Like most folks these days, I do a lot of reading online. I keep many tabs open with stories that I like to read while eating breakfast or lunch in fron of my computer. Most of these stories are from The Atlantic, and I actually purchased a subscription because I felt guilty about how many times a day I was circumventing their paywall. Anyway, over several days I read the story below, which was published in the Atlantic in four parts originally but then was made into a book, so it counts.
Is There No Place on Earth for Me by Susan Sheehan
This is a true story of a schizophrenic woman’s life, her hospotalizations, her medications, her family, and how the system ultimately failed her. It’s fascinating and heartbreaking.
The Dead Come to Stay by Brandy Schillace
This is the second in a series that I started at Christmas and I am hoping for more. Jo continues to unravel the mystery of her family and her estate, while dealing with the murder of her very first bed-and-breakfast guest.
Jane and the Genius of the Place by Stephanie Barron
I got this for my birthday so that I could slowly continue the series because I hate finishing a series! I missed Lord Harold, Jane’s sometime investigative partner, in this installment, And while I enjoyed the story, I figured out the crucial fact way before the characters did.
Caroline: Little House, Revisited by Sarah Miller
Another writer’s attempt to tell an alternate version of a well;known story from a different point of view, Caroline is a combination of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie, the true story of the Ingalls’ family, and the author’s interpretation. Laura’s interpretation is much sunnier than this version, which makes the hardships of such a journey much clearer.
Trunk Music by Michael Connelly
My church sponsors a book swap. By that I mean that we have bookshelves in the Parish Hall and anyone can leave books or take books. Now tht Mc.Kay’s is gone I was happy to find a couple of books by my favorite authors there. This one gets its name from the location of the body at the center of the story. Is this a mob killing or something else entirely?
The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly
Harry Bosch decides to revisit the murder case of his own mother, a cold case from 1961.
The Thinnest Air by Minka Kent
In my first Amazon Prime read of the month, a woman disappears without a trace, her sister seems to be the only one who is really trying to find her, and nothing is what it seems. I enjoyed this well enough at the time, but just two months later I can barely remember it.
Not One of Us by Debbie Herbert
This is another murder in retrospect, in which I woman whose boyfriend and his whole family disappeared one night returns years later to her home town and starts trying to figure out what happened. What I liked best in this story was the main character’s relationship with her autistic brother. This story is very dark.
Little Voices by Vanessa Lillie
A woman suffering from post-partum depression is consumed with investigating the murder of a friend. This one had a huge twist that I never saw coming.
The Girl in the Lake by Lauren Oliver
An interesting read involving possible past life regression and yet another death in the past being investigated in the present, this time set at a now-abandoned summer camp. I enjoyed the spookiness of this one.
Ten books is May’s total. Not bad!
