice: the life they’ve always known, or the possibility of a life they never could have imagined…

McCabe is a prolific writer and she's certainly bitten off quite a bit with this latest release. 1920s! Paris! Music! But also a really complicated relationship between an heiress and a jazz musician that will undoubtedly face many, many challenges (especially "back home").  I've always found McCabe to be a very solid writer so I'm giving this one a whirl.

At the Queen's Summons by Susan Wiggs (Reprint)

Feisty orphan Pippa de Lacey lives by wit and skill as a London street performer. But when her sharp tongue gets her into serious trouble, she throws herself upon the mercy of Irish chieftain Aidan O'Donoghue. 

Pippa provides a welcome diversion for Aidan as he awaits an audience with the queen, who holds his people's fate in her hands. Amused at first, he becomes obsessed with the audacious waif who claims his patronage. 

Rash and impetuous, their unlikely alliance reverberates with desire and the tantalizing promise of a life each has always wanted—but never dreamed of attaining.

The final book in Wiggs' Tudor Rose trilogy bows this month with yet another new cover iteration. This book was originally published in 1996 under the title Dancing on Air and it's first appearance under the new title of At the Queen's Summons debuted in 2012. I really need to read this trilogy this year because they all sound fantastic. Also I've had the original print editions in my TBR for an embarrassingly long time....

What Unusual Historicals are you looking forward to?

#TBRChallenge 2023: The Prisoner

The Book: The Prisoner by Cheryl Reavis

The Particulars: Historical Romance, Harlequin Historical #126, 1992, out of print, available digitally (self-published reprint with additional material added), first book in series

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Reavis is a favorite and has both historical and contemporary romances in my keeper stash

The Review: I have had a used copy of the original Harlequin Historical edition in my print TBR stash for a very long time - where it languished, as books tend to do in my TBR, until finally here I am many years older with really crappy eyesight.  So when I decided that this was the book I was going to read for this month's Unusual Historical prompt, I downloaded the self-published edition available via Kindle Unlimited with the extra "lost chapters."  This is definitely an instance where 1) I would have liked this book better as a baby, less jaded, less cantankerous reader and 2) where the lost chapters should have truly stayed lost. More on that in a moment...

The book opens in 1865, during the final gasping days of the Civil War.  Union Captain John Howe has been in a hellhole prisoner of war camp in Salisbury, North Carolina, where conditions not great to begin with have rapidly deteriorated.  He's near starvation, sick, desperate and makes a run for it via a tunnel the prisoners have dug - his best friend getting left behind and presumed dead when said tunnel collapses. He has to make it to a house in town where there's a local war profiteer that will provide him with passes and a disguise to get north - except John picks the wrong house and gets saddled with a pretty young captive as a grand prize.

Amanda Douglas lives with her emotionally abusive minister father and loving stepmother.  Long story short, Amanda is paying for the sins of her mother.  She's home alone when John Howe breaks in and Daddy Dearest walks in on a situation that looks compromising enough that he jumps right to the conclusion that she's a whore no better than her mother.  Stuff happens, they eventually land at the profiteer's house, and now John and Amanda are on the run despite not liking or trusting one another even a tiny bit. Basically it's get me north to my family and I'll make sure you're not hung out to dry - and really, other than her stepmother, there's nothing for Amanda in North Carolina. She reluctantly chooses John.

First, let's start off with the good. Reavis has a way of painting pictures with words and creating a world that as a reader I can fall right into.  It's richly drawn without spending too much time in the weeds.  Her characters are also, generally, very interesting.  There's a number of secondary characters I really liked in this story, an army doctor and Amanda's stepmother being the most interesting to me.  Also, having read the second book, The Bride Fair, many years ago (and I loved it back then) - it was great to finally read about the guilt and baggage that the hero in this book has in regards to the hero of that second book.

So what's the problem?  Well, Amanda and John are what I call hot-and-cold-running characters - which means mood swings.  A lot of them.  Which yes, makes some sense given the circumstances of how they meet - but that doesn't make it any less exhausting.  Also, for a book with "lost chapters" included, the timeline of when John is delirious from sickness and fever and Amanda has to prop him up, lug him around through their travels, jumps ahead in time and leaves quite a few blank spaces. I was disappointed that none of the lost chapters addressed the gaps in that timeline.

There's also the small matter that this is a Civil War book and it's strangely apolitical. John refers to Amanda as "Reb" but Amanda is about as political as a potted fern - which honestly, I could almost buy into given she had lived her entire life up to that point in a home with an emotionally abusive father.  When that is your life, are you really going to think of much else outside of that bubble?

Eventually John gets home, Amanda finds out his family is kind of a big deal, there's a misunderstanding perpetrated by his overbearing mother (that John, even though he KNOWS what kind of woman his mother is, doesn't suspect she just might be behind the third act separation when Amanda runs off? Like really John?! Like, really?!?!??!).  Then there's a reunion, more drama, and then what is quite obviously the original final chapter.

