Reported by Kristin
Nevermore began with laughter, as
one reader exclaimed that she really did not
enjoy A Killing in the Hills by Julia Keller. This series debut is based
in Acker’s Gap, West Virginia as three old men are shot at a local diner. Bell
Elkins is an attorney and her teenage daughter Carla was an unfortunate witness
to the violence. Our reader claimed that she found the plot very predictable,
and that the author wasted much paper on the young girl’s angst. Alas, our
reader suffered through to the end.
Despite the title, the same book
club member found The Undertaker’s Daughter by Sara Blaedel to be a much
lighter read, and a very fun book. Photographer Ilka Nichols Jenson is living in
Copenhagen and hasn’t heard from her father for decades when she learns of his
death, and her inheritance: a funeral home in Wisconsin. Ilka’s father had
issues with gambling debts, as she finds when she returns to the states. Murder
and intrigue follow, which kept our reader happily reading to the end of this
one.
Dog On It by Spencer Quinn proved to be another light read as canine
Chet narrates the story of his human Bernie, a private investigator looking
into the case of a missing teenager. Chet sniffs out the clues alongside
Bernie, guiding him in ways that the human might be too oblivious to notice.
Our reader said that it was so enjoyable that she felt as if she were
ten-years-old again reading a Nancy Drew mystery.
From fictional mysteries to a
real-life female sleuth, our next reader picked up Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The
True Story of New York City’s Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing
Girl Case That Captivated a Nation by Brad Ricca. Grace Humiston was the
first female United States District Attorney, and acted as a private detective
in addition to her law career. She solved the mystery of missing Ruth Cruger
when the New York Police Department could not. The press soon began calling her
“Mrs. Sherlock Holmes” as she had her day in the limelight. Despite her accomplishments,
Humiston was quickly forgotten until Ricca brought her story back to modern
readers a century later.
The Kremlin’s Candidate by Jason Matthews is the final installment in the Red Sparrow
Trilogy. Our reader said that he was really enjoying it, and found parallels in
today’s real life politics to the international espionage in the thriller. In
fact, he called it “a little spicy” with a ballerina being caught up in the
dark Russian world of seduction of spycraft.
Another book club member went
back to the classics with the 1956 science fiction novel Time for the Stars
by Robert Heinlein. While one telepathic young boy explores space, he is able
to maintain communication with his twin back on Earth. When the spaceship
returns after only a few years traversing the stars, the traveler finds his
brother celebrating his ninetieth birthday.
Finally, Nevermore discussed She
Has Her Mother’s Laugh: the Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity
by Carl Zimmer. Every gene and experience we have shapes our future and our
children’s futures. Our reader has a medical background and was fascinated by
the way that Zimmer writes about medical subjects. She was particularly
intrigued by the up and coming genetic procedures which may be able to cure so
many ills, but commented that the economics of medicine will likely keep those
cures for the 1% of society with the most wealth.
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