Mystery Book Club at the Ligonier Valley Library

"Murder, Mystery and Mayhem" Book Discussion Group

Reader's Choice Summer Picnic
September 28, 2008

The Cat Who series (5 - Stars) - reviewed by Barb
The books center around the life of former newspaper reporter James Qwilleran, and his two Siamese cats, KoKo and Yum Yum in the fictitious small town of Pickax located in Moose County. Currently there are 29 novels in the series.

Sunday at Tiffany's by James Patterson (5+ - Stars) - reviewed by Emma (NOT A MYSTERY NOVEL)
As a little girl, Jane has no one but her imaginary firend, Michael who must leave her on her 8th birthday. When Jane is in her thirties, working for her mother's company, she is still alone. Both her mother and boyfriend treat her badly, despite the great success of Jane's first play, "Thank Heaven." Then she finds Michael--handsome, and just the same as she remembers him, only now he's not imaginary. For once in her life, Jane is happy--and has someone who loves her back. But not even Michael knows the reason behind why they've really been reunited.

Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King (5 - Stars) - reviewed by Linda
Returning to her former home of San Francisco in 1924, Mary Russell and her husband, eminent detective Sherlock Holmes, are confronted by dark secrets of the past that continue to haunt Mary's dreams.

Murder at the National Cathedral by Margaret Truman (4 - Stars) - reviewed by Peg
The brutal murder of a friend drags Mac Smith and Annabel Reed from their newlywed bliss into an unholy web of intrigue and danger. When a second murder is commited in England, which the honeymooners had just visited, the Smiths go back across the seas, and straight into the center of an ungodly plot of secret agents, a playboy priest, a frustrated lover, a choleric cleric...and a murder so perfect it's a sin

Wreck the Halls by Sara Graves (4 - Stars) - reviewed by Kim
Jacobia Tiptree's plans to spend the Christmas holidays renovating her home take a backseat when Faye Anne Carmody is accused of taking an axe to her no-good husband, but when another local citizen turns up dead, Jake begins to suspect a more fiendish murder plot.

Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich (5+ - Stars) - reviewed by Janet H.
What mystical secrets lie beneath the Great Pyramids? Traveling with Napoleon's ambitious expedition, American adventurer Ethan Gage solves a five-thousand-year-old riddle with the help of a mysterious medallion.

In the Woods by Tana French (3 1/2 - Stars) - reviewed by Janet S.
In a small Dublin suburb during the summer of 1984, three children go missing. When the police arrive, only one of the three children is found gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall any details. Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar the previous unsolved mystery. Now, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (4-Stars) - reviewed by Kathy
A hospitalized English policeman reconstructs historical evidence concerning Richard III's role in the murder of Edward IV's two sons.

RATINGS: 1-5 Stars (5 being the best)

Book Descriptions mainly from NoveList