Original cover

The "lost chapters" in the self-published version are all tacked on at the end of the original final chapter - and some of them are interesting because it does give the reader a bit more time to spend with the secondary characters.  Unfortunately it also gives the reader more time to spend with John and Amanda, which means another misunderstanding, which means another instance where she runs off, which means I now think that these two are one more misunderstanding away from imploding entirely.  This is also when the author includes some politics and honestly, staying apolitical would have been better. John is still in the Army and leading the occupying forces in Salisbury.  The idea being that he's now married to a local and things will go more smoothly (never mind most of the locals now consider Amanda a Yankee whore) and there's nonsense in there with Amanda telling John that the Southerners are conquered but should still be allowed to have their pride.

Look, do you know what Southern pride got us in this country?  Jim Crow among other things.  Apolitical was better, thanks.

So where does that leave us?  Well, I'd probably give the original version of this book somewhere around a C+ maybe?  John and Amanda just didn't really work for me as a romantic couple, but Reavis' world-building and secondary characters were on-point.  The lost chapters section?  Ugh, probably a D. They should have stayed on the cutting room floor, because if anything they made me believe less in Amanda and John as a viable couple.  Plus the politics in this section annoyed me.

Final Grade = Oh, who the hell knows, let's say C

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is April 19!

Hey, hey, hey the fourth #TBRChallenge of 2023 is fast approaching! The magic day is Wednesday, April 19 and this month's (always) optional theme is Unusual Historical.

I know, you would think I came up with this theme all on my own - but it was actually a suggestion from the theme poll I ran late last year. It's very on-brand for Wendy, so of course I thought it was a great suggestion!  You can define "unusual" how you see fit, but here at the Bat Cave "the Royal We" like to focus mainly on setting, time period, and/or occupation.

That being said, remember that the themes are completely optional. Maybe you don't read historicals?  Maybe you've hit a rough patch and your comfort reading of choice are Regency historicals featuring Duke heroes?  It's OK! Remember the goal of the challenge has been, and always will be, to read something (anything!) that's been languishing in your mountain range of unread books. 

It's never too late to join the Challenge! To learn more about it and to see a list of folks participating head on over to the information page. 

Review: Hide

I discovered Tracy Clark's Cassandra Raines series in late 2020, when I was in serious need of 1) comfort 2) nostalgia and 3) escape. And while I know a lot of people like to read frothy Regency romances to get that fix, I go for competent female private investigators.  I am trash for competent female private investigators.  What can I say? I read a lot of Sue Grafton and Marcia Muller during my impressionable teen years.  So I'll admit it was with mixed feelings when I first heard about Hide "A Detective Harriet Foster Thriller."  Cass has been put on ice, and just as a secondary character was going to get embroiled into "something" that seemed to set up a fifth book.  Sigh.  Well, hopefully Cass will be back (soon, please soon!), but in the meantime spending time with Harriet is a decent consolation prize.

Chicago homicide detective Harriet Foster is back on the job, at a new precinct, after an administrative leave.  Her longtime partner, Glynnis, drove to work one day, stayed sitting in her parked car, took out her department issued gun, and shot herself. Harriet didn't see it coming. Had no idea her partner was struggling - her partner who was happily married and had two children at home. Compounding this is it's not the only tragedy Harriet is still reeling from. Her son was shot and killed in a robbery attempt, which led to the disintegration of her marriage and a now distant relationship with her family (her choice, they've been reaching out and trying to keep lines of communication open).  Getting back on the job, stepping into a new precinct, and getting partnered with an "old school cop" on the first day when her new boss is looking at her like she expects her unravel at any moment?  It's a lot.  And then the first body shows up.

A pretty, young, white college student is found under a pile of leaves, dumped, near Chicago's Riverwalk. She has been, quite literally, butchered, with red lipstick markings around her wrists and ankles.  Nearby? A young black man, passed out, with blood on his clothing. Harriet's "old school cop" partner jumps to the immediate conclusion but Harriet is immediately suspicious. It's a spot of blood. The woman was butchered.  One thing is for certain though, they need to get a line on things fast because the victim's last known whereabouts were at a defund the police rally.  The optics for the department are not great - and then a body of another dead white woman turns up. Needless to say, the heat turns up on the case exponentially. 

