Month: March 2017

‘Conviction’ by Julia Dahl is a timely and thrilling murder mystery

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coniction

In “Conviction,” Julia Dahl has managed yet again to create a mystery that seamlessly ties past and present as well as different cultures. Rebekah Roberts grew up in Florida and never knew the Hasidic Jewish mother who abandoned her and her father when Rebekah was an infant. Rebekah moves to New York as an adult to work in journalism, and in one of the previous books she gets to meet her mother.

In this story, Rebekah’s relationship with her mother doesn’t really progress, but there is so much happening the reader won’t even notice. The story is about a murder that took place in 1992 and the teenager who was arrested, tried, and convicted of the crime. The problem is that he didn’t do the murders.

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Dog with Chain Attached Through His Skin Urgently in Need of Foster to Be Saved

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headshot

Animal rescuers see some horrible things. But sometimes, the level of cruelty is astounding even to those who think they have seen it all.

This dog had been so cruelly treated, so horribly abused, that NorCal Bully Breed Rescue couldn’t turn their back on him. They wrote about that abuse in the Facebook post begging for a foster so that they can save him.

carabiner“This sweet boy was found running down the road with a chain attached to his neck. It
wasn’t attached to a collar. It wasn’t attached around his neck.  It was attached THROUGH his neck. Someone took the time to pierce a large whole in his chest/neck area then punched a carabiner through it, tethering him with a chain.

He was literally pierced and tethered.  It is beyond understanding. It doesn’t make any sense. I see horrible things all the time. I’m hardly ever shocked anymore. But this was beyond shocking.”

He has been named Steve, and he is at a shelter a few hours south of Sacramento. He was found running in the streets with the chain dragging behind him. He is a very lucky dog on two counts. First that he managed to escape from whoever had kept him in such an abusive situation, and second that he was found by someone before his chain caught on something, which would certainly have killed him, slowly and painfully. Continue reading →

‘Rescuing Penny Jane: One Shelter Volunteer, Countless Dogs, and the Quest to Find Them All Homes’

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rescuing penny jane

 

In her recent book, “Rescuing Penny Jane: One Shelter Volunteer, Countless Dogs, and the Quest to Find Them All Homes,” author Amy Sutherland shares not only her personal experiences as a shelter volunteer, but also her investigations of other shelters, the practice of sending shelter dogs across the country to other shelters, and how to help shelters find  homes for dog.

Penny Jane, the titular dog whom Sutherland ended up adopting, came from a farm in rural Maine where she was probably born outside and may have had little or no human contact during her puppy months. Sutherland writes:

“Puppies can easily adjust to life with another species, even a towering one with long, insect-like appendages such as ours, if they are handled and cuddled. If they have not been, humans become as scary as Martians. (The two puppies) fear of humans was a sure sign of their being feral, or what is also called unsocialized.”

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Dog Gets Loving Family and New K9 Friend After Long Journey to America

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abiie and chloe

It’s been a long journey for Chloe, a Shiba Inu mix, from the dusty streets of rural China to the spacious fenced-in backyard of a suburban Chicago home. But now she has a home and a best friend.

Best friends — sharing a bed

When she was taken off the streets in rural China at six months of age, she had already been hit by a car, abused by children and adults alike, and become scared and aggressive toward other dogs. But ‘Hey Baby,’ as she was called, was still one of the lucky ones.

She lived in a shed with around 15 other dogs. Each morning, the dogs were fed and let outside into a small fenced, concrete area for the day. Each evening they were fed again, and shut up in the shed. The shed was unheated in winter, so the dogs with little fur suffered in the cold. In the summer, with the fierce Chinese heat, the dogs with ample fur like Hey Baby suffered from the lack of cool air. Continue reading →

Gentle Giant One of Many Wonderful Dogs Needing Homes Who Need to Be Only Dogs

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buddy sitting

Buddy has been without the person he loved most in the world for almost a year now. The relationship he had with his human mom was one of mutual adoration. They loved each other completely and totally.

So when she died, Buddy was bereft. He waited for her to get home every day so they could be together. She’d take him out and play with him, they’d light a fire, turn on the television, watch movies and eat popcorn. Life was good, and Buddy must have felt like the luckiest dog in the world.

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Chipotle is a Wonderful Dog Who Dies Tomorrow in New York

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chipotle1

Chipotle’s cherry eye (in both eyes) was fixed when she was spayed!

Chipotle dies tomorrow. She is at the New York Animal Care and Control, and no matter how sweet, how well-behaved, how lovely  dogs are, they are killed when their time is up.

Chipotle is an example of a fabulous dog who will die. She has had less then two weeks in the shelter. She is an amazing dog. When the police found her, she was scared. But when they opened the car door, she jumped right in. When they arrived at the shelter, Chipotle was afraid to get out of the car, but when offered a walk and some treats, she came right out. During the admission process, she was nervous but warmed up to the counselors — especially when offered treats. She allowed all handling — even frightened as she was in the strange surroundings.

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‘Maxi’s Secrets (Or, What You Can Learn From a Dog)’ by Lynn Plourde is a Beautiful Book About the Love of a Dog

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maxisecretIn “Maxi’s Secrets (Or, What You Can Learn From a Dog),” Lynn Plourde tells the reader, on the very first page, that the dog dies.

Why, then, did this book reviewer — who tells kids to stay far away from books like “Old Yeller” and “Where the Red Fern Grows” and, indeed, any book where the dog dies — read it?

The author gets points for honesty. And I thought (erroneously) that knowing up front that the dogs dies would make it easier. It didn’t.

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‘The Goldfish Boy’ by Lisa Thompson is a touching middle grade mystery

/ Pamela Kramer / 2 Comments

goldfishboy

“The Goldfish Boy” by Lisa Thompson houses an unusual protagonist: a boy with severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He spends almost all of his time inside his home looking out one of two windows, either the window in his bedroom which looks out over the backyard or the window in the front room which still has the baby supplies from before his younger brother died during childbirth.

Matthew doesn’t really have any friends at the beginning of the story. Flashbacks tell of friends he used to have, including one who lives on the quiet cul-de-sac where Matthew and his family live. There is also Melody, a girl his age who has the strange habit of visiting the nearby graveyard. Jake is a former friend-turned-bully who rides his bicycle around the street with an angry look in his eyes.

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‘City of the Lost’ by Kelley Armstrong: Thrilling and action-packed fiction

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city of lost

Kelley Armstrong is no stranger to writing fast-moving, exciting fiction. With “City of the Lost,” the start of a new series, Armstrong introduces readers to life in rural — very, very rural — Canada.

Casey Duncan, the protagonist of the novel, is a tough homicide detective. The readers learn early in the story that she killed a man in college. He was the grandson of a mob boss, and she has been looking over her shoulder ever since. Part of her certainly feels like she should be punished for her crime.

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‘The Magician’s Key: Book Two in The Secrets of the Pied Piper’ by Matthew Cody

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Matthew Cody’s second book in the “Secrets of the Pied Piper” series, “The Magician’s Key,” is brilliant. This second-in-a-trilogy novel manages to be even more action-filled than the first book.

This one takes place not only in the small town of Hamelin, where the Pied Piper led 130 children into a mountain eight hundred years ago, but also on Summer Isle, where the children still live and where they haven’t aged at all. The isle is magical, warm all year round, but there danger lurks there. Rats the size of humans inhabit the isle, as do elves and witches. And the weather is changing, too. There is a dark winter approaching, and the children don’t know how to prepare for it.

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‘Six Minutes in Heaven’ by Eloisa James: Lovely historical fiction by the master romance writer

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seven-minutes-in-heaven-by-eloisa-james

In “Seven Minutes in Heaven,” Eloisa James continues to show through her clever and thoughtful writing that she is not only an extremely erudite professor of Shakespeare, but that she also possesses an abundance of creativity. Each of her female protagonists is uniquely talented and often successful. They have independent ideas and thoughts.

In this new story, which includes many characters from recent novels, Mrs. Eugenia Snowe is a widow who after seven years is still missing her husband. When she meets Edward Reeve, the jilted lover from a previous story, she feels an attraction.

But Snowe’s reputation is beyond reproach, and in her position as the owner of an agency that provides governesses to the most sophisticated realms of society, she must keep her reputation perfect — snowy white, as it were.

When Reeve’s half-sister and brother prove too much for the governesses she has sent, Reeve appeals to her for help. He has no idea of Snowe’s social status, and that leads to a misunderstanding that causes the wrench-in-the-works that every good romance must provide.

In James’ usual style, this novel is a veritable treasure chest of both romance and humor. The addition of a pet rat is a wonderful touch, and James treats the charms of the small mammal with appropriate affection. Those who have had pet rats (James’ daughter has one) will especially appreciate the rodent’s arrival. The action never flags and the dialogue is witty and clever. Don’t miss this reunion of old friends and introduction of new ones. It’s the third book in the “Desperate Duchesses by the Numbers” series.

Please note: This review is based on the advance review copy provided by Avon Books, the publisher, for review purposes.

‘Killing Kate’ by Alex Lake is Fabulous Contemporary British Thriller

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killingkate

“Killing Kate” begins like many murder mysteries. There is a young woman, this one living in Great Britain, who has just broken up with her long-time boyfriend. She is on vacation and mysteriously ends up spending the night with a stranger. Even stranger is that he is from England, too, and lives near Kate.

While she is in Turkey, a murder takes place in the sleepy village in Great Britain where she lives. But that is just the first of several murders, and the scary thing is that the victims all look like Kate. As the ploy unfolds, Lake comes up with some great suspects.

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