Book ~ "Strange Brew" (1998) Mary Kay Andrews (Kathy Hogan Trocheck)

From Goodreads ~ The winds of change are blowing, bringing gentrification to Callahan Garrity's funky Atlanta neighborhood. Though it probably won't harm her House Mouse housecleaning service, not everyone welcomes the rebirth. And when the body of a murdered microbrewer is discovered in the aftermath of a furious Halloween gale, suspicion falls on the aging "flower child" shopkeeper whom the victim put out of business.

A former cop, Callahan isn't as quick to condemn a colorful local character as some law officers still on the force. But her investigative zeal is stirring up secrets that are forcing her to reassess old friendships and a one-time love - and is brewing up more lethal trouble than Callahan and her "mice" can safely swallow. 

Callahan used to be a police officer and changed careers when she bought House Mouse, a cleaning service that she runs with her mother, Edna ... but she still does private investigating on the side.

The neighbourhood where Callahan and Edna live is cleaning itself up ... trendy and cool businesses are pushing out the struggling businesses that have been there a lot time.  One of them is Wuvvy's shop where she sells posters, teeshirts, etc.  Wuvvy is a the local free spirit who drinks, smokes weeds and sleeps with everyone.  There is a brewpub moving into Wuvvy's shop and she doesn't like it one bit and she's not quiet about it.  When the owner of the soon-to-come brewpub is found murdered, Wuvvy is the suspect, especially since she has disappeared.  Callahan's not convince that Wuvvy did it so starts to investigate.

While this is happening, a storm brings destruction to Atlanta and there is a lot of damage, including to Callahan and Edna's house.  But this brings extra business to House Mouse, which is good because they need the extra money to repair their house and van that damaged in the storm.

The writing was okay.  It is written in first person perspective in Callahan's voice.  Because it was originally written in the mid 1990s and is set in the mid 1990s (just after the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta) they are still using pay phones, answering machines, cheques, etc. Some of the terms used are now cringe-worthy such as the "N-word" and "coloured" which makes the book seem racist.  Edna was nastier than usual in this book ... she was fed up with the "winos", "bums", etc. in her neighbourbood so she forms a neighbourhood watch.  I found the craft beer angle in this one interesting.  As a head's up, there is swearing and violence.

This is the sixth in the Callahan Garrity Mystery Series.  Though part of a series, it works as a stand alone as there is enough background provided. It's not a great series but I only have a couple more to go so I've kept going.  This book was better than the last two.

Book ~ "Brain Droppings" (1998) George Carlin

From Goodreads ~ George Carlin's been working the crowd since "the counterculture" became "the over-the-counter culture" around 1967 or so; his new book, "Brain Droppings", surfs on three decades of touring-in-support. 

It's the purest version of book-as-candy that one could imagine, serving up humor in convenient, bite-sized packages. Snack on chewy one-liners like "A meltdown sounds like fun. Like some kind of cheese sandwich." Or: "If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten." 

"Brain Droppings" also contains highlights from Carlin's concert repertoire and that more than makes up for the occasional spray of pointless nihilism. Tell us, George, what exactly were you going for with "Kill your pet" and "Satan is cool"? 

Quick - hide the paper before Daddy sees it! Still, if you're a fan of this sarcastic semanticist who's given Bad Attitude not necessarily a good name, but at least a comfy bank account, by all means rush out and snag Brain Droppings. Carlin's book melts in your mind, not in your hand. 

George Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, actor, author and social critic.  He passed away in 2008 at the age of 71.  He was noted for his black comedy and reflections on politics, the English language, psychology, religion and various taboo subjects including his "seven dirty words".

Though Carlin wasn't for everyone, I find/found him amusing.  This book includes his rants about food terms, names, book club titles, a place for your stuff, the difference between baseball and football, his childhood and more. 

I was in the mood for something light and fun and this fit the bill.  As a head's up, there is a lot of swearing.

Book ~ "N is for Noose" (1998) Sue Grafton

From Goodreads ~ Kinsey Millhone should have done something else - she should have turned the car in the direction of home. Instead, she was about to put herself in the gravest jeopardy of her career. 

Tom Newquist had been a detective in the Nota Lake sheriff's office - a tough, honest cop respected by everyone. When he died suddenly, the townsfolk were saddened but not surprised.  Just shy of sixty-five, Newquist worked too hard, smoked too much and exercised too little. That plus an appetite for junk food made him a poster boy for an American Heart Association campaign. 