Clark is a Black woman and both of her series feature Black, female protagonists who are current or former cops, with all the crap and baggage that entails. It's how Clark writes about these challenges that's so riveting - you see the struggles and triumphs through Harriet's eyes. The ground she gains, the bullshit she has to circumvent or wade straight through - and at the start of this story Harriet is worn down. The loss in her life hangs off her like a shroud. She's grieving and now she's stuck with a new partner that just further exhausts her the moment she meets him. But she has a job to do - which means if he's not a help, he's a hindrance, and she will walk right through him if she must.  Clark never, ever monologues. She doesn't preach. Everything in this story exists because it's what the characters think, what the characters feel. How does Clark feel about the past, present and future of policing?  I couldn't begin to tell you - but I can tell you how her characters feel.  Which, to be frank, is what I want in fiction. I want to lose myself in the lives of fictional characters.

While this book is half police procedural, it's also half thriller.  Yep, buckle up kiddies, you get alternating points of view broken up by chapters.  We meet a troubled young man, Bodie Morgan, newly sprung from a psychiatric hospital after he took a plea deal for stalking a couple of women.  As the reader it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's somehow tied to the murder victims, but how? In what way?  I'll admit that I was so entranced by Harriet, and her working the case, that the early Morgan chapters were tedious for me (Ugh, him again? When can I get back to Harriet?!), but once Clark starts tying the threads together the whole thing really started to cook for me.

I liked this story a lot and it was a quick, fast read - but like an idiot I now have to wait until December for book 2!  But it also means Tracy Clark is one of the few autobuy authors I have whose backlist I am totally caught up on.  That's saying something.

Final Grade = B+

Mini-Reviews: Fake Relationship and Friends-to-Lovers Historical

Yes, it's time for another round of mini-reviews. What can I say? Words are still hard and my most recent romance reads haven't exactly inspired effusiveness. 

First up is The Bookworm and the Beast by Charlee James.  My book group's last two picks have been, to be frank, not great (a D+ and a DNF for yours truly) so I went diving into the depths of my digital TBR and convinced everybody to read this one.  What I got was a very sweet read. How sweet? I should have read it over the Christmas holiday when my tolerance for toothaches is higher.  Nobody but a category romance fan will understand this reference, but what we have here is Silhouette Romance vs. Harlequin  Romance sweet.  It's very sweet.

Izzy Simon is a librarian, which means of course she's taking on a two-week temp job to help her grandmother with the rent for her assisted living apartment (this rang depressingly true). Her assignment is to be the temporary assistant to Derek Croft, a grumpy children's book author (OK, sure).  He doesn't want or need an assistant but with his family coming in for the Christmas holiday, he realizes Izzy is the perfect decoy to get his well-meaning stepmother, who keeps trying to set him up with various single ladies, off his back.

I mean, it's fine.  It's very sweet and there's a scene with some wolves (seriously) in the woods that pushed this one into full-blown, eye-rolling, fairy tale territory.  But the one thing that I kept niggling on?  He's a children's book author. She's a librarian. Trust me - when librarians meet authors (especially successful children's book authors...) discussions are had.  Basically there's no talk at all about their respective careers and they don't factor into the story at all - other than Izzy making a dismal salary and needing to work a second job to help out Grandma.  Final Grade = C

If you're looking for a pleasant, low-angst read, look no further than Her Best Friend, the Duke by Laura Martin.  Caroline Yaxley is hopelessly in love with her best friend, James Dunstable, Duke of Heydon.  Their friendship is rather unconventional, and certainly gives the gossips something to speculate over, but it's all above reproach, which is the problem for Caroline.  She's now 24 and realizes that she wants children and companionship. At this point if she can't have the man she loves she can at least settle for amiable companionship and not growing old alone. 

James is looking for a love like his parents had. Love-at-first-sight, a thunderclap, heavenly choirs singing - the whole enchilada.  Never mind he's now 40 and this great love match hasn't miraculously dropped into his lap. He's instead done his best to dodge the matchmaking mamas and spent his time traveling the continent.  But now he's back in England and flummoxed that Caroline suddenly wants to marry.  I mean, what's that all about?  Still, he agrees to help her find a tolerable husband but the problem is no man is nearly good enough for her.  Also, why is he suddenly so distracted by his best friend?  I mean, they're friends - nothing more.  Right?

What's refreshing here is so often in historical romances it's the heroine holding out for twu wuv.  It was nice to see the shoe on the other foot.  The problem?  You know how eventually, sooner or later, those heroines get exceedingly annoying and you want to slap them them into next Tuesday and tell them to snap out of it already?  Yeah, just because we have a gender reversal on this trope doesn't fix that minor detail. It's not until the bitter end, even after his closest male friend tells him he's being a colossal moron, that the light finally dawns.  Also, even though this is a Harlequin Historical, it still felt too long.  It definitely sags a bit during the first third, but did eventually pick up.  Pleasant, but I'll admit I skimmed some of the slower bits.  Final Grade = C

Library Loot Mini-Reviews: Crime Blotter

The older I get, the harder it seems for me to string actual words together to form cogent thoughts - which means I've been getting through more books than I've actually blogged about so far this year.  If I actually had some energy maybe this blog wouldn't languish so much between posts?  So in a bid to sprinkle in some updated content, here is a batch of crime-related mini-reviews of books I leveraged my library card to read and/or listen to. Seriously y'all - support your local library.

