The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (Enola Holmes #4)

Enola Homes, younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft, is living on her own and evading her brothers in an attempt to stay out of boarding school and keep her independence. When her landlady is mysterious kidnapped and her house ransacked, Enola sets out to find her and figure who and why someone would want her sweet old landlady.

This was a very fun mystery. I enjoyed the character of Enola and how clever she is. Her brothers very much underestimate her but I think Sherlock is beginning to see the truth of his little sister. Enola is a very independent and she knows more about the ways of the world especially a lady's world than her brothers can understand. She is also very good at riddles and coded messages and those skills certainly come in handy for this case. I also like the history of this era like Florence Nightingale and how London was at this time. That was very interesting. 

Katharine Kellgren, one of my favorite narrators, is the reader of this book and I can't say enough good things about her. She really is one of the best narrators I've come across and does a great job on every book and this one is no exception.
The only thing is some weird lengthy pauses between chapters. A few times I wonder if the book had stopped but it was just the way it was engineered.

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie

In Chipping Cleghorn an advertisement is placed in the social pages of the local newspaper announcing the date and time of a murder. When several townsfolk show up thinking it is a game they soon see that it is not. For a murder does take place and the police begin to focus on the suspects. But soon Miss Jane Marple becomes involved and the murderer begins to become more desperate.

Continuing with my mystery kick, I checked out A Murder is Announced. It seems that there are a quite a few Miss Marple audios but less Poirot or at least at my library anyway. But that's okay. I enjoy Miss Marple and how she is constantly underestimated because she is a little old lady. Underestimated, of course, by those who do not know her because once they do they never make that mistake again. 

This is one of those mysteries, like most of Christie's, that looks one way at the beginning but has a completely different outcome. All the little clues are there but it takes a mind like Jane Marple's to see the big picture. All the characters are wholly believable as residents of a little village and it is a peek at British life after the war.

8 hours, 42 minutes

Rosemary Leach is the reader and she does a wonderful job making the various characters stand out. Her narration is very clear and I really enjoyed this audio book.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Poirot finds himself on a train with a murdered man next door and too many suspects. As he methodically makes his way through the passengers, he finds a connection to an old kidnapping case lies at the heart of the murder.

This is probably my 4th reading of Orient Express. I can't remember when I first read it but it was one of my favorites as a teenager. It's a joy to get to listen to the audio book version especially as it is read by David Suchet, the quintessential Hercule Poirot. He does an excellent job, as expected, of bringing to life one of Christie's most famous mysteries.

The mystery itself, though now a classic mystery ending, is surprising at the end with its complexity. There are a number of clues, misdirections, and red herrings but once all the pertinent information has been gathered Poirot uses his little grey cells to solve the case.

6 hours, 53 minutes.

Once Upon a Thriller by Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew Diaries #4)

Somehow I ended up trying out the new Nancy Drew series on book 4 rather than book 1. But that's okay. The beauty of Nancy Drew is that there are not super linear and can be read out of order. As for this new series, eh, it's okay. I still prefer my classic Nancy and the girl on the cover looks 12, not 18 as it's implied this Nancy is. She can drive and has credit cards but no discernible income. I honestly thought this was closer to middle grade based on the cover.

The mystery itself is classic Nancy though. She goes on a weekend vacation with Bess and George and falls straight into a mystery based out of a book. When a bookstore in the town catches on fire, arson is suspected. Was it the reclusive author who was due to give a signing? Or the book store owner herself? Or the inn keeper who didn't get along with either? And why is there a sudden rash of crimes related to the author's books? It's up to Nancy to solve the case.

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (audio)

When  Colonel Protheroe is found dead at the vicarage, it causes quite the stir in St. Mary Mead. Even after there are two confessions, the police and the townsfolk are wondering how it happened. But little old Miss Marple is the one who solves the case.

