What I Read And What I Rejected In 2015

Once again, mysteries are my favorite genre, coming in at 66/129 or 51%.  No surprises there.
My goal was to read 130 books this year.  If you just look at the main list, then I didn't quite make it.  But if you count my re-readings/revisions of my own manuscripts, then I passed my goal.

Here's the main list:

2015

1. Armoires and Arsenic by Cassie Page **** cozy 1/3/15
2. In the Wake of the Plague by Norman Cantor ** prejudiced, condescending non-fiction 1/4/15
3. 1603 by Christopher Lee *** non-fiction 1/12/15
4. As Chimney Sweepers Come To Dust by Alan Bradley **** cozy 1/14/15
5. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie **** mystery 1/16/15
6. Zero Tolerance by Claudia Mills **** MG realistic fiction 1/27/15
7. The Accidental Highwayman by Ben Tripp *** YA historical paranormal 1/30/15
8. Crafting a Meaningful Home by Meg Mateo Ilasco *** non-fiction, crafts 1/31/15
9. Crafty Chica’s Guide to Artful Sewing by Kathy Cano Murillo *** non-fiction, crafts 1/31/15
10. The Secret of Terror Castle by Robert Arthur *****MG mystery 2/6/15
11. Dorm Room Decor by Smith and Gonzalez ** non-fiction, crafts 2/6/15
12. The Christmas Book by Council Oak Books ** non-fiction, crafts 2/7/15
13. Recreative by Steve Dodds ** non-fiction, crafts 2/7/15
14. Bowled Over by Victoria Hamilton *** cozy mystery 2/8/15
15. Fabric Memory Books by Lesley Riley **** non-fiction, crafts 2/9/15
16. The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur *****MG mystery 2/10/15
17. The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 2/11/15
18. The Mystery of the Green Ghost by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 2/12/15
19. The Case of the Vanishing Treasure by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 2/12/15
20. Prophet’s Prey by Sam Brower ***** non-fiction (FLDS) 2/13/15
21. The Secret of Phantom Lake by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 2/13/15
22. No Mallets Intended by Victoria Hamilton *** cozy mystery 2/15/15
23. Bran New Death by Victoria Hamilton *** cozy mystery 2/17/15
24. Muffin But Murder by Victoria Hamilton *** cozy mystery 2/18/15
25. The Bishop’s Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison ***** mystery 2/21/15
26. Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith ***** paranormal A/A 3/2/15
27. Stitching Snow by RC Lewis *** YA sci-fi 3/8/15
28. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black **** YA fantasy 3/9/15
29. A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas *** YA fantasy 3/11/15
30. Charisma by Jeanne Ryan *** sort of sci-fi YA romance 3/12/15
31. The Secret of Skull Island by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 3/12/15
32. Prudence by Gail Carriger more or less YA steampunk paranormal 3/21/15
33. The Mystery of the Fiery Eye by Robert Arthur *****MG mystery 3/23/15
34. A Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina **** self-pub YA steampunk 3/25/15
35. The Victorian Home by Judith Flanders ***** non-fiction 3/28/15
36. Pioneer Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Pamela Hill Smith, ed) **** non-fiction 4/4/15
37. The Secret of the Silver Spider by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 4/8/15
38. The Mystery of the Purple Pirate by ?? ***** MG mystery 4/9/15
39. The Polygamous Wives Writing Club by Paula Kelly Harline *** non-fiction 4/11/15
