Big Boned by Meg Cabot March 16, 2009

Big Boned by Meg Cabot fits into the mystery fiction genre and was published in 2007. It is recommended for adult readers.

Big Boned is the final installment in the series that began with Size 12 Is Not Fat. In this novel Heather’s life finally seems to be going the right way but still it’s not exactly what she wants. Her job is going well, even though her boss is a little crazy about office supplies. She has a boyfriend named Tad, but he doesn’t agree with her on fundamentals like the consumption of meat and good old television. Heather is also working on getting into shape, but when jogging she feels as if her uterus may become dislodged. Then one morning after a “workout” with Tad she walks into work to find her boss murdered and inevitably gets involved in the investigation around his murder. As always Cooper is there concerned about her and taking care of her. Tad is also there for her but Heather begins to think that he is not exactly what she had in mind. As the story progresses Heather finds herself helping everyone out of one type of jam or another. In the end she finds love when she comes up with an answer to Tad’s big question. She also is able to catch her boss’s killer and in typical Heather fashion almost gets killed herself.

Other Reviews Available:

Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot

Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot

The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot March 10, 2009

The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot fits into the romance mystery fiction genre and was published in 2002. It is recommended for adult readers.

The Boy Next Door is an addictive story told through a series of emails with various senders and recipients. In these emails we learn about Melissa Fuller (Mel) and her previously disastrous love life. We also read about Mel’s neighbor Mrs Friedlander and the events surrounding her mysterious attack that left her in a coma. After the attack John Trent, as a favor to his friend Max Friedlander, came to help with Mrs. Friedlander’s pets and, as per Max’s request, posed as Max. John raises suspicion by insisting that Mel call him John and by not living up to Max’s bad boy reputation. What follows is an interesting story of love and mystery that truly captured my attention in a single sitting read.

Other Reviews Available:

Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot

Every Boy’s Got One by Meg Cabot

The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad March 10, 2009

The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad fits into the mystery fiction genre and was published in 1907. It is recommended for adult readers.

The Secret Agent was good but not at all what I expected. It follows the story of Adolf Verloc and his attempt to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. Verloc is a secret agent for the French Embassy in London and while he was previously invaluable to the Embassy he has grown redundant of late and was urged to do something big that would embarrass the British and give his employers the opportunity to inspire a revolution. He was told to strike at something scientific as that was the fad of the day. After much worrying and thinking upon the subject he finally decided to take some action. Nothing goes as planned leading to many deaths and the loss of everything he had. Nothing he did actually inspired a revolution.

Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot January 17, 2009

Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot fits into the murder mystery fiction genre and was published in 2006. It is recommended for adult readers.

Size 14 Is Not Fat Either like its prequel Size 12 Is Not Fat is recommended for adult readers because of the age of the characters involved and not because of any inappropriate content. There are a very few pages near the end of the book that use the F-word more than I’d care for but other than that it is a really clean book. One of my friends complained that it started out too much like the first book so she didn’t want to read it. I’ll admit they are fairly similar but just like most books in a series are and not overly alike. Basic plot: Heather still works at the dorm and has a new boss to replace the psycho killer from the previous book. They find a head in the cafeteria but not the rest of the body and Heather is determined to stay out of this case. However, she keeps learning things from her residents and ends up unable to quell her interest and starts to investigate. In the end she does help find the killer but winds up in the hospital as well. The one and only thing I was disappointed with in this book was that more didn’t happen with her and Cooper. Heather actually gets up the nerve to talk to him about her feelings but that’s as far as they get. I eagerly awaited this book hoping that there would be at least some resolution there but maybe in Big Boned, the last book of the series, they’ll finally figure things out.

Other Reviews Available:

Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot

Big Boned by Meg Cabot

Blind Side by Clair M. Poulson November 8, 2008

Blind Side by Clair M. Poulson fits into the murder mystery fiction genre and was published in 2006. It is recommended for adult readers.

Blind Side was a really fun and refreshing read. I enjoy murder mystery fiction immensely and this book had the added bonus of being the cleanest of the genre that I have ever read. Poulson is an LDS fiction author thus his books have slight LDS undertones. They talk about things common in the church like callings and various leaders. The characters, for the most part, live the standards of the church and thus the book is free of immorality and foul language. Honestly coming into it with those types of constraints I didn’t think it would be a good murder mystery but I was pleasantly surprised. The characters were interesting and complex and I was surprised by a few elements, which is difficult with such a prolific reader. The novel follows the story of Noletta Fahr and her dog Taffy. These two went out for a nature walk to look at the changing leaves and came across a murder scene. Unfortunately the murderer was still there and shot Noletta and left her for dead. She did not die but was left blind and thus couldn’t identify her attacker. Taffy was trained as a guide dog but was kidnapped around the time when a lot of suspicious people entered Noletta’s life. Martin Atkinson was the officer called to the scene to help Noletta find the dog and amazingly also helped her catch the murderer who caused her blindness.

Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot July 14, 2008

Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot fits in the Adult Mystery Fiction genre. It was first published in 2006 and is recommended for adult readers.

Admittedly I am a size twelve so I picked this book up for vain reasons, the title flattered me. I have read a lot by Meg Cabot, mostly the Princess Diaries Books, and I enjoyed the shift into adult fiction by an author I already love. Cabot’s chatty writing style engages readers as she tells the story much like friends talking on the phone about a life more interesting than mine has ever been. This novel centers around Heather Wells who as a former teen pop star is used to having the world center around her. Heather is a former star because she decided she wanted to sing her own songs and her label didn’t agree and decided to drop her. She also lost her figure and her boyfriend at the same time. Thus she is forced to live in the real world where people are always saying, “don’t I know you from somewhere” and she’s just trying to get on with life. Heather lands a job as an assistant dorm director at a college in New York and she things she’s finally getting everything back together until a girl is found dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft. Heather is the only one who is convinced there is foul play and makes it her mission to discover the truth. The twists and turns that follow captured my attention and kept me guessing. I was happily surprised at the ending and can’t wait to read the other mystery books that feature Heather Wells.

Other Reviews Available:

Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot

Big Boned by Meg Cabot

Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs December 2, 2007

Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs

Genre: Crime Fiction

Published in 2007

Recommended Age Group: Adult

Summary: Bones to Ashes, is the most recent in the Temperance Brennan novels by Kathy Reichs. This one begins with a flashback into Tempe’s childhood. We find what caused so much pain in her past. Her brother died at nine months old. Then her Father, sick with grief, found solace in getting drunk and died on the way home from a bar. The family moved to North Carolina where Tempe’s mother suffered from depression and Tempe made a summertime friend Evangeline. A few years later Evangeline disappears and the Aunt and Uncle that Evangeline and her little sister were staying with said just to forget about her. Tempe never did. When bones turn up that are about consistent with the age Evangeline was when she disappeared Tempe wonders if she found her friend.

Meanwhile Ryan and a cold case cop nicknamed Hippo are working on a case with three missing and three dead girls. Tempe is reluctant to join in because of her past with Ryan and since Ryan has decided after seeing Tempe with Pete that he was in the way of something with Tempe’s estranged husband. Well, Pete has plans of his own. He asks for a divorce because he intends to marry someone twenty years younger named Summer. Tempe decides that in spite of their past she can get over it and help Ryan solve the case.

As in other books a lot of twists and turns arise. One of Ryan’s missing girls was killed by her father who confessed the killing to a friend right before he killed himself. One is still alive and going by a different name trying to escape bad things she did in her past. Three are dead and identified and one is still missing by the end of the book. The bones that Tempe thought were her friend’s remains still remain anonymous and the mystery of what happened to Evangeline and her little sister is solved.

Personal Notes: I know I say this a lot about Kathy Reich’s books but she is full of surprises. Often when I watch mystery movies I know who’s done it before the character’s figure it out. It’s exciting to read books where a lot of the time I don’t know how all of the pieces fit together. It’s fun to discover it along with Tempe and Ryan. I especially liked the mystery surrounding Evangeline and her sister.

Other reviews available:

Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs

Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs

Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs

Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs

Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs

Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs

Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs November 25, 2007

Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs

Genre: Crime Fiction

Published in 2006

Recommended Age Group: Adult

Summary: Break No Bones, is the ninth installment of the Temperance Brennan novels. This one takes place in and around Charleston, SC and begins with an archaeology field school. Tempe is brought in to teach the course as a favor to the regular teacher. They are digging up remains on some land waiting to be developed when they find not only ancient bones but also those of a victim killed no more than five years before. The developer Dickey Dupree who was quite upset about the ancient remains becomes really set back by the discovery of more recent bones. Dupree tried to bribe and threaten Tempe into not saying anything about the ancient bones in her report so his project would not be stalled.
The recent bones had an odd neck injury that Tempe hadn’t seen before until she finds another body handing from and tree and yet another in a barrel. All three sets have the same scarring on the bones and they each also have odd marks on the rib cage. The clues lead them to a clinic run by a church called GMC. This happens to be the same church that Tempe’s estranged husband Pete is investigating for accounting problems.
Pete is quite the pot stirrer in more ways than one. When Ryan pops down for a surprise visit he is scared when he sees Pete comforting Tempe and assumes the worst. When Pete gets shot everyone assumes it’s because of the work he’d done at GMC. Ryan helps Tempe investigate after the shooting and after a few false leads and surprises they find the person who shot Pete, the killer, and a major crime operation.

Personal Notes: Interesting and engaging. I was quite taken with this story and the many different angles that Reichs writes in. The relationship angle had quite a bit of flare with the competition between Ryan and Pete and also the relationship with the coroner Emma who is dying. The case angle had all the right ingredients to capture the reader’s attention. Urban legends, stolen body parts, and the beach.

Other reviews available:

Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs

Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs

Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs

Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs

Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs

Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs November 9, 2007

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs

Genre: Crime Fiction

Published in 2005

Recommended Age Group: Adult

Summary: Cross Bones is by far the most complicated plots of the Reichs’ novels thus far. The book begins with a list of facts concerned remains discovered on and around Masada. This list was the inspiration to the latest Temperance Brennan novel. The story begins with the autopsy of an ultra-Orthodox Jew named Avram Ferris and the mystery surrounding his death. Outside the autopsy room a man who called himself Kessler approached Tempe. He handed Tempe a picture of a skeleton and told her that the skeleton was the reason for the Ferris’s death. This sends Tempe on a whirlwind adventure not only trying to solve Ferris’s death but also find out about the skeleton and who it was and why it would lead to murder. Along the way more people are killed. Ryan and Tempe fly to Israel to follow leads and deliver the skeleton, the first skeleton is lost, and another skeleton is discovered. The first bones were once believed to be those of Jesus Christ but Tempe disproves that theory because the age of the man when he died did not fit. The second skeleton was discovered in a tomb that Tempe’s friend Jake believes is the Jesus family tomb. The discovery of both sets of bones started religious and political problems and caused at least two people’s deaths. In the end the first set of bones was never recovered because they were re-buried by the thieves who refuse to disclose their new location. The second set was blown up in a car crash. Avram Ferris’s killer was brought to justice and Tempe and Ryan did a little sight seeing in Israel before returning to Canada.

Personal Notes: An interesting book. Kind of along the same lines as The Da Vinci Code but with subtle twists that make it just as good but less controversial. Reichs never claims that Jesus’ body was found. She hints around that people think it was found and that they think they found his family’s tomb as well but she sticks to the facts letting people believe what they want. The one major problem I had with the book is the incessant recapping. It seemed like every 10 to 30 pages she tells us again who all the players and bodies were and why they mattered and what they thought happened. Every time a new piece of information would come along the process would repeat. Without taking into account the endless recapping it was a great book and an interesting read. While the plot is complicated and hard to explain to someone else the book is actually really easy to follow, maybe because of the refreshing of information that is so often found within its pages.

Other reviews available:

Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs

Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs

Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs

Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs

Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs

Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs

Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs

Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs November 3, 2007

Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs

Genre: Crime Fiction

Published in 2004

Recommended Age Group: Adult

Summary: Monday Mourning begins with Tempe and Claudel in the basement of a pizza place in Montreal where Tempe is digging up three sets of remains and Claudel is shooting rats with his gun. The bones appear to be old and with no belongings present to prove otherwise Claudel decides he has more important things to investigate and basically ignores the case. Tempe is not convinced that the bones are old and sets out to prove her theory through Carbon 14 dating. While waiting for the results she investigates the history of the building and it’s former occupants. One stands out as peculiar and Tempe and Ryan investigate and find not only the killer of the basement women but another crime scene as well. However, things at this scene are not what they appear. She gets a call from a terrified girl and ever the hero Tempe goes to investigate with her friend Anne. However, by doing so she puts both their lives in danger and gets surprised by an unexpected villain who gets away while Tempe tries to save the lives of herself and two other people.

Personal Notes: Another winner from Kathy Reichs. This novel is full of suspense and it not only grabs your interest but keeps it all the way through. It is also full of interesting science tid bits without being overly complicated. I was a bit frustrated in the middle because I thought something was so obvious and why wasn’t Temperance getting it, but in the end I was wrong and it was completely different than I thought. Overall it was a great book and a fun escape from my everyday monotony.

Other reviews available:

Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs

Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs

Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs

Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs

Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs

Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs