Haydin Konig is the Police Chief St. Germaine, a small town in North Carolina. He’s also the organist and choir director at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. What he wants to be is a writer of hard-boiled mysteries. In pursuit of his dream, he purchases Raymond Chandler’s typewriter in a vain hope that it will help spur his creativity.

The Circle Trilogy, by Nora Roberts
published 2006

I’m still reading Creation in Death, so I thought I’d go with something from JD Robb’s alter-ego. I don’t normally read Nora Roberts titles, but I won this set at a chapter meeting, and the paranormal elements sucked me right in. Again, not a review, just my personal take.

A man from ancient Ireland, his brother the vampire, the vampire hunter, the shapeshifter, the witch, and a few others are brought together by the Goddess Morrigan to defeat the evil vampire. The stories span a number of time periods and lands.

I enjoyed this trilogy. The ancient and modern, and not quite of our realm, are beautifully woven together. There’s a bit of “mad scientist” feel to the magic, and the characters are true to their personalities.

Status: I recommend them, but they will go back to the prize locker.

Have a great weekend!

Jessie

This is book 5 of the series. I’ve read all of them (several times), and have become totally engrossed in this world and these characters, their struggles.

Vishous is not an easy man to love. Respect, yes, but he has a dark core. Where the other brothers can usually find some humor, Vishous remains passive. His joy is pain, his pain is unbearable.

Then just as his life is turned inside out by a revelation none of the brothers could have predicted, he is mortally wounded. Dr. Jane Whitcomb patches him up, but there are a few complications.

Oh, Wow. This book cost me a couple hours of sleep this week. I had to force myself to close the book and get some sleep at 2:00 a.m. at least twice in the last few nights. Beautifully written, gritty, sensually charged, this book has it all.

Status: Never loaning out.

Have a great weekend, Everyone!

Jessie

Yesterday, DH & I went furniture shopping. I like lots of splashy color. He likes neutrals. He got the slate couch and I got a new bookshelf in lieu of the set I really wanted. I think it’s a fair trade-off.

So, I’ve been rearranging books. This morning, I pulled one book off an old shelf entitled, Standing the Gaff. It’s been in my family forever. Published in 1935, by umpire Harry “Steamboat” Johnson. I’ve never read it. I’ve kept it for sentimental reasons. My uncle Kyle played minor league baseball for a few years, and might’ve made it to the big league if he hadn’t been a mean drunk. By the time I was born, he was pretty much a washed-out has been who lived off my grandparents. He played the harmonica with a natural ability I’ve rarely seen, built model airplanes with perfection, taught me how to roll a cigarette, and died at an early age. Oh, there are plenty of stories there, but back to the book.

Apparently, my dad either bought or inherited the book, and he’s written all through it. Sometimes his name, sometimes baseball stats by inning (probably watching my uncle’s games), the birth years for everyone in my father’s immediately, family and sometimes it looks like he’s just practicing his penmanship. (It didn’t help.)

Between the pages of the book, I found what looks like my grandmother’s recipe for chocolate pie, a free offer cutout from the newspaper for salad dressing which was never sent in, another cutout of an advertisement, and another cutout, my birth announcement. I sat down, handling that small scrap of newspaper with the utmost care and read about the other births at the same hospital, two girls and two boys, and thought about how far we’ve come as the announcements started, Mr. & Mrs. John Q. Doe announce of the birth of… No mention of the mother’s name whatsoever.

This ratty book which I’ve kept for years because of my uncle Kyle, held a treasure trove of bits of my family’s history. What a nice Sunday surprise.

Jessie