First Line: They came in the early morning.   Kate Parker thinks she knows what she's getting into when she becomes the sixth wife of billionaire Hank Tudor-- after all, she was by his side (as his assistant) when his fifth marriage to actress Caitlyn Howard fell apart.    But their honeymoon hasn't even begun when a headless body is found near Hank's summer home. This forces Kate to contend with Wife #1, Catherine Alvarez, who lives as a shut-in with her computers carefully following all business aspects of Tudor Enterprises; and Wife #4, Anna Klein, who runs a bed-and ..read more

  I'm writing this intro on the morning of the day our nieces are to arrive from the UK. I have a feeling I'm going to be worn out before they get here. There are always last minute adjustments that have to be made. Denis's back has been bothering him, so it's not been easy for him to move his gear back into our bedroom so Daisy and Suzanne can have the guest suite. But it's done!  Today is the day the cleaning woman was scheduled to come. We have a new one who likes to show up whenever she feels like it. I had to tell her that that isn't going to work. I have to trundle over to ..read more

  First Line: Back in 1961, when women wore shirtwaist dresses and joined garden clubs and drove legions of children around in seatbeltless cars without giving it a second thought; back before anyone knew there'd even be a sixties movement, much less one that its participants would spend the next sixty years chronicling; back when the big wars were over and the secret wars had just begun and people were starting to think fresh and believe everything was possible, the thirty-year-old mother of Madeline Zott rose before dawn every morning and felt certain of just one thing: her life was ov ..read more

  The time will soon be upon me when our nieces will arrive from the UK for a two-week visit. (Actually, it's the day this will post!) Lately, I've been having a decided lack of motivation, with reading and napping being the things I most want to accomplish, so I haven't been able to write any posts ahead of time to cover the time they're here. What am I trying to say? Don't be surprised if I go walkabout for awhile. I may stick my nose in long enough to post a photo or two, but I'm not going to promise anything. I know you'll understand, which is one of the reasons why I appreciate al ..read more

  Of all of Paige Shelton's books that I've enjoyed reading, I like her Alaska Wild series the most. I love learning things about life in small-town Alaska, and the main character, Beth Rivers, not only feels like a friend, but also a friend that I want to protect from any further harm. So... it's no wonder that I got a big smile on my face when I learned that there was a new book being released this year. Let me tell you more about it! (And I won't even go into how much I love all the covers of the books.) Available December 3, 2024! Synopsis: "Beth Rivers needs to dis ..read more

  The time is fast approaching when Daisy and Suzanne will be here, and I'm trying to succeed in two totally different objectives: (1) get everything ready for them, and (2) rest up so I have some energy while they're here.  The only thing I want to mention is that something weird has been going on around here.  For almost a month, I couldn't use the remote to get to the streaming home page on our television. I was doing everything exactly the same as I always had, but I simply could not get on that blasted Roku home page. Denis was not amused every time I asked him to navi ..read more

  First Line: There should be some kind of warning when your life is about to change forever.   North Carolina's richest and most notorious woman has died. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child, Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore ruled the small town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family's estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains.    Known by locals as "Mrs. Kill-more" for being widowed four times, Ruby left everything to her adopted son, Camden, a school teacher in Colorado who wants nothing to do with the house, the money, or the surviving McTavishes. Ca ..read more

Finally, there was a lull in the weekly storms California kept sending our way, and Denis and I could book a trip to one of our favorite places, the Desert Botanical Garden. The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed our time there even if the place was heaving with people. There are two places here in Arizona where I've heard more foreign languages in one day than anyplace else: the Desert Botanical Garden and the Grand Canyon. But I'm going to shut up and share some of the photos I took. If you're looking forward to spring, hopefully you will enjoy them. On the Dial-a-Ride bus and rea ..read more

  First Line: Amanda White lifted the lid from the electric baby bottle sterilizer and stared inside at the .22-caliber revolver.   One dark evening on New York's Upper West Side, two women find common ground in their grief, their loneliness, and their need for revenge on the men who destroyed their families. As they talk, they come up with the perfect plan: If you kill for me, I'll kill for you.   In another part of the city, Ruth is home alone when her beautiful brownstone is invaded. Against the odds, she survives her knife-wielding attacker, but will she ever feel safe agai ..read more

  Michael Connelly is one of my all-time favorite writers who's created one of my all-time favorite characters (Harry Bosch). I well remember wandering the aisles of a bookstore here in Phoenix and idly picking up and then buying a copy of his first novel, The Black Echo. I hadn't even finished reading it when I went back to the bookstore and bought the next two in the series.  With that kind of track record, you know I had to go out and pop a couple of wheelies on the driveway when I found out that there was a new Ballard & Bosch novel on the horizon. Let me tell you more a ..read more