In The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz, Alex is still wallowing over the spectacular demise of her friendship with Wren when she wins the opportunity to attend a month-long writer's retreat hosted by her idol, feminist horror writer, Roza Vallo at the woman's secluded Gothic manor.  The cause of angst besides her year-long case of writer's block?  Wren also won a spot. As if navigating her estrangement with Wren weren't enough, the retreat is grueling and shenanigans are afoot. 

The first clue I should have taken away before starting this book is that it's subtitled "A Novel" - which means the first 50% doesn't really go much of anywhere other than making me hate whiny, hand-wringing Alex (seriously girl, suck it up and grow a pair!) and narcissistic, mean-girl-ish Wren.  The only character worth anything in this book is Kiera, who is the one member of the retreat who realizes that Roza ain't all she's cracked up to be.  But the Gothic atmosphere is fantastic and the second half of the book truly cooks.  I didn't love this, I hated everybody but Kiera, but it's memorable - I'll give it that.  Final Grade = C+/B- ish

I am trash for suspense stories set in Los Angeles that expose the seedy side of Hollywood and I was all set to love Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper.  Mae is a black-bag publicist (she's a fixer) who is constantly spinning stories to wriggle her messy clients out of trouble.  Then her boss hints to her that he's got something big cooking, but before he can loop her in he's gunned down in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Words cannot express how amazing the world-building is in this story - it is pitch perfect, 110%, Grade A Los Angeles Sleaze.  So what's the problem?  Well, it's a little too ripped from the headlines for my tastes - with characters that are obvious "homages" (if you want to call them that?) to Ed Buck and Dan Schneider.  It's also a book that offends my sense of justice and fair play.  Nobody gets their comeuppance and gross people continue on being gross.  That's not what I want out of my fictional suspense reading - I like the bad guys actually losing and being punished.  It makes for a nice change of pace from the trash fire that is real life.  Starts with a bang, ends with a whimper. Final Grade = C

I spent the first part of 2022 glomming my way through Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series, so I was hoping the answer to that for 2023 would be Richard Stark's (AKA Donald E. Westlake) Parker series.  I'm fully aware that The Hunter was published in the early 1960s, and I do have a strong constitution for crime fiction of a certain age - but yeah, no.  I can dig a good anti-hero and I'm down with Parker being a thief.  It's the whole murdering without compunction and treating women like punching bags I've got issues with.  And speaking of women, they're all whores, drug-addicts or drug-addicted whores in this book.  Matthew Scudder is Alan Alda by comparison.  Final Grade = D-

Live Your Best Lie by Jessie Weaver is a dark-side of celebrity culture mystery for the YA set.  Summer Cartwright is a social media influencer and full-time mean girl.  When she goes missing, and then is found dead, at her invitation-only Halloween party, the spotlight starts to shine on a group of teens who, at one time or another, were among Summer's exclusive inner circle.  The writing style didn't always click for me, but this book is chock-full of secrets (literally, everybody has them!) and that kept me reading.  Unfortunately it's another book that offended my sense of justice, and I felt like some of the characters' secrets (especially Grace!) got the short-shift.  But then I read somewhere (and I'm not sure where now!) that this might be the first book in a series?  Which makes some sense.  Teen Wendy would have loved this, Adult Wendy wanted more closure.  Final Grade = B-

Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green is the antithesis of a lot of true crime I've read over the years. Certainly the crimes are horrific and graphic (fair warning: dismemberment) - but this book never descends into lurid. The author uncovers the story of a serial killer who preyed on (largely closeted) gay men in 1980s and 1990s New York City but instead of focusing the book on the serial killer - he focuses on the victims, the people who worked the case and building the world of early 1990s New York City.  The serial killer? Yeah, that guy doesn't show up on page until the 70% mark.  It's a fascinating book and largely depressing (and outrage-inducing) for all the reasons you would expect. It might not satisfy readers who want to crawl around in a killer's head, find out what makes him tick, find out why he did it - but for my money, this one is sticking with me for a long time. Final Grade = B+ 

You know what I learned from A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Mark Dawidziak?  That Edgar Allan Poe was an insufferable human being. Brilliant writer - no doubt. But what a jackass. And the ability to self-sabotage? Second to none. This book does recount Poe's life in a bid to answer the mystery behind his utterly bizarre death, and to (hopefully) debunk the rumors surrounding it.  It's well-researched but very dry.  There's just nothing here that pulled me in and made me want to care and sure as heck no way I would have finished this had I not listened to the audio version. Meh.  Final Grade = C-