Newquist's widow didn't doubt the coroner's report. But what Selma couldn't accept was not knowing what had so bothered Tom in the last six weeks of his life. What was it that had made him prowl restlessly at night, that had him brooding constantly? Selma Newquist wanted closure and the only way she'd get it was if she found out what it was that had so bedeviled her husband. 

Kinsey should have dumped the case. It was vague and hopeless, like looking for a needle in a haystack. Instead, she set up shop in Nota Lake, where she found that looking for a needle in a haystack can draw blood. Very likely, her own..

It's the late 1980s and Kinsey Millhone is a private detective in Santa Teresa, CA, in her mid-thirties.  She has been taking care of her boyfriend, Dietz, who just had knee surgery.  On her way home, she takes on one of his cases.  Selma's husband, Tom, was a sheriff's officer who had died of a heart attack a few weeks before.  There was something that was bothering him at the time of his death and Selma wants Kinsey to find out what it was.

As she investigates, Kinsey follows up on the last case that Tom was working on ... the case of a petty criminal, Alfie Toth, whom he had traced to a hotel in Santa Teresa before Toth died in what might have been a murder or a bizarre suicide.  Five years ago, a prison associate of Toth's had passed away in the same way.  There's no way this could be a coincidence.

I found this story boring and dull and I was happy when it was over.  The "whodunnit" and the why come out of the blue at the end.  It's written in first person perspective in Kinsey's voice.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

This is the fourteenth in the "alphabet series" featuring Kinsey Millhone.  Though it is part of a series, it works as a stand alone.  I discovered this series in the mid-1990s and have read them all.  I started rereading them last year.  With the author's recent death, Y is for Yesterday will be the end of the series.

Book ~ "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" (1998) Mary Jane Clark

From Goodreads ~ Secrets can really kill your career. 

Beautiful New York TV anchorwoman Eliza Blake has a past to hide. Her popular co-anchor has a scandal he'd die to keep secret. The next President's pretty wife wants desperately to avoid indecent exposure. A parish priest knows a terrible truth. And a killer has a secret agenda that reaches from New York City's streets to the White House - it includes the time and place where Eliza Blake will have to die.

When popular news anchor, Bill, commits suicide, everyone is shocked.  As the book progress, we learn more about Bill and what drove him to kill himself.

There were a lot of characters in this book and you're not sure who to trust or who has something to hide or who is a murderer.  Eliza is the young widowed mother of a four-year-old daughter.  She works as an anchor at the KEY New and is thankful to have an elderly nanny.  She has a secret from her past that has been recently revealed in a scandal magazine (I didn't think it was that big of deal).  There is a charismatic front-running presidential candidate, his wife and his campaign manager who are all hiding secrets.  Bill and Eliza see the same psychiatrist.  There is a judge who has been making $5,000/month payments to Bill.  There is a homeless man who goes around stealing doorknockers.  Range is Bill's best friend and works at KEY News.  Yelena is the president of the network who is sleeping with Pete, Bill's replacement, and helping him get ahead but he's only using her.  There is the priest who Bill got close to a couple months before his death.  Louise is Bill's ex-wife, who is mourning like a widow even though they had split up years ago.

It is written in third person perspective with the focus on various characters.  I thought the writing style and pacing were okay.  I like the structure ... some of the chapters were longer and some were short.  We find out in the end who the murderer is and I thought who it was was absurd.  It was kind of a letdown to get to the end and find out "who dunnit".

This is the first in the KEY News series (there are currently 12 in the series) and the first one I've read.  I like getting into series and have read and liked other books by this author (the Piper Donovan series) so thought I'd check it out.  I thought this book was just okay and perhaps will read more in the series sometime.

Book ~ "John Wayne: My Father" (1998) Aissa Wayne

From Goodreads ~ In "John Wayne: My Father", Aissa Wayne delves into her father's childhood, his film career, and his life off the screen. The result is an affecting portrait that offers a new perspective on one of America's most enduring hero's humanity.

I wasn't a fan of John Wayne's (1907 - 79) but I wasn't not a fan.  I like reading memoirs/bio and I thought this would be an interesting one.

It's written by his oldest daughter of his third marriage (the fifth oldest of his seven children).  She tells us of his childhood.  Born Marion Morrison and teased about his feminine name as a child, his parents didn't get along and eventually split up.  His mother paid more attention his younger brother, Robert, and the author feels this is why as an adult he always needed constant assurance of everyone's love for him.  She also tells of his experiences making movies, his friends, his wives, his relationship with his kids and dealing with cancer.