I read a lot of Agatha Christie as a teenager, like a lot. But it's been a while so when SYNC offered up The Murder at the Vicarage I knew I had to give it a listen. And I'm glad I did. I love a good murder mystery especially one that features Miss Marple who is clearly one of the best detectives ever conceived. It's interesting that everyone views her as a nosy old lady even the vicar at the start of the book. But by the end he comes to respect her keen observation powers and skills at deduction. Miss Marple is an example to us all.

I don't remember reading this book though I'm sure I did so I couldn't remember the solution. It was simple yet not at all obvious like most of Christie's mysteries. I didn't remember it being from the vicar's view point but I liked that. He had the most clues and was the most involved so it makes sense. Now I feeling like a mystery kick and will have to grab a few more Agatha Christie mysteries.

Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Confessions #1) (audio)

Tandy Angel is a member of the elite Angel family, known for their perfectionism and lack of emotion. Some people call them sociopaths, she just thinks of them as family. When her parents are found dead in their room, the police suspect foul play and everyone including the Angel kids are under suspicion.

Confession: I found Tandy Angel extremely hard to relate to, but then she is almost the exact opposite of me. Her parents have encouraged, beyond encouraged, made her into a emotionless, laser focus practically automaton. So much so I expect the big reveal to be that Tandy and her brothers were created in a lab of some kind. Not quite it turns out, but close (unless that comes up in the next book).  She methodically tries to find out who killed her parents believing she has a better shot than the police and in the midst of her investigation, without her parents' influence, she beings to develop emotions as more and more of the Angel parents' secrets come to light. In the end I still wasn't attached to Tandy or any of her brothers but the story was good and the mystery was interesting (even if the solution was a cop-out).

Highlight for SPOILERS:
The fact that the death of her parents was suicide felt completely like a cop-out though it does fit with how selfish and irresponsible Malcolm and Maude were. They didn't care at all about their kids judging by how they used to them to test out drugs and made them into emotionless robots or try to anyway. And the saddest thing in the whole book was the ending where the Angel children try to convince themselves their parents loved them. The suicides were anti-climatic after learning so much about them and how they handled their personal AND professional lives. Also why would it say in a journal on Tandy that she can read for 6 hours without moving but then the cameras were hidden cameras leading to the neighbors apartment? Malcolm at least would have had to review the footage himself to know what the kids were doing so that couldn't have been a secret. That last part was confusing. It was just a too easy way to show that the parents had committed suicide and to wrap up the book. (end)

6 hours, 3 minutes

Emma Galvin narrates this books and she does a good job of capturing Tandy's emotionless state and then later the one where she starts to gain emotions. I enjoyed her reading. My only issue with the audiobook is that there were sometime long pauses between chapters. It's like they took the CD version and transfer it directly to mp3 without taking out the change of CD pause. The first time it happened I thought my device had failed or something. So that was disconcerting.

When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket (All the Wrong Questions #2) (audio)

Lemony Snicket and his chaperone are still in Stain'd-by-the-Sea and now they are onto a case of a missing girl who happens to be the daughter of the wealthiest people in town. All of the adults seems to feel that the girl has run away to the circus. But Snicket sees things that the grownups don't notice and it leads me on a strange path to find the missing girl and one step closer to the evil plan of the villain Hangfire.

It's interesting to listen to a Snicket book after reading a Handler book. It shows how versatile a reading he is. Not everyone could do a contemporary YA from a female POV and a gothic childrens from a male POV and do it so well.

This series isn't nearly as depressing as ASoUE, at least so far. There is the barest mention of VFD and Snicket's associates though there is a visit from one at the end. I do like a good mystery series and this one is a mystery per book. There are the craziest characters in a Snicket book and this one is no exception. The adults are all typical adults and don't notice things and take everything at face value but the children are the smart ones who figure things out. I can see shades of what Lemony Snicket will become in the later books but in these at least he is a more optimistic fellow.

 4 hours, 22 minutes.

The narrator is Liam Aiken and I liked him better than I did in the first book. He has the right tone and reading for this kind of book. His voices for the different characters are good.

All The Wrong Questions
#1"Who Could That Be At This Hour?"

Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews (Southern series #3) (audio)

Weezie Foley is trying to get her shop together for the historical district's annual decorating contest. But standing in her way are her competitors across the street, a crazy holiday schedule, and a little old lady who gets stealing and returning Weezie's stuff.

I didn't realize that this was the third in a series. But it didn't matter. There was enough background given to get me up to speed with the characters. I think I missed out on some background relationships but not so much that I was confused. This was a cute book along the lines of the other Mary Kay Andrews books I've read. I enjoyed it though I started it before Christmas and then put it on hold to listen to Fangirl and then The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

I liked Weezie and Bebe and their friendship. They always have each others' backs and that is nice. Everyone should have a friend like that. I enjoyed the quirky, funny aspects of the book like Weezie's kooky family and her auction buying trips. And I loved the family dinner at the end of the book. I laughed so hard which is not good when you are driving. Still it made the commute go by fast. I look forward to going back for the other books.

Isabel Keating is the narrator and once again I enjoyed her reading. She narrated The Fixer Upper and I liked in her that book as well. She has the perfect accent even if it occasionally sounds a little marble-mouthed especially in the male characters. Still I think she is a great narrator for Andrews books.

5 hours, 3 minutes.

Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith

Nick and Tesla are 11 year old twins who are sent to live with their mad scientist uncle while their parents are off to Uzbekistan for their own research. The twins love science and are excited to share their uncle's lab. But when Tesla's pendant that their parents gave to her is lost, she and her brother stumble onto a mysterious house with some shady characters living in it. Not to mention the girl in the window. Can some quick thinking and science solve this mystery?

Quirk Books sent this one for review and I thought it would be a fun book to read with my 6 year old son. We have just got into chapter books and I was looking for one to engage him with. This turned out to be a good choice. He really liked it and asked to read the science book at night. Some of the chapters are longer so I would break them into two parts but mostly we read a chapter a night. This might be one of the longer books we've read together. He is really excited to read the second book which Quirk Books also sent to me for review.

We both enjoyed the story and I like how the science and inventions really helped them out. The twins are as clever as their names and they were good characters. Plus it is a mystery which I always like. My son liked the dogs, Jaws and Claws, for some reason. He thought they were hilarious. I wouldn't be surprised if he wants to try out a few of the inventions. Because that is another cool thing. The plans and instructions for the things Nick and Tesla invent are included in the book. And it is nothing too complicated and something that would be fun for a kid and parent to do together.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

Cormoran Strike is having some serious troubles with his girlfriend, with paying back his debts and with life in general. But when a wealthy lawyer walks into his office asking him to solve the murder of his famous supermodel sister, he becomes embroiled in a case where everyone has something to hide. Because although the police have already determined that her death was a suicide, something tells Strike there is more to it than that.

How easy it was to capitalize on a person’s own bent for self-destruction; how simple to nudge them into non-being, then to stand back and shrug and agree that it had been the inevitable result of a chaotic, catastrophic life.

I picked this up after I learned who the real author was under the pseudonym.  Of course I did. I tried her Casual Vacancy but literary novels are not my thing.  But mysteries are. It was really good, long but good. I enjoyed it. Rowling can certainly write and certainly world-build. She also creates great characters like Cormoran Strike, the main character and detective in this novel. He is flawed but a good person and a very thorough detective. I liked him. And his temporary assistant Robin was also a great character though she needed more fleshing out.

Overall the mystery was very well done and the ending was a surprise. Though there was a part that I guess was hinted at but still felt like it came out of nowhere. I'm happy that there is another book planned because I liked Cormoran and his methodical detective work and his life story and I'd like to see it explored more rather than doled out in bits and pieces.

How Nancy Drew Saved My Life by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Charlotte is getting over a disastrous affair with her former boss when she takes a job as a nanny to the Ambassador of Iceland's daughter. But mysteries are afoot. What Would Nancy Drew Do? is the question Charlotte asks herself. Because if anyone has the answer it's Nancy Drew.

