Miss Dimple Disappears by Mignon F. Ballard

Everyone’s favorite first grade teacher Dimple Kilpatrick vanishes while out for a morning walk.  The entire town of Elderberry, Georgia gets involved in the search for her.  Ten year-old Willie Elrod is sure that Nazi spies have kidnapped her.  Her colleagues Charlie and Annie think that Willie has a vivid imagination – but it is 1942 and Miss Dimple is missing, so they track down clues as well.  This is a charming story filled with mystery, romance, and a real feel for life on the home front during World War II.  I am looking forward to reading the next title in the series.

Murder on the Bride’s Side by Tracy Kiely

A southern mansion, an insecure heroine who loves Jane Austen, a nasty stepmother, and murder on the day of the wedding – it all adds up to an entertaining mystery.  Kiely writes with humor, creates likeable characters, and surprised me with the denouement.  Highly recommended.

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,700 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Weeds: In Defense of Nature’s Most Unloved Plants by Richard Mabey

I loved the author’s voice in this fascinating and humorous nonfiction book.  His premise is that weeds are the answer to our planet’s survival.  A weed is any plant (wild flowers included) that is growing where it isn’t wanted.  ~Ann

Dolphin Diaries by Denise L. Herzing

Did you know that dolphins discipline their young?  Each dolphin has unique vocalizations.  Twenty-five years ago, Dr. Herzing wanted to communicate with another species or alien culture so after graduate school she began her quest by studying the spotted dolphins in the Bahamas.  If you love animals and the sea, this true tale (ha, ha) will captivate you.~Ann

Gingerbread Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine, and Leslie Meier

The title should really be Gingerbread Cookie Murders since the book includes 3 novelettes all involving murder and gingerbread cookies.  The Leslie Meier story is more serious than the other two, but they are all good holiday reads for cozy mystery fans. Laura Levine’s Jaine Austen story is the best of the bunch.  Her parents are such a hoot that I want to move to Tampa Vistas so that I can hang out with them.

A Friend Like Henry by Nuala Gardner

Scottish parents Nuala and Jamie are at their wits’ end trying to help their severely autistic son, Dale. When visiting, they notice that Dale is showing interest in a dog, so they get him a golden retriever, whom he names Henry after one of the Thomas the Tank Engine characters. Nuala describes how Dale changes and progresses after Henry’s arrival, becoming less withdrawn and more concerned with the feelings of others. This touching true story provides one more example of how a remarkable dog can help a person in need.

Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

Senseless Seventeen would have been a better title.  Why did I waste my time on this? I kept waiting for a plot maybe? Or for the book to get funny? I had the villain figured out as soon as Stephanie Plum said he “looked familiar.”  If you like humor mixed with your mystery try Liar, Liar by K. J. Larsen or The Baker Street Letters by Michael Robertson.  These are funny mysteries that actually have (gasp!) a mystery.

 

Angelina’s Bachelors by Brian O’Reilly

Angelina, a young South Philadelphia woman who loves to cook,  has just lost both her job and her husband. What to do? There are several gentlemen in the neighborhood who need feeding, and in cooking for these men she  finds both friendship and a means to deal with her grief. This novel, written by a Food Network writer/producer and filled with delicious and impossibly complex-sounding  recipes, is to be savored not only for the elaborate meals described but also for the appealing characters and their close-knit ethnic community. As one reviewer opined, “Light comedy and good food make a winning combination.”

South of Superior by Ellen Airgood

Ellen Airgood, the owner of a diner in a small town in the “U-P”, or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, has set her first novel in this locale, right on the shore of the majestic Lake Superior. Although the fictional town becomes slightly resort-y in the summer, this is not a posh place. The characters are hard workers, committed to the town and to each other. The story is framed by Madeline, her move to the town from Chicago, and the ways her life expands and contracts in response to her new and very different surroundings. A good old-fashioned read!