Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Published: 2009, Audiobook

Source: Library

Review: 2.5/5 stars

I've read a lot of Mary Higgins Clark and there was a time when I would have said that she was one of my favorite authors. I don't know if she doesn't have "it" quite like she used to or if I'm the one who doesn't "get it" anymore. Just Take My Heart is Clark's latest bestseller in which a much loved star of the stage is murdered and her husband is blamed. Emily Wallace is the Assistant DA whose job it is to get a conviction. This is more of a courtroom drama than the usual Mary Higgins Clark fare so I'll give her credit for branching out but it just wasn't that compelling. The audiobook kept my attention and I was interested in the story but it fell a little flat. The ending was pretty predictable and even cheesy. If you want to read any of Clark's books I would try some of her earlier works. I remember them as being smart, suspenseful, and unpredictable. This one doesn't quite measure up.

Rating: 1.2.2

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Genre: Mystery

Published: 1939, 173 pgs.

Review: 4.5/5

This was our book club's choice for October. In the past we've chosen books like Frankenstein and Rebecca for their spookiness value. And Then There Were None is pretty creepy too. The story unfolds as 10 very different individuals are brought together on an island. It's a little like the movie Clue but without the comedy aspect. We did something really fun for this meeting. We told everyone to read up through the epilogue but not to read the very last section, a letter to Scotland Yard. By doing this we could read the whole story but not find out "who dun it". Then at book club we read the last ten pages that tell what really happened. The idea was really fun but in actuality almost everyone, for some reason or other, had found out who the murderer was. Even though it didn't work out perfectly, I think it was a great idea.

The book club discussion was definitely not as uplifting as our meetings usually are. We talked about crazy people and murder and how a person can get to the point of committing pre-meditated murder.

If you like mysteries I really recommend Agatha Christie--unpredictable, sometimes humorous, and always clean.

Rating 1.2.1 Includes violence but not graphic.

My Agatha Christie Kick

Last fall I listened to my very first Agathie Christie book, And Then There Were None. Since then I have listened to another half a dozen mysteries by Christie and I look forward to more. Here they are:

Little did I know when I picked up this book on cd from the library that I was being introduced to Agatha Christie by what is considered one of her very best books. I don't know if that is good or bad. It's good because it made me want to read more but it's also bad because nothing since then has quite measured up. I loved And Then There Were None. What an amazing plot! Such a fun mystery and it kept me guessing until the very end. It was a little hard to listen to as are all of Agatha Christie's books because there are so many characters but I was able to sort them out pretty quickly. I would recommend reading this one rather than listening to it but I still loved it as an audiobook.

Review: 5/5 stars

These next books aren't actually books. These are the BBC radio dramatizations of the books, Murder at the Vicarage, 4:50 from Paddington, and Evil Under the Sun. They were each only about 2-3 hours in length and were full cast productions. They gave me an idea what it would have been like before TV, and the family gathered around the radio to listen to a show. I quite enjoyed them. I don't know how much of the books was taken out to shorten it down so much, but it felt like all the necessary information was presented fully and well. Vicarage and Paddington are both Miss Marple mysteries and Evil is a Hercule Poirot mystery. Miss Marple makes her very first appearance in Murder at the Vicarage so it could be a good place to start if you are interested in Miss Marple mysteries. At first I preferred the Hercule Poirot books but Miss Marple is growing on me.

Review: 3.5/5 stars

Nemesis was my first Miss Marple mystery and it was an interesting one. An old acquaintance of Miss Marple's asks her to do her amatuer sluething but doesn't tell her who was murdered or any of the circumstances of the case. He puts her into a situation and then she, in her odd ways, digs up a mystery and, of course, solves it. (That's not giving too much away, is it? :) ) Review: 4/5

The Mysterious Mr. Quin is a collection of twelve short mysteries. While each mystery is a separate story there are two characters that have a part in the solving of each mystery. Each story adds to the overall effect of the final conclusion. I enjoyed this one but started getting bored towards the end. I think there were just a few too many stories. Review: 3/5

The final Agatha Christie novel I listened to was The Secret Adversary. It was different from the others because it was more of an espionage story rather than a murder mystery. I liked it in the end but I like the murder mysteries better.

Review: 3.5/5

These books are all wonderfully clean and fun books to read. I'd recommend them to anyone who likes mysteries and also for those who like to read about England and its people and society.

Review Catch Up

There are still books that I read in 2008 that I haven't reviewed yet so I'm going to have to play catch-up with one long list of reviews. I prefer to post one review at a time but desperate times call for desperate measures. :)

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie was my second mystery by this legendary author. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first one I read but it was still pretty good. I do like mysteries. Sometimes I try to guess "who dunit" and sometimes I just enjoy the story. So far with Agatha Christie's novels, she has kept me guessing til almost the end. That's fun for me.