This wasn't as funny as I thought it was going to be. In fact, it turned out to be a Jane Eyre retelling with a little bit of a Nancy Drew twist. Confession: I don't actually like Jane Eyre that much. What with Mr. Rochester and the wife and all that. I don't know. Just not my thing. But the fact that this book is based on Jane Eyre explains why the tone is overly formal and why these people talk the way they do. Charlotte is not the most sympathetic of narrators though I think we are meant to be sympathetic to her. Her Nancy Drew observations are pretty spot-on and I liked that part. But other than that, this was just not for me. Probably if you like Jane Eyre then you will enjoy this book.

Prep School Confidential by Kara Taylor

Anne Dowling may have accidentally set fire to her school's auditorium and gotten kicked out but that doesn't mean her parents have to ship her off to boarding school. But they do and she finds herself having a decent time until her roommate is murdered. The school doesn't seem interested in finding the murderer, just on pretending everyone is safe. Not one to leave things alone, Anne goes in search of who killed her roommate and finds that her roommate is not as innocent as she appeared and that the school is covering up a multitude of secrets.

I don't stick around to hand out explanations. I abandon my chicken salad and take off after Zach. He's fast, but my ever-unflinching willingness to cause a huge scene give me the upper hand her. p. 199 ARC

Here's what I learned. 1. Don't read murder mysteries before bed even if they are YA and you think you are safe. Sometimes they are creepier than you think. 2. This is going to be a series and I'm pretty excited about that. I love a good mystery series and this one has more real elements than a lot of other YA mysteries that I have read. 3. That's about all.

While I did find some parts of this book stretch the imagination a bit far, I was still okay with that. It was amazing the amount of cover-up Anne found as she searched for Isabella's killer. I guess a school as old and prestigious as the Wheatley School would have a lot of secrets. Still it is amazing the lengths that Anne goes to when trying to find her roommate's murder. I was surprised by whodunit because there were very few clues left in that direction. Usually there is at least a little foreshadowing involved. But I enjoyed the mystery and I enjoyed the characters. Anne is bold and brash and an all around cool girl. The love triangle felt a bit forced with her but the guys are pretty awesome. Between the beautiful Brent and the bad boy Anthony, twin brother of Isabella, Anne had a lot to choose from. I assume these relationships will develop further with the series. I love that her last name is Dowling and I wonder if that is a nod to the Father Dowling mysteries. I guess she is going to be sticking around Wheatley since the next book seems to follow a decades old mystery that was touch on in this book.


Received from Netgalley for review.
Publish date: July 30, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

"Who Could That Be At This Hour?" by Lemony Snicket (All the Wrong Questions #1) (audio)

When Lemony Snicket was a boy he began an apprenticeship with a chaperone. The first assignment of that apprenticeship takes them to Stain'd-by-the-Sea to find a missing statue. But  Lemony quickly learns that asking all the wrong questions will get you nowhere when one right one is all you need.

I'm not sure what I was expecting. More of A Series of Unfortunate Events type stuff? Maybe. And this certainly follows in that vein. I guess this is the precursor to that series. More on the mysterious Lemony Snicket who, I was jarringly reminded, is actually a fictional character in his own right. A few characters from ASoUE appear, a detail I appreciated. I wonder if the Bauderlaire parents will appear.

Anyway, Lemony takes an apprenticeship which I guess consists of solving mysteries with a chaperone (mentor). His chaperone is certainly a character and not the most effectual one. But she is suppose to be a means to an end. Instead though she brings him to Stain'd-by-the-Sea where they are suppose to find a statue that was stolen. But instead of asking whether something can be stolen that didn't belong to the person in the first place, he asks all the wrong questions and is lead on a crazy quest around town, meeting the types of characters you'd expect to find in a Lemony Snicket book. And like ASoUE this is a dense book in that a lot of things are happening and most of it is not explained. But if you are a Lemony Snicket fan you will be expecting that.

Liam Aiken is the narrator and to be honest I wasn't really feeling his reading. He has a nice voice and is a good narrator but I don't know how I feel about him as Lemony Snicket. He does sound like Daniel Handler so maybe that has something to do with it. 

