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Showing posts from June, 2015

Book Review - Chosen by a Horse by Susan Richards (a memoir)

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For as long as I can remember I have had a love affair with horses. These gentle, loving creatures can gallop into your heart and never let go. If you haven't experienced the thrill of leaping into the air on the back of a 1200 pound mass of muscle to clear a four foot fence - then you have definitely missed out. But even if you have only taken a short trail ride, it's an adventure on the back of a horse. I selected this book based on the fact that it's about a rescued horse. I read the entire book in one sitting and tried hard not to cry in several places. It's not a sad story but there are some very touching places. This is a true story about Susan, a woman with deep wounds from her abusive childhood, and about how a horse, also abused, find peace.  Susan adopts the abused mare, Lay Me Down and her half crazy/wild foal from a rescue center. Despite her own claim to be unable to care for anyone sick or wounded, she brings Lay Me Down back from the brink of deat

Death by Food - Part 4 of ways to die

I know this isn't really funny but I constantly tease my partner that he will probably wind up dead by ice cream.  He's horribly lactose intolerant, to the point where he has a serious reaction which causes him difficulty breathing. That part is definitely not funny. However, he loves ice cream like I love chocolate. I warn him not to give in and consume a half gallon of ice cream if I am not around to call for help. But the wicked writer part of me loves the idea of death by ice cream.  What a way to go! This leads me to part four of my "Death by" series. We've covered shooting, stabbing, strangulation, falls and poison. Why not food? Not food in the sense that you would hide poison in food, because that really is only poison in disguise. If the killer knows someone would have an allergic reaction to a certain food and uses that as his (or her) weapon of choice, it can be interesting. Of course, if you are using food then you would have to be more creative th

Jayne's Restaurant Review - La Bocca Wine & Urban Kitchen

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I recently returned to a restaurant/wine bar in which I had dined almost a year ago - La Bocca Wine & Urban Kitchen. As the weather in Arizona has been beautiful my friends and I decided to dine on the patio in the City North location. As you would expect they have a nice selection of wines and really good happy hour drink pricing. For wines over $10 it's $5 off and for wines under $10 the price is $5. Sorry but I didn't even look at the beer or cocktails when I'm at a wine bar I only have eyes for the wine. Although everything on the menu was full priced during happy hour the prices were not outlandish. We started with an appetizer plate of four bruschetta.  One of smoked proscuitto with figs and truffle oil, one of gorgonzola with pear, basil and balsamic reduction, one of brie with kumquat marmelade and one of fresh ricotta, rosemary and honey. They were divine.  The bread was slightly crisp without being so hard it crumbled. The cheeses were perfect and the pair

How does your past affect your reading?

When you read a novel, are you sometimes entangled by your own expectations or world view?  Do you like to have your expectations turned upside down? Let's picture a gym setting. For most it's automatically representative of health and the desire to look and feel fit. If the main character works in a fitness center you might mentally assign certain characteristics to him or her. But what if our hero takes drugs to maintain muscle mass (i.e. steroids), or has a secret drinking problem or is obese. How does the reader's image of a gym suddenly change? What if the reader was always terrible at athletics or was permanently injured in sports? A gym setting could bring a completely different image to mind. Another example, used in A Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith, shows up when our main character is a veteran. Perhaps you know someone who is a decorated war hero. You may expect a veteran to hold himself to a certain standard, at the very least to be disciplined. B

Book Review - The Body in the Library - Agatha Christie

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I might be one of the few people who have never read Agatha Christie - at least among the readers of cozy mysteries. Honestly, I probably still would not have read her had not my book club selected this for our May meeting. This book is the third in the Miss Marple series and was originally published in 1942. A young woman's body is found in the library of Colonel Bantry, a local upper class resident of the small town, in which Miss Marple resides. As a friend of his wife, Dolly, Miss Marple helps find the killer. Together she and Dolly travel to the resort where the young woman had worked as a social dancer and performed as part of a show for the hotel guests. Miss Marple helps to discover who really killed Ruby and why. Agatha Christie used not one or two detectives on the case but four. Everyone in my book club agreed that this was a bit too much and Miss Marple has a minor role. Maybe because A. Christie was still developing this character but I found Miss Marple unbelievab
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This picture was taken at the Tubac Resort, Stables restaurant. I so love the saddles as seats, I used the description in Menu for Murder. See if you can find which local saloon got this as part of the decor. Happy trails, Leslie

Death by poison - Part 3 of ways to die

In two earlier blog posts I discussed death by gunshot, stabbing, strangling and dropping from a great height. In this post, I'll review another favorite method - poison. There are so many things I love about poison - let me count the ways! You don't have to present for the poison to work. Poison is relatively easy to get, depending on what you use. There are many options available. It's easy to transport. It's easy to dispose of the evidence. It's not immediately obvious, like a gunshot wound or stabbing. I like poison because the author (a.k.a. the killer) can be very creative. Let's take, for example, poison injected into a wine bottle using a hypodermic needle through the cork. The killer attends a party at the home of the intended victim. He (or she) knows the victim enjoys a particular wine varietal and brings the poisoned bottle as a gift. The wine could have come from anyone who attended the party so how do we know who the killer might be? A

Time travel - past, present and future

I recently read a mystery which was set in the 1940's. I didn't enjoy it - not because the story wasn't decent  - but more because I had a difficult time relating to the characters. Not only was the story set in a different country, than the one I reside, but it was set years before I was born. This makes me think of comments made by a friend about the Sue Grafton Kinsey Millhone series. She hated reading them because it bugged her that Kinsey had to find a pay phone. There weren't cell phones in the 1980's when that series was written.  So I have to wonder if mystery readers prefer a certain time period for our mysteries. I will read an occasional historical novel. I don't seek them out, but if someone refers an especially good book, then I will read it. I have been known to read science fiction, especially those set in the future (okay and maybe the entire Twilight series). But as a rule, I like my mysteries to be current. To me the characters are more real.