Book 30 – Northwest Angle – William Kent Krueger

So you know I love books that take mw to places I’ll never see or teach me things I didn’t know and Book 30 of 2011 Northwest Angle is one of them. Author William Kent Krueger set this book the 11th in the Cork O’Connor series in the area of Minnesota known as the Northwest Angle. This pennisula juts into the Lake of the Woods and is the farthest point north in the lower 48 states. You can not reach this piece of the United States by land without going through Canada! It can of course be reach by air or water, and by by water is how the O’Connor clan got there. As the novel begins Cork O’Connor has brought his family together daughters Jenny and Anne and son Stephen and his sister-in-law Rose and husband Mal to the Lake of the Woods on a houseboat for a restful family vacation. On the day Jenny’s boyfriend Aaron is set to arrive, Cork takes Jenny on a side trip to an island he once visited with his spiritual guide Henry Meloux. The island has pictographs of Ojibwe children on the cliffs of the island. But soon the day turns tragic as an unexpexted “Derecho” hits the area. A derecho is another thing that I didn’t know about. It is a powerful storm a bowed line of thunderstorms with wind speeds of a hurricane and causes massive destruction. A derecho hit the Northwest Angle area in July of 1999 you can read about it here. Soon Cork and Jenny are seperated and Jenny lands on an island and finds shelter after the storm she finds a cabin that has been mostly destroyed by the storm a young mother lies dead in the cabin a search of the cabin reveals Read More

Weekend: Running and Reading! Book 28 They’re Watching – Greg Hurwitz

So here is the me part of the weekend….. it started Sunday morning when I was going to go for a run. Opps! Forgot to put the running shoes in the clothes bag! I was a little frustrated but Kathy said go buy some shoes! So I headed over to Target and bought some cheap running shoes, figuring I could use the later for everyday and save running shoes for running! So on my way back I decided to check out the course that I had created through the residential neighborhood near our motel. Ah, the maps on Runners World are flat, but I forgot that we were in the rolling hills of Northern Viriginia not flat New Jersey! The course had some major climbs in it but I said let’s go for it! So I took off taking it slow. I forgot how hard it is to go up and then down several times in during a run. Anyway I modified the 4 mile run a little and it ended up being a 3.6 mile run instead completed in 35:57. But as I approached the end of the run I told myself that 3.6 miles with several hills is equal to at least 4.5 miles maybe 5!! Here’s the route. Check out the elevation part!! Read More

Book 26 – The Snowman – Jo Nesbo

Although I’ve visited Norway several times through the books of Karin Fossum, this is my first trip to follow the adventures of Inspector Harry Hole of the Oslo Police Department. Book 26 for 2011 is Jo Nesbo‘s The Snowman. While I’ve heard about Nesbo for sometime I never seem to see his books at book sales or at the library. So last week when I saw this one at the library I picked it up and was certainly glad I did! This is the 7th book in the Harry Hole series and at times I thought I missed a little but for the most part I thought that the book stood on its own. Read More

Book 25 – C.J. Box – Back of Beyond

Book 25 of 2011 is C.J.Box’s third stand alone thriller Back of Beyond. Released soon after the 11th Joe Pickett novel Cold Wind  (which I started a while back and didn’t finish before it was due back at the library) Back of Beyond was a fast and furious ride through the back country of Yellowstone Park. The novel’s main character is Cody Hoyt a divorced, alcoholic cop thrown off the Denver Police force and now stationed in Montana. When Coty finds his mentor from AA dead in his burned out cabin, Coty knows it’s not the accidental death it appears to be but murder! Soon clues link the murderer to an outfitter leading tourists on a spectacular multi-day wilderness horseback trip into the remote corners of Yellowstone National Park. Coty’s  son Justin is one of the tourist on the trip with his step-father to be! Among the tourists is fourteen-year-old Gracie Sullivan, an awkward but intelligent loner who begins to suspect that someone in their party is dangerous. After accidentally shooting the coroner at the crime scene, Coty is suspended from the force and soon takes off on a chase to stop the tour and rescue his son from the murderer! The action is fast and furious and the book was a real page turner with lots of twists and turns. Here’s what some folks are saying: Read More

Book 24 – Fallen – Karin Slaughter

So for seven years and six books, Karin Slaughter entertained her readers with her Grant County series, featuring Sara Linton and her husband Jeffrey Tolliver. Jeffrey was a cop and Sara a pediatrician and a medical examiner. In 2006, she started another series featuring a dyslexic Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agent Will Trent and his partner Faith Mitchell. In 2009 the two series merged (I’m not telling why) in Undone. Book 24 for the year is the 3rd book in this series Fallen This book had me from the first page and I zipped through the book looking forward to what was going to happen next. Read More

Back to Williamsburg and Book 23 – Stealing Faces

Barrett Hall

So the last couple of days have been hectic. Wednesday was a travel day down to Williamsburg, Va. to take my daughter back to college. Yesterday was spent lugging her stuff up three flights of stairs to her room. Fortunately, it was not quite as hot this year as last, but it was still hot! In addition to taking stuff from the car we also had to go and get the stuff she left in storage in the attic (the 5th floor) of a dorm a couple of dorms over from hers. That excursion included carrying the refrigerator and a large box down the stairs because they were working on the elevator! Then after we got her moved in it was time to go to Target and get the final stuff that she needed and then to The Home Depot for the rug  and the air conditioner!  But everything is moved in and her room looks great! Today was the trip home with a side trip to a cemetery in Baltimore to find some children of a distance cousin on my wife’s family tree. That trip was unsuccessful but I’m sure she took some good pictures! Read More

Book 22 – Darkness at the Edge of Town – J. Carson Black

So several weeks ago I was browsing the list of  Mystery and Thriller Books in the Amazon Kindle store and came across Book 1 in the Laura Cardinal series Darkness on the Edge of Town by J Carson Black.  The author and series were  new to me but the price was right 99 cents. So having money left from the  gift card Peter  gave me for Father’s Day,  I quickly made the purchase. What I found was a terrific read (Book 22 for 2011) and another series to follow (like I need another!) The series features Laura Cardinal a top investigator in the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) stationed in Tuscon. From Goodreads.com……… Read More