3 hours, 43 minutes

Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter (Heist Society #3)

When Hale's grandmother dies and leaves him the family business, he is stunned as is his family. But something is not quite right with her will and Kat is asked by Marcus, the butler, to look into it. Soon Kat and her crew are in deep as they go up against someone who has it in for the Hale family. But by taking on this task, will it mean Kat will lose her Hale?

This has to be one of my favorite series. I guess I just like a good heist story. Though this book features less of a heist story and more of a long con. Love it. It's also amazing that we still don't know Hale's first name despite this being a book about him and his family. Instead we get his family nickname which is ridiculous.

Perfect Scoundrels deals a lot with grief and the loss of a loved one. It also deals with the evolving nature of families and how no one lives forever. It also moves along Kat and Hale's relationship which felt very real. I enjoyed watching Kat and her crew work and she is one of the most brilliant thieves in the business even if she is only 15. I forgot she is only 15 actually. She and her friends just seem much older.

Heist Society
Heist Socity
Uncommon Criminals

Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #5)

SPOILERS for the series so far.
Cammie wakes up in the Swiss Alps with no memory of the summer but badly injured and with short black hair. Brought back to the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, she has to face her mother and her friends who are angry at her for leaving them behind. But Cammie just wants to remember the summer and if she managed to find the information on the Circle of Cavan that her father left behind. But some things are not worth remembering and something is wrong with Cammie. And now it seems that Circle has no use for her any longer.


Now we are cooking with gas as they say (Do they say that?). Anyway, here is the penultimate book to the Gallagher Girls series and it just moves the story right along. It was easy to feel Cammie's frustrations with her memory loss and her bewilderment at some of the things she now knows. And the music that she hears constantly. Why does no one think to mention that? But I guess that is explained at the end of the book sort of. I love how her friends love her and want to protect her but are also angry that she left them and left them behind.

I'm looking forward to the conclusion of this series. It has had its up and downs but I think it is going to end on a strong note. Cammie is very different from the girl the series started with and she has been through a lot for someone so young. That kind of character growth is wonderful to see in a series that started out about a boy crazy spy-in-training.

Gallagher Girls series
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover
Only the Good Spy Young

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage (audio)

To say this book is quirky and folksy doesn't actually cover just how quirky and folksy this book is. No wonder it is a Newbery Honor book. It is a chockablock full of cute similes and metaphors. And the main character is the most precocious girl in the town.  Mo (Moses) LoBeau was found by the Colonel during a hurricane when she was a baby floating on a billboard sign. Raised by him and Miss Lana, Mo grows up writing to her Upstream Mother and putting messages in bottles in the hopes that she will find her. Mo is a feisty girl and when someone in town is murdered and the Colonel starts acting suspicious, Mo and her best friend Dale start a detective agency to figure out who done it and protect her family.

I actually enjoyed this book a lot. Like I said it is very quirky and folksy but once you get past that it is a great book. I think it helps that listened to it on audio. Michal Friedman does a great job of bringing Mo to life. She does a great North Carolina accent and I found myself struggling not to pronounce words like she does while listening to this book.

It's hard to classify this one. It's set up like a mystery but at the same time it's definitely a coming-of-age story. By trying to solve the mystery, Mo learns a lot about families and sometimes it's not about the family you have, but the family you make.

8 hours

Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot (Heather Wells #4)

Fisher Hall is hosting the Tania Trace Rock Camp after people around the famous pop singer keep getting hurt. So Heather Wells is stuck with her ex-boyfriend's pregnant new wife and a bunch of bratty teenage wannabes in her dorm. But the trouble the girls cause is nothing to what is happening around Tania.

For a generally snappy series, this entry in the Heather Wells series has some serious tones. It touches on domestic abuse and fertility issues. But really it only touches on the latter. The former plays out more explicitly. I wish the character of Tania was fleshed out a bit more, but it was nice to see more from the girl who "stole" Jordan away from Heather. And her story is given more substance which proves that everyone has something behind them.

