Along the Way; Good Morning, Irene; Little Altars Everywhere; Secret Keeper; Reformed Vampire Support Group

Martin Sheen and his oldest son, Emilio Estevez, teamed up to chronicle their father/son journey through life and Hollywood in "Along the Way". It was very nicely done and I enjoyed it. Martin was only 21 when Emilio was born, so they kind of grew up together.

"Good Morning, Irene" is another Irene Adler mystery by Carole Nelson Douglas. I really like these books. Irene and Nell get pulled into investigating the mysterious suicides of a sailor when his dead body washes up with the same strange markings as another body that Irene examined several years before, who also died by drowning. Then Godfrey rescues a young girl who is trying to drown herself, and she has the same strange tattoo. What on earth could a nice, well brought up young girl have in common with two crusty old sailors? Why, buried treasure of course!

I reread Rebecca Wells' magnificent "Little Altars Everywhere". When I first read it, back in 1994, before it was incredibly popular, I fell in love with the name Siddalee and decided when I finally got a dog she would be red and I would name her Siddalee.

Meet Siddalee, my little dachshund, who suffers from none of the same low self esteem issues her namesake deals with. My Sidda is fabulous and she knows it!

Sandra Boyd's "Secret Keeper" was pretty good. It was about a young lady serving in Queen Kathryn Parr's household, and she has an interesting theory on what happened to Kathryn and Thomas Seymour's daughter, Mary, who was born shortly before Kathryn died of childbed fever, and six months before Thomas was executed for treason. There is no historical record of little Mary Seymour after the age of two. She was destitute, since all her father's wealth went to the crown after his execution, and no one in her family wanted the expense of caring for a child who was cousin to the king. Many historians believe young Mary died and her burial spot is lost to history. Boyd theorizes that Juliana, the young lady so close to the Queen, smuggled Mary out of the country to Ireland and raised her as her own. It's a nice thought.

And finally, a funny twist on vampire books, Catherine Jinks' "Reformed Vampire Support Group". The life of a vampire is not nearly as glamorous as Nina makes it out to be in her fiction. Due to their limited diets of guinea pigs, they are always sick and weak but Nina and her fellow reformed vampires are determined not to lose control and feast on humans. When one of their own is staked, Nina and her friends decide to find out who's on the hunt and end up getting mixed up in an underground werewolf fighting ring. It was definitely different!

Case of the Postponed Murder; Below Stairs; Off Balance; Curses!; Cruising Atitude

Another Perry Mason! Don't worry, this is the last one for awhile, I had a *ton* of holds come in for me all at once at work.
"Case of the Postponed Murder" has Perry defending a woman accused of killing wealthy Penn Wentworth on his yacht. The police and prosecution think the murder happened at one time, when Perry's client was on board. Perry however thinks the murder actually occurred later, once his client had left. Guess who is right? :)

"Below Stairs" by Magaret Powell is one I've been waiting for for a long time now; the hold list at my library has been insane. She inspired the shows "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey" with her memoirs about working in domestic service right after World War I. It was funny and witty and she had a great dry sense of humor about her low station in life.

The summer Olympics are coming up again, and gymnastics has always been my favorite. I remember watching the '84 Olympics at my grandparents' house: they drug the TV outside on an extension cord and set it up out there so my sister and I could watch without having to get out of the pool. I was so thrilled in '96 when the U.S. ladies gymnastics team won the first team gold, and of course Kerri Strug's amazing vault landing the second time around still gives me chills. So I read "Off Balance" by Dominique Moceanu, the youngest member of that '96 team. She tells of abuse at the hands of Bela and Marta Karoyli, the famous Romanaian coaches, and how her overbearing, domineering father ruled over their family with an iron first, forcing Dominique's mother to give up a daughter for adoption when she was born without legs. Twenty years later Dominique's sister, Jennifer, got in touch with her just as Dominique was getting ready to give birth to her first child. It was a good story and I enjoyed it, but it did get a bit repetitive at times. I sometimes felt like I was reading the same thing over and over. Still, she went through quite a bit but at least now it looks like she's in a good place in her life.

"Curses!" by J. A. Kazimer is an interesting twist on fairy tales. R.J. is a villain on leave from the union when Asia, one of Cinderella's stepsisters, approaches and asks for his help solving Cinderella's murder. R.J. agrees and the bodies start piling up and the list of suspects narrows until it looks bad for Asia. It was pretty funny, and different.

"Cruising Attitude" by Heather Poole is about her adventures as a flight attendant. Even though I've worked in customer service my whole life, people's bad behavior never fails to amaze and astound me, and shockingly the way people behave on an airplane is no different than how they behave in a library or a bookstore. I wonder when it became okay in our society to go out and act like an asshole in public. I don't think people would have behaved that way when my grandparents were my age. People had class and manners and a sense of shame back then. It's unfortunate that it's come to what we have now, but at least Poole is able to laugh about (most of) it.

Case of the Perjured Parrot; Case of the Rolling Bones; Case of the Mischievous Doll; Case of the Reluctant Model; Elsewhere, California; Good Night, Mr. Holmes; Making Rumours

Some more Perry Mason rereads by Erle Stanley Gardner.
"Case of the Perjured Parrot" -- someone has gone to a lot of trouble to teach Casanova the parrot a new phrase, either implicating the ex-wife or the girlfriend (both conveniently named Helen) in a multimillionaire's murder. I liked this one because Helen the girlfriend is a librarian. Whoo hoo!
"Case of the Rolling Bones" has Perry defending a man who is accused of killing the same man twice.
"Case of the Mischievous Doll" has Perry defending a woman who is accused of killing herself, or rather, a fake identity she created.
"Case of the Reluctant Model" -- what starts as a simple libel suit in the case of a piece of artwork escalates into murder.

Okay, something new! "Elsewhere, California" by Dana Johnson is about Avery, growing up in West Covina in the 1970s after her parents move from crime ridden L.A. It flips back and forth between the past and the present. I enjoyed it, I thought she did an excellent job of capturing the vibe and feel of the 70s, from the music Avery was listening to to the clothes she was wearing and whose posters she would have had hanging in her room.

"Good Night, Mr. Holmes" is Carole Nelson Douglas's first Irene Adler adventure, and I really enjoyed it. The characters of Irene and Nell are so beautifully done, and she throws in just enough Sherlock and Watson to keep it interesting but not so much that she intrudes on Conan Doyle. In this book we learn how Irene and Nell first meet, and try to solve their first case together. Investigating this case leads to meeting Godfrey Norton, whom Irene later marries, but not until she returns from Bohemia after running from the King.

"Making Rumours" by Ken Caillat is the inside story of producing the iconic Fleetwood Mac album (and one of my all time favorites). It was a bit too technical for my taste (being a sound engineer in the 1970s sounds like it was *a lot* of work), but now I understand why bands rarely sound the same live as they do on their albums, after all the manipulation that goes into it. Boy, what a process! Plus Caillat comes off a bit arrogant for my taste. I also think he downplayed the drugs and alcohol influence at the time, but hey, whatever. I was more interested in how the band was interacting with each other, and instead I got a lesson on microphones, speakers, and consoles. At least I learned something new, I guess :)