Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Sandra (mycatscanread) - - Reviews

1 to 20 of 175 - Page:
100 People Who Are Screwing Up America : (and Al Franken Is #37)
100 People Who Are Screwing Up America : (and Al Franken Is #37)
Author: Bernard Goldberg
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
 97
Review Date: 11/12/2007
Helpful Score: 4


Humorous look at 100 people and why the author thinks they aren't doing anything good for the country. I found myself laughing a good bit while reading this.


11th Hour (Women's Murder Club, Bk 11)
11th Hour (Women's Murder Club, Bk 11)
Author: James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 167
Review Date: 7/2/2012


"11th Hour" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro was a much more enjoyable reading experience for me than was the last installment in the Women's Murder Club series, "10th Anniversary."

Lindsay Boxer is married to Joe and is pregnant, but it doesn't slow her down or stop her from taking her usual risks. Yuki is dating Lt. Brady, but she doesn't show up a whole lot in this novel. Claire and Cindy have some major roles.

The first case that Lindsay and partner Richard Conklin are up against is the murder of Chaz Smith, who is a wealthy man gunned down at a school where his daughter is participating in a concert. The murder weapon was taken from the SFPD's evidence room, which brings up many questions about who the killer may be.

In one of the most horrifying cases Lindsay has had yet, she and Rich are called to the scene of a wealthy, aging actor's home where two heads have been dug up from the garden and placed on the patio in a display-like manner.
Police unearth five more heads, but there are no bodies there and no clues to identities.

This is a well-paced suspense novel and doesn't move at the frenzied speed of some of Patterson's other novels, but I enjoyed the gradual build up to the page-turning ending with its twists and turns.

Patterson fans of the Women's Murder Club series should enjoy this one if the rest of the series has been read.


The 37th Hour (Sarah Pribek, Bk 1)
The 37th Hour (Sarah Pribek, Bk 1)
Author: Jodi Compton
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 119
Review Date: 3/28/2008


I enjoyed this mystery of a husband who goes missing and his wife's search for him. His wife just happens to be a missing-persons investigator.


4th of July (Women's Murder Club, Bk 4)
4th of July (Women's Murder Club, Bk 4)
Author: James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 813
Review Date: 11/12/2007


The 4th of July is one of Patterson's better novels in this series, in my opinion. Lindsay Boxer must defend herself in court after she shoots a young girl in what she thinks is self-defense. This book keeps you reading up to the very end, and has a few twists along the way. Patterson fans will like it.


50% Off Murder (Good Buy Girls, Bk 1)
50% Off Murder (Good Buy Girls, Bk 1)
Author: Josie Belle
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 110
Review Date: 7/19/2012


"50% Off Murder" by Josie Belle is the first in a new cozy series about a group of bargain-hunting and money-saving friends who call themselves the "Good Buy Girls." They meet at Maggie Gerber's house for this most recent meeting, but one of the members, Claire Freemont, is late. She arrives, bringing dessert, but acts distracted and a bit strange.

The next day Maggie goes to the library where Claire works to take her niece's little boy, Josh, for story time, and winds up helping Claire take some boxes of books to the basement. When they reach the library basement, they find the dead body of a man with Claire's cake knife protruding from his body and a book laying beside him that is from Claire's own personal library. Claire becomes the number one suspect, especially when it becomes known that Claire dated this man back in Baltimore, MD from where she has moved to Saint Stanley. Her friends know that she has more to tell that she is hiding, though. They become the major sleuths in the investigation to clear the name of their friend.

The new sheriff in the small town of Saint Stanley, VA has returned after many years away and it so happens that twenty-four years ago he and Maggie Gerber had a romance. This all adds suspense and a tad of romantic suspense to the story.

This is a good start to a new series that has some great bargain-hunting tips throughout the book and at the end there is a list of more money-saving ideas that I found useful. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series and getting to know the other members of the Good Buy Girls better.

Josie Belle, author of this book, is the pen name of author Jennifer McKinlay, who writes other cozy series.