But this is still a Heather Wells mystery and so it is still a pretty funny book. Heather is so good and sweet to people. And I love her and Cooper together. I'm glad to see their relationship progressing more. That's always nice see in a series (ahem, Stephanie Plum). Hopefully the next one will bring about a wedding. That would be pretty rare in a mystery series of this type. And I hope the next one has Jordan and Cooper's sisters in it because they were pretty hilarious.

Heather Wells Mysteries
Size 12 is Not Fat
Size 14 is Not Fat Either
Big Boned

Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #4)

Cammie is the target by the mysterious Circle of Cavan, an terriost organization of spies. After her former teacher, Joe Solomon, risks his life to give her a coded message, she goes a mission to find out why the Circle wants her and what her father and Mr. Solomon have to do with the organization. With the help of her super spy friends and her sort of love interest, Zach, Cammie sets out to find the truth. But the truth is harder to find than she thinks.

It's been a while since I got into this series. The third book didn't do it for me but I enjoyed this one. I think the time off (and the fact that it wasn't following up a fantastic book) helped. Cammie and her friends really step up their game in this book which is good because the ending is drawing closer (it's a 6 book series) and all the players are being set up for the finale. We learn a little more about the Circle and who is in it and that makes for some surprising moments. We don't learn why they want Cammie and not too much more about Cammie's father though it is implied that he is still alive. But the story moves forward at fun pace and I'm anxious to read the next one to see what happens next.

Gallagher Girls series
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright

Amy is frustrated with constantly having to care for her brain damaged sister. Her mother always thinks that Amy should be taking care of Louann but Amy just wants to be normal for a change. When the chance comes for Amy to stay with her aunt while she cleans out Amy's great grandparent's house, Amy jumps at it. But something spooky is going one with the dollhouse in the attic. The doll seems to be moving on their own reenacting a grisly scene that took place years ago.

My sister bought a bunch of our old childhood favorites at a library book sale a couple of months ago and I couldn't resist picking up The Dollhouse Murders. It used to creep me out big time when I was younger but I still have fond memories of it. While the language is outdated, specifically referring to Amy's sister as "retarded" the story still holds up. Amy's frustrated at always having to take care of her sister and her embarrassment over Louann's behavior is something I think most older siblings can relate to at one time or another. The story also touches on Amy's mother's expectations and her own frustrations. As an adult I can understand more of Amy's mother than I did as a child.

The dollhouse mystery is still spooky. Dolls that can move by themselves is a creepy concept and it have them act out a murder is freaky. It is interesting that in the end Amy needs the help of her sister to figure out what the dolls are trying to say. That was a nice little twist to the story.

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich (audio)

Stephanie Plum returns from a trip to Hawaii to find that once again people are after her. This time they are after a photo that they think was given to Stephanie aboard the plane. But Stephanie doesn't have it. So not only does she have to deal with a pair of inept thugs but she has a crazy assassin and a ditzy hairdresser after the photograph and none of them will believe that she is not in possession of the picture. On top of that Stephanie has problems with a purse snatcher stealing her car and tracking down her old nemesis, Joyce Barnhardt, who is a person of interest in a murder investigation and who has skipped out on her bond. It's just a typical adventure for Stephanie Plum.

The mystery of who Stephanie takes to Hawaii at the conclusion of Smokin' Seventeen is solved. Unfortunately it ended badly and Stephanie doesn't want to talk about it until halfway through the book. So in addition to waiting on that mystery to be solved plus the other standard ones that come with the book and Stephanie's inability to still catch a skip, it made for a good if maddening book. Seriously why can't Stephanie just catch someone easily for once? It borders on stupidity at this point. But I guess if she were a adapt bounty hunter the books wouldn't be as funny. I still like reading them but I really wish she'd pick a man and either get a new job or learn how to do this one better. It was still a funny book though the subplot with Joyce Barnhardt was wrapped up pretty neatly and quickly after spending a lot of time on it as was the main plot come to think of it.

Read by Lorelei King

Stephanie Plum series
          Twelve Sharp
          Lean Mean Thirteen
          Fearless Fourteen
          Finger Lickin' Fifteen
          Sizzling Sixteen 
          Smokin' Seventeen