40. The Secret of the Crooked Cat by ?? ***** MG mystery 4/12/15
41. The Mystery of the Magic Circle by Arden ***** MG mystery 4/14/15
42. The Mystery of the Shrinking House by William Arden ***** MG mystery 4/14/15
43. The Mystery of Monster Mountain by ***** MG mystery 4/16/15
44. The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints by MV Carey *****MG mystery 4/18/15
45. The Taking by Kimberly Derting *** YA sci-fi 4/20/15
46. The Mystery of the Dead Man’s Riddle by William Arden ***** MG mystery 4/20/15
47. The  Mystery of the Rogues’ Reunion by Marc Brandel ***** MG mystery 4/21/15
48. The Mystery of the Missing Mermaid by MV Carey ***** MG mystery 4/22/15
49. The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon by Nick West ***** MG mystery 4/23/15
50. The Mystery of the Talking Skull by Robert Arthur ***** MGmystery 4/26/15
51. The Mystery of Death Trap Mine by MV Carey ***** MG Mystery 4/27/15
52. The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs by   ***** MG mystery 4/27/15
53. The Mystery of the Two Toed Pigeon by Marc Brandel ***** MG mystery 4/28/15
54. The Mystery of the Smashing Glass by William Arden ***** MG mystery 4/29/15
55. The Mystery of the Scar Faced Beggar by MV Carey ***** MG mystery 4/30/15
56. The Mystery of the Sinister Scarecrow by MV Carey ***** MG mystery 5/1/15
57. All Four Stars by Tara Dairman ***** MG realistic 5/3/15
58. The Mystery of the Headless Horse by W. Arden ***** 5/5/15
59. The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale by Marc Brandel ***** 5/6/15
60. The Mystery of the Moaning Cave by Willaim Ardn ***** 5/9/15
61. The Mystery of the Creep Show Crooks by MV Carey ***** 5/9/15
62. The Secret of Shark Reef by William Arden ***** 5/10/15
63. Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare ***** (1st period) drama 5/11/15
64. The Mystery of the Deadly Double by William Arden ***** 5/11/15
65. The Mystery of the Dancing Devil by William Arden 5/12/15
66. Time Travel Trailer by Karen Nortman *** chicklit 5/12/15
67. Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare ***** (3rd period) drama 5/13/14
68. The Mystery of Wreckers’ Rock by William Arden MG mystery ***** 5/14/15
69. Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare ***** (5th period) drama 5/14/15
70. Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare ***** (8th period) drama 5/14/15
71. The Mystery of the Wandering Caveman ***** by MV Carey MG mystery 5/15/15
72. The Murder Room by Michael Capuzzo **** non-fiction 5/18/15
73. The Mystery of the Trail of Terror by MV Carey *** MG mystery 5/19/15
74. The Mystery of the Nervous Lion by Nick West ***** MG mystery 5/21/15
75. The Mystery of the Cranky Collector by MV Carey ***** MG mystery 5/23/15
76. A Dollhouse To Die For by Cate Price *** cozy mystery 5/24/15
77. Green Living Can Be Deadly by Staci McLaughlin *** 5/26/15
78. The Jane Austen Handbook by Margaret Sullivan ***** non-fiction, humor 5/28/15
79. The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason *** YA steampunk paranormal time-travel 6/1/15
80. A Bushel Full of Murder by Paige Shelton ***** cozy 6/4/15
81. Dark Chocolate Demise by Jenn McKinlay *** cozy 6/6/15
82. Fundraising the Dead by Sheila Connolly **** cozy 6/8/15
83. Fire Engine Dead by Sheila Connolly **** cozy 6/11/15
84. Let’s Play Dead by Sheila Connolly **** cozy 6/13/15