9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, Third Edition
9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, Third Edition
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 11/12/2007
Helpful Score: 1


An interesting look at the 9/11 conspiracy theory. Some of the information is a bit far-fetched, but the majority of it I've heard before either in films or in other books on the same topic. If nothing else, this book makes you think. This is the first time in history that a jet has knocked down a building, especally ones as tall as the towers, and since when did buildings falling down as the towers did implode on themselves instead of just tumbling down at random? These are all hard questions to answer, but a lot of research has been done on the topic. Although the book isn't as convincing with scientific research and fact as the films I've seen are, it's still a good read.


Acts of Malice (Nina Reilly, Bk 5)
Acts of Malice (Nina Reilly, Bk 5)
Author: Perri O'Shaughnessy
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 181
Review Date: 3/28/2008


I liked the character of Nina Reilly and the story in this book. The setting also makes it nice. I enjoyed the book.


Adjusted to Death (Kate Jasper, Bk 1)
Adjusted to Death (Kate Jasper, Bk 1)
Author: Jacqueline Girdner
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
 19
Review Date: 2/1/2011


This is a fun mystery to read. It is a little slow in the beginning, but it picks up once Kate Jasper goes to her chiropractor's appointment and meets a group of very strange patients in the waiting room. When Maggie, the chiropractor, orders Kate to tell a patient on her way out to the waiting room that Maggie will be right with him, Kate finds him dead, trips over a metal bar and picks it up, putting her fingerprints all over the murder weapon. Any one of several people could have killed this man, and Kate's sleuthing helps uncover the motive and the murderer, while putting her in danger.
Kate and Maggie are very humorous characters and it turns out to be a good cozy mystery after all.


The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Author: Mark Twain
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 423
Review Date: 11/12/2007


I'm in agreement with Michelle F. Read banned books! This is a classic that has been enjoyed by generations.


Afraid of the Dark
Afraid of the Dark
Author: Donna Anders
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 26
Review Date: 11/12/2007


I especially liked the setting of this book, which is an island off the coast of Washington state. Jessie Cline returns to the island, which was her childhood home, to raise her son where she thinks it is safer and a better environment. Jessie is assistant police chief, but that doesn't stop someone who wants her off the island from trying to get her off by any dangerous means they can, and from bringing out Jessie's family secrets. Good mystery/suspense.


The Alibi Man (Elena Estes, Bk 2)
The Alibi Man (Elena Estes, Bk 2)
Author: Tami Hoag
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 287
Review Date: 6/1/2009


This is the first Tami Hoag novel that I've read in a while, and I'm glad it was this one. Murder, corruption, the Russian mob and the elite country club set all rub elbows no matter what the cost, but the cost comes in lives lost in some gruesome ways. I read this fast, enjoyed the female sleuth and was surprised with the ending.


All the Hungry Mothers (Jesus Creek, Bk 4)
All the Hungry Mothers (Jesus Creek, Bk 4)
Author: Deborah Adams
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 13
Review Date: 8/2/2010


This is the first book by this author I've read and I found it to be a bit strange. The setting of the story is odd, the characters are odd and the neighbors are even more odd.
I finished the book, but it took some patience and perseverance to finish it. Not quite my cup of tea.


An Invitation to Pray and Worship  : A Journey to A Deeper Faith
An Invitation to Pray and Worship : A Journey to A Deeper Faith
Author: John Tesh
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 3/27/2008


A book of short Christian meditations with a CD written and performed by John Tesh. The CD comes only with this book.


Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon, Bk 1)
Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon, Bk 1)
Author: Dan Brown
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 155
Review Date: 6/1/2009
Helpful Score: 2


I liked this book much better than The Da Vinci Code. Angels and Demons is face-paced, mysterious, and the suspense starts at the very beginning. The sites in Rome and the Vatican are so interesting and full of factual details, I felt like I was there. One of the best books I've read in a long time.


