102:120 Murder, She Meowed by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown

It's the day of the annual steeplechase and Mary 'Harry' Haristeen is enjoying helping down at the track with her dog, Tucker. It's a day that the entire town looks forward to and the races this day are good, except for an altercation between two of the jockeys during one race where Linda whips at Nigel and he retaliates.  Harry dutifully reports it but no one thinks anything further about it, until Nigel is found dead later that night, stabbed through the heart with the Queen of Clubs stuck to him.  Unfortunately, within a few days he is joined by another jockey, this time with the Queen of Spades pinned to him. Now Harry's cat, Mrs. Murphy, puts her nose to the case but even once they find several clues, it's so hard to get the dang humans to pay attention to them.  Can the animals point them in the right direction before it's too late to save another one?

This is the 5th book in the series but the first one I read because this is the one my friend loaned me and my 11yr old is really getting into mysteries so I'm checking things out for him. Even though I hadn't read the previous books, I didn't feel like I was really missing anything in terms of backstory or understanding the characters relationships.  This was cute, if fairly predictable but I doubt I'll read any more. I've read enough of this type to know that they tend to be pretty formulaic and get tedious after a while and there are just too many other more interesting books out there to read.


Page count: 302p/18,980p ytd/290,383p lifetime

91:120 Visions by Kelley Armstrong

The 2nd book in the Cainsville series.  Olivia was hoping that now that there has been a break-through in her parents' case that they might get a bit of a lull in things but when Gabriel drops her off at her old house to pick up her stuff and her car, she gets her illusions shattered by the dead body left in her car wearing her clothes.  Now they have to figure out who the person in the car was, and when DNA comes back that it's not who it appears, the mysteries just keep deepening.  Olivia is becoming more and more aware that things are not quite what they appear in Cainsville but now the Omens have been coming stronger leading her places not quite of this world.  On top of that, the different sides are starting to make their presence known to her, demanding that she take a side and then all the answers will be there for her.  Olivia is not willing to make that decision yet since no side is willing to tell her anything until she agrees to more than she thinks wise but those that are trying to control her will stop at nothing including murder and manipulation of people in her life including her ex-fiance, James.

Sh*t just got real in this one and it's only the second book.  I could not put it down and now I'm chomping at the bit waiting for the next one which apparently doesn't come out for another year.  What the heck!??!  I want to know what the heck is going on NOW!!!!!

Page count: 448p/24,574p ytd/205,612p lifetime

87:120 Omens by Kelley Armstrong

Olivia Taylor-Jones thought the biggest obstacles in her life were her fiances future political aspirations. Sure she had been groomed her whole life with that as a possibility since her father owned an incredibly successful department store but in one night, her life is turned upside down when it is leaked that she is not the daughter of the Taylor-Jones but really Eden Larsen, the daughter of some of the most infamous serial killers who are currently sitting behind bars.  Now she has walked away from her previous life and is trying to figure out where she fits in now as she also gets sucked into investigating her birth-mother's story that they were framed.  Her search leads her to the town of Cainsville where strange things are afoot but what, she can't say.  She is realizing that she is becoming obsessed with omens and portents and more than that, they really seem to be foreshadowing events in her near future.  Now with the help of some new friends, she is starting to uncover the truth but down that path lies more secrets than she can imagine.

I loved Ms. Armstrong's Otherworld series but was hesitant to pick this up but my book dealer pushed it at me telling me how fabulous it was and how he thought I would enjoy it so I grabbed it and then decided with the second book having just come out to just go ahead and read it to see if I wanted the second one.  I was not disappointed and this book totally sucked me despite that it's much more of a mystery than I usually go in for.

Page count: 486p/22,898p ytd/203,936p lifetime