We just got back from our yearly trip west. This was a trip for me to read the light fun books that would not take up the space for an individual review. So here is a hint of what I did when the Black Jack tables were cold.
Usually I enjoy Dorothy Garlock books. Her "historical fiction" genre takes place during the Great Depression and the Second World War. Granted, that is not that far back in time for some of us. Her STAY A LITTLE LONGER was not as good as I expected.
Rachel Watkins has been taking care of a failing boardinghouse, a mother who refuses to leave her bedroom, an uncle who stays drunk most of the time, and her dead sister’s young daughter. When her supposedly dead brother-in-law returns from the war, she is dealing with all of the above, plus someone who is willing to kill to get the property that the boardinghouse occupies.
The story was good enough and the characters were likable, but the author really strained my sense of logic with some of the plot twists.
Sharon Sala has never been a disappointment to me. Her books always have believable characters and more than enough suspense to keep the reader turning pages. Her trilogy STORM FRONT is very good.
The three stories take place in the small town during and after a twister causes damage not only to the town, but to the comfortable life style of the people. Torn Apart revolves around a little boy and the sexual predator who has been watching him. The storm provides the opportunity for the abduction of the child. Blown Away is writer Cari North’s story. Just before the twister hits. Cari stumbles across her ex-fiancé digging a grave out in the Louisiana woods. Rushing home, she finds that her family, including a “look-alike” cousin, has been destroyed by the storm. Exchanging identities with the dead cousin gives Cari a chance to find proof of the murder. The third book, Swept Away tells of four prisoners, one of them an important undercover agent, who escape when the side of the local prison is blown away by the storm. What makes these three books so interesting is how each plot is woven through all three books--but not enough to ruin any one of them.
Finally, Margaret Coel's latest, THE LOST BIRD, has Arapaho attorney, Vicky Holden, and Father John O’Malley searching for the truth about all of the babies that were born on the reservation and supposedly died at birth. Now thirty years later, questions arise when the old priest who has been sent to be Father John’s assistant is murdered. This is one of my favorite series. Coel writes well and is definitely a voice for the modern Native American as he struggles to keep his people’s traditions alive.
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