85. The Vampire Book: the legends, the lore, the allure. *** non-fiction 6/15/15
86. How To Be A Vampire by Amy Gray *** non-fiction 6/16/15
87. Monument to the Dead by Sheila Connolly *** cozy 6/18/15
88. Razing the Dead by Sheila Connolly *** cozy 6/19/15
89. Frankenstein: A Cultural History by Susan Tyler Hitchcock ***** non-fiction 6/20/15
90. Thor Heyerdahl In Brief by ? ***** non-fiction 6/29/15
91. Bryggen Guide Book by ? ***** non-fiction 7/3/15
92. Santa Cruise by Mary Higgens Clark *** cozy 7/5/15
93. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee ***** (3rd? time -- at least) historical fiction 7/9/15
94. The Mystery of the Singing Serpent by MV Carey ***** MG mystery 7/17/15
95. The Mystery of the Invisible Dog by MV Carey *** MG mystery 7/19/15
96. How Shakespeare Changed Everything by Steven Marche *** non-fiction 7/15/15
97. Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudson **** YA paranormal 7/29/15
98. A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil McGregor non-fiction ***** 8/8/15
99. Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee ***** historical 8/10/15
100. Uprooted by Naomi Novik ***** YA Fantasy 8/15/15
101. The Stars of Summer by Tara Dairman ***** MG realistic 8/21/15
102. Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George ***** YA paranormal 8/24/15
103. The Agency: Rivals in the City by YS Lee MG/YA mystery **** 9/2/15
104. The Cracked Spine (ARC) by Paige Shelton **** cozy mystery 9/15/15
105. Emma by Jane Austen ***** romance 9/20/15
106. Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell ***** YA steampunk fantasy (fairytale retelling) 9/25/15
107. Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy **** YA realistic 9/27/15
108. The Poe Estate by Polly Shuman *** MG Horror/Paranormal. 10/3/15
109. The Cage of Deceit by Jennifer Anne Davis *** YA A/A 10/6/15
110. Into the Stone Circle by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel ***** YA ghost story 10/11/15
111. Generic Vampire Novel #937 Part 1: American Sexy *** action/adv/paranormal 10/28/15
112. A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis **** YA historical thriller 10/29/15
113. Jackaby by William Ritter **** humorous YA paranormal mystery 11/3/15
114. Ancient Appetites by Oisin McGann **** YA 14+ steampunk A/A 11/6/15
115. Manners and Mutiny by Gail Carriger ***** YA steampunk 11/8/15
116. When Books Went To War by Molly Guptill Manning 11/14/15
117. Wolf By Wolf by Ryan Graudin ***** YA paranormal alt. history 11/19/15
118. Soundless by Rachel Mead ***** YA fantasy 11/29/15
119. A Killing In Zion by Andrew Hunt ***** historical mystery (LDS) 12/5/15
120. His Right Hand by Mette Ivie Harrison ***** mystery (LDS) 12/6/15
121. Lethal Letters by Ellery Adams **** mystery 12/13/15
122. The Last Word by Ellery Adams **** mystery 12/14/15
123. To Helvetica and Back by Paige Shelton ***** cozy mystery 12/21/15
124. The Humbug Murders by LJ Oliver **** crime 12/22/15
125. Christmas Cottage by Samantha Chase ** romance 12/23/15
126. The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan ***** non-fiction 12/27/15
127. City of Saints by Andrew Hunt **** historical (LDS) mystery 12/28/15
128. Da Vinci’s Tiger by LM Elliot ***** YA historical fiction 12/30/15
129. Lord James Harrington and the Winter Mystery ***** cozy mystery 12/31/15

Here's the manuscript list:

2015

1. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 2/15/15
2. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 4/12/15
3. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 4/26/15
4. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 7/11/15
5. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 7/23/15
6. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 8/31/15
7. Nerissa MacKay and the Secrets of the Seventeen Scrolls 9/12/15
8. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 10/4/15
9. Nerissa MacKay and the Secrets of the Seventeen Scrolls 10/26/15

And, what usually ends up being people's favorite thing to read each year, here's the list of what I began but did not finish.  It's not a completely coherent list, as I just scribble down notes, either in anger or disgust, but here 'tis anyway:

2015

1. The Invention of Murder by Judith Flander.   Too slow moving.  I got bogged down about 100 pages in. early April
2. The Victorian City by Judith Flanders.  Again, I expected this to move like Victorian Home did, but it was just too much Dickens and not enough of non-fiction sources.  Parts were interesting, but parts were too preachy about the poor (just like Dickens).  I kept drifting off to read other things.  After about 250 pages, I just gave up.  4/26/15
3. The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy. Three plots in about 10 pages.  Forget it.  4/18/15
4. Nonna’s Book Of Mysteries by Mary Osborne.  It sounded so promising, but the pace is so slow!  And the protagonist is dumb and lacking personality!  Ugh.  50 pages. 5/7/15
5. Skeleton Crew by Halber.  about a chapter in.  It’s interesting, but far too gruesome for my mood. 5/15/15
6. Scrapped by Mollie Cox Bryan.  After 4 chapters of reading, I could not stand it anymore. The author tried to use 3rd person omniscient by switching the focus every chapter -- and it was a mess!
7. Time Salvager by Wesley Chu.  1st chapter.  Quite well-written, but life’s too short to waste it reading Ender’s Game spin-off set in claustrophobia-inducing space ships. 7/24/15
8. I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest.

I should have known better.  I threw aside her Boneshaker in disgust a couple of years ago when she tried to write for YA but focused all her attention on the mother in the story.  This is truly bad form.  I don't understand why her books are so popular when she has no clue who her audience is.  Of course, she's probably writing for adults who read YA and not for actual kids, but I still loathe it when authors say they've got a certain audience and then write for another.

X has the same problem from a different angle.  In this one, Priest talks to the reader as if s/he is a 9-year-old.  It's condescending.  I could not stand it after a couple of chapters.

This one's going back to the library unfinished. 7/28/15

9. The Princess Spy by Melanie Dickerson.

This one sounded really good, but it's so cliche that it's boring.  Also, the protagonist is exactly that sort of silly airhead that makes a terrific foil for a likable female protagonist but who makes a lousy protagonist.  I do not like dumb protagonists; I cannot relate to them and I have no patience with them.  This protagonist is a sweet, charming, stupid girl.  After 92 pages of this and a predictable plot, I gave up. 7/28/15

10. Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie.

Remember what I just said about hating stupid protagonists?  Well, this book is infinitely worse than Princess Spy.  This protagonist gives his passport and travel documents to a pretty girl who claims to be in danger.

Nope.  I do not waste my time with protagonists that dumb.

When I grabbed the book, I thought it would be a detective solving a mystery about an exceptionally dumb person, but no, the main character is the idiot.

I'm not wasting my time. 7/30/15

11. Tales of the South Pacific by James Mitchener. It’s actually pretty decent; I just don’t have the time right now. 7/31/15

12. The Watchmaker of Filigree St. by Natasha Pulley.  Great characterization, but it’s mixing the Irish Troubles of the 1980s with Victorian England, which I don’t like, and I read in a review that the action will move to Japan. Japan doesn’t interest me.  about 40 pages 8/3/15

13. Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke. This is clearly a book later on in a series and the author does NOTHING to explain to the reader who’s who among the NUMEROUS side characters and backstories.  So very confusing. four chapters 8/10/15

14. Ash and Bramble by Sarah Prineas. This is a fairytale dystopia which is not a particularly good mix.  It’s told in 1st person POV -- except when it switches to 3rd person limited to focus on the male love interest.  This is highly annoying.  Also, it’s told in present tense, which is always annoying.  I stopped reading when the characters were so incredibly stupid as not to realize they might be chased if they were to escape a locked compound wherein other people had been killed for even attempting to escape.  Stupid protagonist + 1st person POV is a recipe for nothing but anger on my part, so I quit reading.  9/26/15

15. Reawakened by Colleen Houck YA paranormal. I must say that a YA mummy book sounded good, as that’s the only traditional monster unexplored in the last few years.  But the characterization in this was so pathetic that I gave up in 24 pages. 10/2/15

16. Sherlock, Lupin, and Me: the soprano’s last song. by “Irene Adler” I like some Holmes adaptations, but this one took way too many liberties with Holmes’ basic personality.  Five chapters. October, 2015

17. Moving Target by Christina Diaz Gonzalez.  This is another book which everyone claims is good just because it has a non-white protagonist.  It does take more than that to make a book good, you know.  This book tries to be a Dan Brown novel for kids, but it just doesn’t work; it’s too unbelievable to have a girl watch her dad get shot and not freak out, to have her friend just happen to know a bunch of secret passages in Italy.  Nope.  This doesn’t work with kids.  four chapters. October, 2015

