Coming soon: a search engine for the archives! Whoopdy-doo!

• (3/31)A Cold Day in Paradise by Steve Hamilton.
  
  Very enjoyable mystery featuring an ex-cop, ex-baseball player, current private investigator named Alex McKnight. He retired from the force after he was nearly killed by a maniac named Maximilian Rose. When two bookies in his small town are found murdered, all the signs point to Rose as the killer. But that is impossible -- the prison swears he's still in his cell and will be for the rest of his life. So who is leaving spooky notes on Alex's door, saying things only Alex and Rose know about? I was totally surprised by the ending (but part of that might be because I was busy for a week and was only reading it a few pages at a time). Am looking forward to the next book in the series (if there ever is one!). Recommended!
  [MYSTERY]

  (3/23)Fire and Ice by Paul Garrison.
  

  Doctors Sarah and Michael Stone, along with their young daughter Ronnie, seem to have a pretty ideal life. They sail around the Pacific treating patients all over the islands. Just as they are about to pull into a remote atoll to see if anybody needs help, they get a call from a giant carrier ship nearby: it's captain has been seriously injured and needs urgent medical care. So, Sarah and Ronnie drop off Michael to check out the atoll and continue alone to the ship. The next thing they know, their boat has been hoisted up and they've been kidnapped. Michael has to figure out how to save them before it's too late! Pretty exciting plot, though it got a little slow in places.
  [FICTION]

  (3/20)Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding.
  

  The sequel to Bridget Jones' Diary, this novel's gotten what I think is a pretty undeserved bad rap from the critics. Sure, it's not as good as the first one, but I think part of that is because we were all so amazed and pleased by the writing style of the first one and this time around, we know what to expect. So, maybe we're not steadily amused by every alcohol unit count and weekly/daily weigh-in. But does it still deliver a lot of laughs? You bet! Just try NOT to laugh out loud when you read Bridget's interview with Mr. Darcy/Colin Firth. The more I kept reading, the more I kept thinking, "Oh my god, I AM Bridget Jones!" If Bridget Jones knew how to use a computer, you can bet she'd have a web site called "The Boyfriend of the Week."
  [FICTION]

  (3/18)The Last Dance by Ed McBain.

  The newest 87th Precinct novel (yay! yay!); also happens to be the FIFTIETH 87th Precinct novel (and I'll be damned, but it's true -- I've read all 50). These are great, great books, people. The characters are terrific, the plots are usually pretty good, and getting to read a new one is like getting to spend an afternoon with a bunch of friends you haven't seen for awhile. Marvelous! This one is about a suspicious hanging death of an old man, who, it turns out, held the rights to a play that was a real flop, but is suddenly a very hot commodity. Who killed him? Was it for the play? What's the deal? Truth be told, I couldn't care less -- I just wanted to hang out with Carella, Meyer, and Kling and shake my head at Fat Ollie Weeks again. If you haven't read any of these, you are one lucky cookie -- you get to read them all for the first time!! So, get going!
  [MYSTERY]

  (3/16)Rules of the Lake by Irene Ziegler.
  

  Set of interrelated short stories about a 12 year old girl who lives on the banks of a lake with her father and sister (and mother, for the first couple of stories). Coming-of-age stories about wanting to be a mermaid or a girl scout or a grown-up. Very enjoyable and well-written; made me wish I could be twelve again myself.
  [FICTION]

  (3/14)All My Patients are Under the Bed: Memoirs of a Cat Doctor by Dr. Louis J. Camuti.
  

  Short and sweet book about the life of a veterinarian who specialized in cats and had a practice that predominantly involved making house calls. Cute anecdotes about scaredy-cats and also some pretty horrifying stories about seriously injured ones. Not great literature, but pretty enjoyable anyway.
  [NON-FICTION]

  (3/11)How to Raise a Well-Adjusted Cat -- Not a Sour Puss by Pam Johnson-Bennett.
  

  Excellent book about how to raise a healthy and happy kitty. I just got my first cat ever (6 months old) and was desperate for a good reference book on behavior, health, and other cat issues. But most of the books I found were all pictures, no substance. This book, which sounds like it's going to be about cat psychology, is actually an EXCELLENT resource. It has a chapter on just about everything you could think of, as well as extremely useful lists (like, of which houseplants are poisonous) and instructions (like, on how to do kitty CPR). The author has several cats herself, of various ages, and, as a result, is full of tried-and-true solutions for everyday problems (like, how to keep kitty off the kitchen counters!) I'm sure this book will be the equivalent to "Our Bodies, Our Selves" (a women's health reference I use all the time) for my cat. I'm extremely happy I stumbled across it! Highly recommended!
  [NON-FICTION]

  (3/8)The Honey Thief by Elizabeth Graver.
  

  When eleven-year-old Eva is picked up on her fourth shoplifting charge, her mother Miriam decides it's time to pack up all their stuff and move to the country. Eva is convinced her mother hates her and is trying to ruin her life, but at the same time is absolutely DESPERATE to be close to her. In their new place, Miriam immediately starts work, leaving Eva with an elderly babysitter who lets her just run off into the woods every day. It's in the woods that Eva meets Burl, a middle-aged beekeeper who takes her on as his apprentice. This is a wonderful novel that explores everything from coming-of-age to mother-daughter relationships to how keeping secrets in a family can tear everybody apart. Oh yeah, and it's about bees, too. Highly recommended!
  [FICTION]

  (3/2)Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen.
  

  Very funny novel (no big surprise) about an eco-terrorist and his victims: a nasty litterer, his wife Desie, and their poor, poor dog Boodle. When the eco-terrorist (Twilly) sees the litterer (Stoat) toss garbage out of the window of his car, he tracks him down to exact revenge. But instead of being a standard kind of revenge story, this one involves eyeballs, a human bulldozer, calamitous romance, and a lot of other really weird and delightful things. Like a rhinocerous. Look, there's really no explaining it to you -- just go read it. This is only my second Hiaasen novel (first was "Lucky You," which is also a lot of fun), but it's got me hooked on him. I'll be reading the rest within the next few months so keep checking back if you're a fan.