Antiques Flee Market (Trash 'n' Treasures, Bk 3)
Antiques Flee Market (Trash 'n' Treasures, Bk 3)
Author: Barbara Allan
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 44
Review Date: 12/19/2013
Helpful Score: 1


The Christmas theme of this book is what interested me in reading it at this particular time, but there isn't much in the book about Christmas, but this is one hilarious cozy mystery. Brandy Borne and her mother, Vivian, have a stall in the flea market mall in the small town of Serenity on the Mississippi River. While there looking for some things to buy and resell, they see Vivian's friend, Walter Yeager, who is being taken for a ride by another dealer who is trying to buy a copy of "Tarzan of the Apes" at a price much lower than it is worth. The man is talked out of buying it and Walter finishes up the day and goes home to his mobile home. He has a surprise in the form of a British granddaughter, a goth girl, whose name is Chaz, and she is staying with him. Although she's a bit different, Brandy and Vivian like her. When Chaz, the granddaughter goes out, she returns to a dead grandfather who has been poisoned and the valuable Tarzan book is gone. Police immediately suspect Chaz, but Brandy and Vivian believe she is not the one who killed Walter and took the book and set out to find the real criminal.

The book is narrated mostly by Brandy who also has some scenes with her sister, Peggy Sue, but a few chapters are devoted to Vivian's narration in the first person because Vivian's opinion of her own importance is such that she cannot be ignoredso she gets her own chapters. Vivian is a very funny character, as is Brandy. The two of them together do not give one a relaxed feeling of a serene mother and daughter doing antiques. Rather it is a scatter-brained hilarious fly-by-the-seat-of-their pants story that had me laughing all the way through. The homicide does get solved, but with a lot of twists and turns and "stay out of it" reprimands from the police to Brandy and her mother.

The cover says it all because I can imagine the Christmas tree on the floor because their little dog has pulled it over and eaten the decorations, glowing from the inside from the tinsel. That's about how Brandy's life goes at home with her mother.


The Apothecary Rose (Owen Archer, Bk 1)
The Apothecary Rose (Owen Archer, Bk 1)
Author: Candace Robb
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 76
Review Date: 11/12/2007
Helpful Score: 3


A good mystery, but I had trouble getting into it at the beginning, most likely because it's the first of its kind I've read.


Aquariums for Dummies
Aquariums for Dummies
Author: Maddy Hargrove, Mic Hargrove
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 14
Review Date: 11/12/2007
Helpful Score: 1


Lots of good, basic information for anyone just setting up an aquarium or for someone who already has one and who needs some guidance on the care of an aquarium.


The Art of Fielding
The Art of Fielding
Author: Chad Harbach
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 49
Review Date: 7/2/2012
Helpful Score: 3


Chad Harbach's "The Art of Fielding" is a very well-written book, but I was very ambivalent while reading it.
There wasn't any one character that I liked a lot more than the others, and they all seemed to be extremely flawed.

If you like baseball, which I do, then there are some great baseball moments in the book, but that was about it for me. I thought that this book was a bit elitist, too.

It was okay, but not my favorite book of this summer yet.


Ask the Cards a Question  (Sharon McCone, Bk 2)
Ask the Cards a Question (Sharon McCone, Bk 2)
Author: Marcia Muller
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 57
Review Date: 11/12/2007
Helpful Score: 2


A short, but good mystery featuring Sharon McCone. There are several good characters in this second mystery in the series.


At Risk (Winston Garano, Bk 1)
At Risk (Winston Garano, Bk 1)
Author: Patricia Cornwell
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
 371
Review Date: 6/23/2008
Helpful Score: 2


A well-known, attractive and aggressive Massachusetts district attorney is planning on running for governor. She wants to use her new crime initiative called At Risk to show off some cutting-edge DNA technology, and thinks she's found it in a Tennessee twenty-year-old murder case. If her office solves this cold case it will make this D.A. look good for her run for governor. In order to get some help with this case, she calls back home one of her Massachusetts state investigators who is in the middle of a course at the National Forensic Academy in Knoxville, TN.

The investigator isn't sure about his boss, the D.A., and when a violent crime is committed it makes him wonder even more about this woman who wants it all.

I enjoyed this book and finished it fast because it's a short book, only 212 pages with larger print than in paperbacks, so it went fast. The story makes you wonder who did what, and has a few twists like most of Cornwell's books. I think this catches me up on all of her books now.


1 to 20 of 175 - Page: