If I Had You by Lynn Kurland

    This is another of the De Piaget series of romances from Lynn Kurland. The others I've read by her in this series are time traveling romances, but this one takes place fully in 13th century England.

     I really appreciate that Lynn Kurland's books are clean. The majority of romances are just pornography wrapped up as romance and I can't stand that.

     However, I found this book less enjoyable than some of the others in the De Piaget/ Macleod series. The biggest problem I found was that the conflict was not clearly defined. I got that someone was trying to kill Ann and even Robin (and then the rest of the De Piaget family), but the motives of the killer were unclear or perhaps they were just unbelievable. In any case, I found that part of the novel very unsatisfying. I also really noticed the drawn out process of relationship building between the two main characters. It took FOREVER for their relationship to crystallize and the delays felt contrived and even silly. In fact, the whole book held together much less neatly than any of the others I've read by Lynn Kurland.

     Still, it was entertaining enough for me to finish it and I always appreciate a clean romance.

The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

     Ted Dekker is a very prolific Christian writer who actually applies his religion to his writing, by which I mean that he has no sex and bad language in his books and there's usually some sort of positive or thoughtful reference to God in his stories as well. I have only read one other of his books (a good vs. bad fantasy) and I was interested to see what his other books were like.

     In The Bride Collector, FBI Special Agent Brad Raines must find and stop a serial killer who is killing beautiful women.

     Sounds pretty standard for your police procedural/suspense/mystery novel, eh? This one is a little different, though, in that Dekker blurs the line between sanity and insanity by making some of his most notable main characters residents of a home for the gifted mentally ill. He asks the question: do we not all have pockets of mental illness? And another: are those who think in different patterns from the "rest of us" really just gifted in ways society is not organized to appreciate? And another: can one ever be "healed" of mental illness, particularly when that illness stems from a traumatic experience? Interesting questions.

     I did wonder how squeaky clean Ted Dekker would approach a serial killer of women--usually there's something sexual going on there. But, he dodged that bullet very neatly and still made his killer perfectly frightening. It was an engaging book and I loved that the bad language and sex scenes were missing.

Decision at Delphi by Helen MacInnes

I really like Helen MacInnes. She wrote political suspense novels--all with that element of romantic adventure (a la Mary Stewart) that I love.

One sentence summary: Architect/Journalist Ken Strang travels to Greece for a series of articles he's working on but gets embroiled in a nihilistic terrorist plot, escape from which becomes complicated when he falls in love with his beautiful, intelligent and oh so vulnerable photographer, Cecilia Hilliard.

Yeah, that about covers it. I've actually read better ones from Helen MacInnes, but as far as I have discovered, none of her novels is bad. I particularly enjoy the fact that these novels are all written 50 or so years ago--I love "vintage" books. Love them. Hers are generally post WWII, but I also really enjoy E. Phillip Oppenheimer who writes WWI political thrillers. They are less gritty than modern thrillers, but just as gripping. If you appreciate the un-gory, the un-profane, the un-sexually explicit...you'll enjoy Helen MacInnes like I do.

Wings of the Falcon by Barbara Michaels

Okay, I admit it, I'm a sucker for a gothic adventure/romance. When I was a teenager, my sister and I gobbled up Victoria Holts and Mary Stewarts (I still love Mary Stewart), with the occasional Barbara Cartland thrown in (not so gothic, but often hilariously melodramatic).

And I have long enjoyed Elizabeth Peters. She writes romantic adventures AND the Amelia Peabody series, all books that I have gobbled up and regularly re-read. I vaguely knew she wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Michaels but I don't remember if I've read any of those.... Well, what I didn't realize was that these ones are the gothic-type adventure/romances that I have loved since forever (many have supernatural elements as well)! And I think this one might be the first of hers that I've read. It won't be the last, of course.

One sentence summary: 17-year-old Englishwoman Francesca is left alone and unprotected after the death of her father and must travel to join the unknown (to her) and powerful Italian family of her late mother. Hold on, I can't do this in one sentence. In Italy, Francesca becomes sympathetic to the efforts of the heroic "falcon" and his followers to unite Italy and free the downtrodden from the absolute rule of the local despots. Sounds kind of "Zorro", doesn't it? It reads that way, too.

In any case, it's a historical lesson and an exciting story and we get caught up in Francesca's dangers and passions and adventures. I really enjoyed it and think that I must add all the Barbara Michaels books to my already groaning book shelves. Yay!

The Angel and the Jabberwocky Murders by Mignon F. Ballard

What a charming book this was! It's another mystery, this time set in the fictional small town of Stone's Throw, South Carolina.

My one sentence summary: Our heroine, 50-something Lucy Nan Pilgrim and her guardian angel, Augusta, uncover a connection between the deaths of several young women at the local college. Can they figure out who the murderer is before another girl is killed?

I usually dislike amateur detectives--they seem unnaturally snoopy and get themselves in all sorts of odd situations. But I really liked Lucy Nan. Her pursuit of information seemed very like ordinary curiosity. I expected more "magical" input from the angel Augusta, but she spent most of her time dispensing calming advice and cooking and cleaning. I guess that's maybe what many women would wish for in a guardian angel? Many of the recipes that Augusta uses are included in the book, by the way.

In any case, this southern mystery was interesting and engaging and I liked all the characters very much (even the murderer was likeable!). I'll be looking out for more books by Mignon Ballard.

Blood from a Stone by Donna Leon

I'm back! After a month or two of moving stress, I am back into my regular reading routines (I hope!). I started out by visiting my new local library and checking out a few mysteries.

This one is a police procedural, set in Venice, Italy and stars Commissario Guido Brunetti, an honest, hard-working Venetian police officer.

You know I dislike summarizing, so here's my one sentence summary: Commissario Brunetti encounters widespread governmental corruption as he investigates the death of an illegal African vendor.

This was an entertaining mystery--I really like police procedurals--with a slightly unresolved ending. I felt frustrated by the corruption at all levels of government that our main character was stymied by.

There was no sex nor bad language in the book. I enjoyed the family life of Guido Brunetti. Altogether, I enjoyed the book but didn't like it enough to seek out others in the series.

The Pawn by Steven James

I liked this book! It was squeaky clean as far as language and sex goes. It was pretty gritty as far as violence, murder and torture goes, though. I was very engaged in the story--stayed up late to finish it (yeah, it was one of those). I liked the main characters.

From time to time I felt aware of the writing which, to me, indicates a little less quality of writing--a little self-consciousness on the part of the writer perhaps? But those were only moments. Mostly I was too into the story to notice the writing.

When it comes to murder mysteries, I prefer police procedurals and cozies--my least favorite kinds have crazy serial murderers, guys who love to torture and have sick desires and urges and histories. This one was a police procedural (which I like), but had a crazy serial murderer, which I don't like. Also I have to roll my eyes when our lead investigator flies a family member to stay with him in a safe house (at the location of the murder investigation) because he's worried about their relationship--especially when that family member is a young woman AND the case he's investigating is one where a serial killer is torturing and killing young women. And he's flying in this precious family member? Hello!?! That seemed pretty silly to me--an obvious device on the part of the writer to increase the tension in the story.

Other than those objections, I really did enjoy the book--it was gripping!