May's Books

Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
Murder in the Ball Park by Robert Goldsborough
Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell

April's Books

In Kim Foster's "A Beautiful Heist," Cat Montgomery is a thief—a jewel thief who steals on assignment for an agency. Even though she loves her job, she’s conflicted because she believes she caused the death of her sister. When Cat is approached to steal a missing Faberge egg, she accepts the assignment.  more to return the egg to its rightful owners than for the money. I enjoyed this book because not only was Cat an interesting and highly skilled thief (and I love a good heist), but other major characters were also strong women. This has “Soon to made into a major motion picture” written all over it.

Sendoff for a Snitch by KM Rockwood
A Beautiful Heist by Kim Foster
Task Force Bride by Julie Miller
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn
The Woman who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde
The Day the Music Died by Ed Gorman

Searching for the Queen

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn

Queen Elizabeth II is feeling her age and remembers a time when the weight of the world wasn’t as burdensome—holidays on the former royal yacht, now moored in Edinburgh. By a chain of unlikely events, she finds herself on a train to Scotland to visit the yacht and her staff has discovered she’s missing. But Rajiv Laroia, an unpublished poet clerking  at the local cheese shop around the corner from Buckingham Palace recognizes her, and follows her on to the train.

When The Queen is discovered missing, members of the staff join forces to discover her whereabouts and return her to the palace. The Queen’s senior dresser, Shirley MacDonald, is nearing retirement with some trepidation, and wonders where she will live when pensioned off. William de Morgan, formerly Bill Morgan of a rough industrial city, loves everything royal, and takes his position as butler seriously. Lady Anne Bevil, a lady-in-waiting, widowed and estranged from her only child, is impoverished nobility, her share of the family fortune lost by her late husband. Major Luke Thomason, an equerry, is one of the younger members of the staff, and still new to his position. Stable worker Becky, who prefers animals to people, is the last person to have seen The Queen

.

A charming, funny story—a first novel from an author well-known for his nonfiction. If you enjoy fiction about royals, try “Di and I,” by Peter Lefcourt. Written before her death, the story tells how Di falls for an American tabloid reporter and escapes with the boys to California, where she begins a happy life as a McDonald’s franchisee. If only.

The Books of March

Driving Mr. Albert: a trip across America with Einstein’s brain by Michael Paterniti

When pathologist Thomas Harvey performed the autopsy on Albert Einstein in 1955, he removed the brain and took it home. He same some pieces of the brain away to other scientists and kept the rest in a Tupperware container in his garage. Dr. Harvey eventually left Princeton, lost his medical license, and ending up working in a plastics factory in Kansas. The author tracks down Harvey, and plans a drive across the country to deliver the brain to Einstein’s granddaughter Evelyn in San Francisco. Along the way they stop at cheap motels, pancake houses, the home of William S, Burroughs, and visit Harvey’s ex-wife.

 


Broken Places by Sandra Parshall
Breeding Ground by Sally Wright
Death of a Policeman by M.C. Beaton
Driving Mr. Albert: a trip across America with Einstein's brain by Michael Paterniti
Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler
The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
A Groom for Gwen by Jeanne Allan
Murder She Wrote: Dying to Retire by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain

Driving Mr. Albert

Driving Mr. Albert: a trip across America with Einstein’s brain by Michael Paterniti

When pathologist Thomas Harvey performed the autopsy on Albert Einstein in 1955, he removed the brain and took it home. He same some pieces of the brain away to other scientists and kept the rest in a Tupperware container in his garage. Dr. Harvey eventually left Princeton, lost his medical license, and ending up working in a plastics factory in Kansas. The author tracks down Harvey, and plans a drive across the country to deliver the brain to Einstein’s granddaughter Evelyn in San Francisco. Along the way they stop at cheap motels, pancake houses, the home of William S, Burroughs, and visit Harvey’s ex-wife.

February's Books

An ancient Cohen the Barbarian embarks on a quest to meet the gods of Discworld in The Last Hero: a Discworld Fable. Wonderfully illustrated by Paul Kidby.

Killing Time by Cindy Gerard
NYPD Puzzle by Parnell Hall
The Missing Dough by Chris Cavender
The Rosie Peoject by Graeme Simsion
Sucker's Portfolio by Kurt Vonnegut
Einstein by Walter Isaacson
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
Crashed by Timothy Hallinan
Little Elvises by Timothy Hallinan
Invisible Code by Christopher Fowler
Murder at the P and Z by Dorothy Hayes
Garment of Shadows by Laurie King
Bryant and May off the Rails by Christopher Fowler
Ronnie by Ronnie Wood
The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett
Designer Dirty Laundry by Diane Vallere
Love Valentine Style by Various Authors
Three Seconds to Thunder by Linda Rigsbee
September Fair by Jess Lourey
The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett