Mailbox Monday - January 8

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists.

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. It's been a weekend of record-breaking low temperatures around here. A lot of people are dealing with frozen pipes and some communities have experienced water main breaks. We are due for a bit of snow tomorrow, but by the end of the week we should hit 40 or so.

This is the news from my book world:

I finished The Body in the Casket by Katherine Hall Page, which will be reviewed at The Book Connection on January 10.

On Friday, I shared my review of Too Big by Judy Dearborn Nill at Christian Children's Authors.

I also posted about my STORYSTORM progress at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection. I've been participating in this annual event for years. Authors agree to come up with 30 story ideas over the 31 days of January. This used to be Picture Book Idea Month in November. The founder, Tara Lazar, moved it to January and re-titled the event to include authors of all genres last year.

My mailbox was a bit skinny last week. That's okay, I'm focusing on writing at the moment. I finished Chapter 17 of Amelia's Mission. Hope to begin the next chapter at writing group tomorrow night.

I'm reviewing the following book:

Graylin Alexander is a model fourteen-year-old. When his adolescent curiosity gets the best of him, Graylin finds himself embroiled in a sexting scandal that threatens to ruin his life. Jenny Ungerman, the attorney hired to defend Graylin, is smart, confident and committed. She isn’t thrilled, however, when ex-prosecutor Angela Evans joins Graylin’s defense team. The two women instantly butt heads. Can they put aside their differences long enough to ensure Graylin gets justice?

Unbeknownst to Angela, her boyfriend Dre is wrestling with his own drama. Someone from his past wants him dead. For Dre, his response is simple—kill or be killed.

I picked up this one from the library:

There's a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way through the alphabet. And as a macabre calling card he leaves beside each victim's corpe the ABC Railway Guide open at the name of the town where the murder has taken place. Having begun with Andover, Bexhill and then Churston, there seems little chance of the murderer being caught - until he makes the crucial and vain mistake of challenging Hercule Poirot to frustrate his plans.

I pray you have a great week and stay warm. Feel free to share what arrived in your mailbox last week.

Teaser Tuesday for August 7, 2012

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

A burst of red eased up Melinda Mitchell's flabby neck. Her eyes darted sideways in a wordless appeal for her slouch of an attorney to object.

~ page 113, Attorney-Client Privilege by Pamela Samuels Young 

You've Got Mail Monday

I originally thought I would get this done early since the girls were going to vacation Bible school this week, but I decided to go grocery shopping instead of trying to deal with it after they got out. Grocery shopping is my least favorite chore, so I try to get it out of the way early in the week.

Last week was another slow mail week. It looks like Ernie the mailman is back from vacation, because our mail time is back to normal. The majority of what he brought me last week went right into the recycle bin. What I was excited to see, however, were two great books I am reviewing at The Book Connection.

The first is The IRA on Film and Television by Mark Connelly. This is the description:

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) has for decades pursued the goal of unifying its homeland into a single sovereign nation, ending British rule in Northern Ireland. Over the years, the IRA has been dramatized in motion pictures directed by John Ford (The Informer), Carol Reed (Odd Man Out), David Lean (Ryan’s Daughter), Neil Jordan (Michael Collins), and many others. International film stars as Liam Neeson, Brad Pitt, James Mason, Robert Mitchum, James Cagney, Richard Gere, and Anthony Hopkins have portrayed IRA members as heroic patriots, psychotic terrorists and tormented rebels.

 

This illustrated history analyzes celluloid depictions of the IRA from the 1916 Easter Rising to the peace process of the 1990s. Topics include America’s role in creating both the IRA and its cinematic image, the organization’s brief association with the Nazis, and critical reception of IRA films in Ireland, Britain and the United States.

I'm always fascinated by how Hollywood brings history to life on the big or small screen, so I think I'll like this one.

The other book is from one of my favorite legal thriller authors, Pamela Samuels Young. Here's the blurb from Attorney-Client Privilege:

A brutal murder, missing documents and an unscrupulous opposing counsel lead attorney Vernetta Henderson on a quest for justice—and ultimately—revenge. The hotshot L.A. lawyer takes on a corporation with a long history of discriminating against women. While Vernetta simply wants justice for her clients, the corporation’s hired gun wants to win . . . and she doesn’t care how. On the home front, Vernetta’s infamous sidekick Special has finally found true love. But is the price more than she’s willing to pay?

This is another of Young's books featuring attorney Vernetta Henderson. I've also read Murder on the Down Low, which is excellent. I'm excited to read the latest Vernetta Henderson story.

Who are some of your favorite authors? How do you feel about grocery shopping--love it or hate?

April 2011 A to Z Blogging Challenge

What is the A to Z Challenge? It’s blogging a letter of the alphabet every day the month of April (with Sundays off for good behavior.) It began April 1st, with the letter A and ends April 30th, with the letter Z. You can click here to see who else is participating in this challenge.

Today's post is for the letter:

M is for mystery, one of my all time favorite genres. When I was a kid I read Nancy Drew. I also watched The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries on TV in the 1970's. I also enjoyed shows like Scooby-Doo. I once wrote a Scooby-Doo type mystery.

When I was in  my early 20's I would read books like Murder at the Pentagon and Murder in the CIA by Margaret Truman. I still love mysteries. I wish I could write them, but I'm not sure I can think evil enough to create villains.

Some of my recent favorites include:

The Deputy Tempe Crabtree series by Marilyn Meredith
The Rocky Bluff P.D. series by F.M. Meredith
Resurrection Garden by Frank Scully
The Case of the Bouncing Grandma by A.K. Arenz
Love You More by Lisa Gardner
Buying Time by Pamela Samuels Young
Murder on the Down Low by Pamela Samuels Young
The Chill of the Night by James Hayman
The Cutting by James Hayman

Do you like mystery novels? What are some of your favorites?