Twas the Bite Before Christmas by Lee Charles Kelley

Ex-cop Jack Field now trains dogs in Maine and is engaged to medical examiner Dr. Jamie Cutter.  When a maid is found murdered in a house owned by a wealthy, mysterious couple, suspects abound.  Local police are inclined to call it an accident, but Jack is suspicious.  The couple is uncooperative, they have a chauffeur whose eastern European accent comes and goes, and a houseguest who appears without warning and claims to speak to the dead.  The plot is overly complicated, and several subplots could have been eliminated.  The characters are interesting, though, and carry the story when the plot bogs down.

Miss Julia Paints the Town by Ann B. Ross

Miss Julia hears that the historic Abbottsville courthouse is to be torn down to make way for condominiums. 

Helen Stroud’s husband seems to have disappeared with a good deal of money that was given to him for investing.  Miss Julia enlists the aid of her friends to dissuade the developer from tearing down the courthouse.  This is the ninth book in the humorous mystery series, full of southern charm and colorful local characters.

Index to Murder by Jo Dereske

Helma Zukas, reference librarian at Bellehaven Public Library, comes to the aid of her friend Ruth Winthrop, when two of Ruth’s paintings are stolen.  Is the thief one of Ruth’s former lovers depicted in the paintings?  The always-organized Miss Zukas investigates.  Fans of humorous mysteries, like those of Carolyn Hart and Mary Daheim, should check out this series.

Cry rape: the true story of one woman’s harrowing quest for justice by Bill Lueders

         

   Patty was a legally blind single mother, sharing an apartment with her adult daughter, when an intruder held a knife to her neck and raped her.  She reported the rape to the Madison police, but was bullied into recanting her story, and was subsequently charged with obstruction of justice for filing a false report.  Lueders is a journalist who followed Patty’s case through the courts.  It is a shocking, painful book to read, showing how in some cases the justice system abuses the very victims that should be helped.

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen

There are a couple of things you can count on in a Carl Hiaasen book. One is that the bad guys will be despoiling the environment in some way. Another is that there will be a deranged animal running amok. And finally, that the result will be a wickedly funny book. In “Bad Monkey,” Andrew Yancy has been asked to leave both the Miami-Dade Police and the Monroe County Sheriff's office, and has been hidden away doing restaurant inspections. His predecessor died of Hepatitis and Yancy, who can't stomach another filthy kitchen, has dropped eleven pounds in three weeks.
Then he comes into possession of a human arm, hooked by tourists on a charter fishing boat. The sheriff, who has political ambitions, wants the arm out of his jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, a developer is putting up a huge house right next door to Yancy, and has driven away the tiny Key deer and spoiled Yancy's view. A fun story, where the good guys prevail and the bad guys get what's coming to them.

June's Books

“Guy Fieri Food” is a big, bold , colorful volume, much like the author himself. Fieri writes about his lifelong love of food and tells stories about his family and friends. He started with a pretzel cart when he was a child, opened a restaurant “Johnny Garlic” and became a fixture on television food shows. Many of the recipes feature frilled meats, bacon, and hot peppers. There’s bacon-wrapped shrimp with chipotle BBQ sauce, banana pepper sauerkraut, and penne with Cajun hot links and chipotle shrimp.

Not all the recipes are so over-the-top. There are also some with interesting flavors, but lighter on the heat and the meat. Like pepper jack pretzels, coffee bananas foster, and watermelon pork tacos.

Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland by Ace Atkins

Murder at the Castle by Jeanne Dams

Time Flies by Claire Cook

Guy Fieri Food by Guy Fieri

The Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen

Trouble in the Town Hall by Jeanne Dams

A Tine to Live, a Tine to Die by Edith Maxwell

In High Places with Henry David Thoreau by John Gibson