"South Toward Home" by Margaret Eby was a fun literary jaunt through the fertile valley of the South. She visited Oxford and saw William Faulkner's house (so did I!!). She visited Flannery O'Connor's house and saw the peacocks (not the original ones Flannery had, obviously those have long since passed on). She had a good time, traveling through the South and exploring the places that made great writers. Something I'd like to do someday, if I ever get the time.
Stephanie Plum's adventures continue in "Tricky Twenty-Two". Stephanie stumbles upon a mad professor's plot to infect fleas with the plague and release them onto society. In the meantime, Morelli has broken up with her and is rethinking his career as a cop. He thinks the reason for his recent illnesses are stress related and he needs to get away from both Stephanie and the job. Stephanie spends a lot of time being rescued by Ranger, which is always fun. It wasn't bad, not particularly memorable, but it's been a while since they were.
"Calvin" by Martine Leavitt was very charming, I enjoyed it. Seventeen year old Calvin was born on the day the last "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip by Bill Watterson was published. His grandfather bought him a stuffed tiger as a baby, and Calvin named him Hobbes. Hobbes was his constant friend until he got washed to death on accident one day. Now Hobbes is back in the form of a delusion, Calvin has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and he knows if he can just convince Watterson to write one more Calvin comic where he's seventeen and just fine without Hobbes, it will cure him. Calvin sets out on a mid-winter trek across frozen Lake Erie in an attempt to contact Watterson. His best friend, Susie, insists on going with him to keep an eye on him. It was very touching.
And finally, "The Consultant" by Bentley Little. I love Bentley Little, you always know what to expect. It occurred to me, reading this one, that the reason they're so creepy is that his stories are usually about loss of control over one's life. In this one, CompWare's merger falls through and the company hires a consulting firm in an attempt to stop the stock prices bottoming out. BFG consulting sends a Regus Patoff to CompWare, and immediately you know things aren't right, he's just weird and he's making the employees do weird things. The bosses can't get rid of him, and soon he's making himself a nuisance, showing up at Craig's wife's work and also his son's school. So just quit, right? Find a new job? Employees who quit die under mysterious circumstances. So there's that. It was a fun, quick read.
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