Audiobook

4/5 stars

I found The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck to be a very sad book. I'm glad I read it but it was not a happy book. It made me think a lot about money, pride, greed, women's rights, love and family. I think this would make a good book club selection.

Audiobook

Rating: 2.3.1

4/5 stars

Hallelujah by J. Scott Featherstone was our book club's selection for December. It probably wasn't the best choice for that month because it is a chunkster and only a few of us were able to finish it. We were not very impressed by the overall writing of this book. It's a little too sentimental and fluffy in parts as well as being repetitive but I did still like it quite a bit. Despite it's problems, I really liked learning about Handel and especially about The Messiah oratorio.

Rating: 1.1.1

4/5 stars

I listened to this audiobook while traveling. French Women Don't Get Fat is a book I'd heard quite a bit about a couple of years ago. I thought it would be interesting and it was. If you are the kind to be easily offended about the stereotype that most Americans are fat, then this book is not for you. When I listened to it I felt inspired to try to look at food in a different way. The author has some great ideas and I can see how they could be effective in weight management. They don't really work for me but that's not saying a lot.

Audiobook

3/5 stars

Our book club read How Angel Peterson Got His Name together with Hatchet by the same author, Gary Paulsen. In Angel, Paulsen tells several stories of his growing up in a small mid-western town where he and his buddies pulled some really crazy stunts. This is the kind of book that pre-teen and teenage boys love but makes their parents worry. All I can say is that Gary Paulsen is lucky to still be alive today. It was interesting to read these books together to get an insight into the author's life.

3/5 stars

Written in Blood by Sheila Lowe

Rating: 4.3.5
Category: Mystery, crime
Published: 2008

Review: 3/5 stars

Claudia Rose is a handwriting analyst that gets herself caught up in a murder mystery. She testifies that a man's signature on his will is not forged and as a result of her testimony, his much younger wife inherits most of his vast fortune. There's a murder and Claudia sticks her nose in too deep for her own good. It's actually a pretty good story and plot. The handwriting analysis stuff is interesting even if I don't completely buy into it. My problem was with the language. Do regular, everyday people really use the f-word all the time? I'm so glad I'm not around that kind of language because it's so unnecessary. It's too bad for this book, because I liked the characters, I just didn't like the way they talked.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Rating: 3.2.2

Recommended audience: Adult

Category: Mystery, Gothic

Loved this book! It's beautifully written, has an engrossing story and is a little twisted but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It starts out in modern day England but has a story woven into it beginning about 100 years ago. It reminded me of classic gothic novels like Jane Eyre or a Dickens book. It's a little creepy, a ghost story really, and has many interesting (and in some cases, very strange) characters that you feel like you come to know. There is some sex but it is mostly just implied and not described. The two main characters, Margaret Lea and Vida Winter, are both book lovers and books are often discussed and have a part in the story, another thing I loved about it. If you like Jane Eyre, I definitely recommend this book. If you think Jane Eyre is boring then you probably wouldn't like this either. Sit down with a cup of hot cocoa and enjoy.

The Cat Who.... mysteries by Lilian Jackson Braun

Rating: 2.2.2

Recommended audience: Adult

Category: Mystery

Now I have to admit, these books are fluffy, but I just like them. When I'm in the mood for an easy read or a mystery that won't leave a sick feeling in my stomach (Mary Higgins Clark does that to me sometimes), I turn to books like these. I've read many of these "Cat who" books and some are a little better than others but I like most of them. I'm not even a cat lover but the two cats are pretty interesting and their owner Jim Qwilleran is very interesting. The characters are so quirky and fun and I love to quess "who done it." There are a lot of recurring characters so its fun to start at the beginning and just see how you like it. I've listened to a few on CD's and they're probably even better than the books. They're not the kind of books I would go out and buy but I can guarantee any decent sized library would have them all.

The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas

Rating: 2.3.4 (The 4 is for one F-word. Otherwise, not much profanity.)
Recommended audience: Adult
4 stars
Category: Historical fiction, mystery

Set during the Depression in Kansas, this is the story of a motley group of women who are part of a quilting club. I really enjoyed this book. I was disappointed by the one F-bomb (as my good friend, Julie, calls them) because I had been excited to recommend this book to my mother-in-law. If you can handle that one spot which also includes some violence, I still recommend this book. It is such a great story of friendship and loyalty and takes you back to a much simpler time compared to the fast paced world of today. It made me want to learn how to quilt. Fun book.