Though it was interesting, I found that it was more about the author, though, than it was about John Wayne.  Because her parent were concerned about her getting kidnapped, she led a sheltered life.  As a child, she had elephants at her birthday parties, got to wear diamond for magazine photospreads and traveled the world with her parents.  She was born when her father was about fifty so he wasn't as hip and happening as her friends' dads.  The book seemed to focus more on her reactions to having John Wayne as her dad rather than him.

The book could have been tighter ... she went into a lot of detail at times and it was all about her.  But all in all, it was an interesting rea.

If you watch Amazing Race, the author is the mother of Jennifer Wayne who was on seasons 22 and 24.

Book ~ "Titanic: The Canadian Story" (1998) Alan Hustak

From Amazon ~ This is the untold saga of the 130 Canadian passengers aboard the ill-fated luxury liner bound for Canada, the Titanic. Drawn from interviews across Canada with direct descendants and relatives of Canadians who sailed on the Titanic's maiden voyage, this book unearths historic photographs and stories that contribute another dimension to the familiar tale. Chronicled are the poignant takes of passengers like Quigg Baxter, the young Montreal hockey player who risked all to smuggle his Belgian fiancee aboard; the Fortune family from Winnipeg, who failed to heed a clairvoyant's warning; and Harry Markland Molson, the richest Canadian aboard, who was persuaded by Toronto millionaire Arthur Peuchen to extend his stay in England and sail home with him on the Titanic. The scandalous behavior of passenger Joseph Fynney is disclosed, as is the story of the young honeymooners Bert and Vera Dick of Calgary, who started an enduring legend about the disaster. Some books insist the Titanic's last victim, found in a lifeboat a month after the disaster, was from New Jersey; others say he was from Chicago. In fact he was Thomson Beattie of Winnipeg. These stories and others have been overlooked or ignored by American and British historians and enthusiasts who have written about the Titanic.

With it being the 100th anniversary, there has been lots of attention this year to the sinking of the Titanic.

This is an interesting book because it tells the stories of the 130 Canadians who were on board.  There isn't a lot of detail about them, just enough so you know who they were and why they were on the Titanic.

The book starts with the building and launch of the Titanic, then tells us who the Canadians on board were, what happened when the Titanic hit the iceberg and started sinking, and what happened to the bodies when they were brought to Halifax.

It is a high level coverage of the story with just the right amount of detail for me.

Book ~ "Liar" (1998) Jan Burke

From Goodreads ~ Irene is numb with shock upon learning that her estranged aunt has been the victim in a brutal killing. But Irene's keen investigative senses immediately awaken when she discovers that she's the #1 suspect of foul play. With the police nipping fast at her heels, Irene searches for her aunt's missing son as she attempts to dig the dirt on her own family members, both past and present. This time it's personal--Irene has to solve the crime to clear her name and catch a killer who's still on the prowl.

This is the sixth book in the series of eleven (as of 2011) ... I'm rereading the series.

Irene's great aunt, Mary, informs Irene that her aunt Briana (Irene's mother's sister) has died ... she was run over by a car. As Briana's sole beneficiary, Irene becomes the number one suspect of the murder, even though she hadn't see Briana in over twenty years. This sets Irene and her friend, Rachel (a former cop, now a private investigator) on the trail to find Briana's son, Travis, which they do.

Travis' father, Arthur, recently died. He had brought scandal to the family years ago when it was discovered that he was married to two women ... to Briana but first to Gwendolyn, who was rich. This all came out when Gwendolyn was murdered about twenty years ago and, though the case was never solved, many assumed Arthur had done it.

So not only is Irene out to solve Briana's murder, she also must solve Gwendolyn's murder since they are probably linked.

I enjoyed this book. It moved along at a good pace and I liked the characters. One of the focuses was on Irene and Travis getting to know each other as long-lost cousins, separated because of a misunderstanding.

Book ~ "Replay" - Ken Grimwood (1988)

From Goodreads ~ Jeff Winston was 43 and trapped in a tepid marriage and a dead-end job, waiting for that time when he could be truly happy, when he died. 

And when he woke and he was 18 again, with all his memories of the next 25 years intact. He could live his life again, avoiding the mistakes, making money from his knowledge of the future, seeking happiness. 

Until he dies at 43 and wakes up back in college again...

Awesome book! This is the second time I've read it in two years.