18. The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt. I guess I just don’t care about Venice that much. 17 pages. October, 2015

19. Walk On Earth A Stranger by Rae Carson.  I didn’t like the premise after just a few pages, which is weird, because I love her other books. October, 2015

20. The Story Spinner by Becky Wallace.  I’ve tried and tried to read this, but it jumps around so much that I can’t make myself care about any of the characters. October, 2015

21. Six of Crows by Leigh Barduga. I really, really wanted to like this, but it’s depressing and violent, and I don’t like the world.  134 pages. October, 2015

22. Lockwood & Co: the Screaming Staircase by Johnathan Stroud. 27 pages of silliness were all I could stomach. 11/13/15

23. Robbie Forester & the Outlaws of Sherwood Street by Peter Abrahams.  I guess I should’ve expected as much from a Robin Hood story, but the whole successful-business-people-are-evil/homeless-people-are-good thing was a bit too Socialist for me.  Gag. 45 pages. Nov. 2015.

24. Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch.  I guess it’s been too long since I read the first book in the series.  I’d totally lost the story and it was not worth the effort to find it again.  After 22 pages, I found I didn’t care at all about the characters anymore. Nove. 2015.

25. Stoneheart by Charlie Fletcher.  It sounded great, but the fantasy world made no sense and had way too much chasing arround with no plot.  52 pages. November, 2015

Book Review: To Helvetica and Back by Paige Shelton

I love cozy mysteries, and Shelton has been my favorite cozy writer for several years now.
I first got hooked on her Farmers' Market series, then smoothed right into her Country Cooking School series.  But now Shelton has a new series out --- this one is minus the recipes of the other two because it's book-themed.
To Helvetica and Back is set in Star City, a fictional version of Park City, Utah.  There are quaint shops, a film festival, and suspicious polygamists lurking not far away.  And skiers.  Plenty of skiers.  The real Park City attracts them from all over -- and one never knows what might be hiding in their pasts.
These elements add to Shelton's excellent characterization skills.  The protagonist is dealing with people she's known forever -- but does she know everything about them?  Not as much as she thought.  And then there's that cute geologist who's new in town.  Her best friend, who just happens to be a cop, has been hinting there's a problem in his past.  Is he really a murderer?
I love how much of Utah Shelton manages to work into this book: mining, skiing, polygamy, the Sundance film festival, geology.  It's great.
And the mystery of a typewriter with coded keys.... even though it was more than obvious what all the numbers referred to, the whole point of Why?  and Why wait so long?  made this into a real mystery.
I rather miss the ghosts from Shelton's Country Cooking School series, and it is odd not to have a few of her great recipes in the back, but I enjoyed the book restoration and sales tidbits.
If you think cozies are silly, then this is not for you.  But if you like them, try out this first-in-a-new-series book by Paige Shelton.  You won't be disappointed.

New Year, New Giveaway!

Care to win a little post-Christmas gift for yourself?  Check this out:

If you live in the USA or Canada and are at least 13 years old, you can enter to win the goodies pictured above.
You'll get a copy of my latest YA paranormal novel, The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay (Check out the details here.), a tote bag featuring the beautiful Tree of Life art work used for the cover of my YA novel Becoming Brigid (you can learn more about that book here), a bookmark and a button from the Half-Vampire series (have and look here and here for more information on those), and a cream-colored, light-weight shawl from Russia.
Why a shawl?  Well, Nerissa MacKay is an eccentric girl who dresses for a different theme every day, and she has some unusual clothing.  This shawl is exactly the sort of thing she'd happily pull out of Grandma Maggie's trunk and wear around her shoulders with and evening dress for a Glamor Evening look -- or toss over her head for a peasant look -- or wear twisted around her neck with a bomber jacket to create a WWI flying ace look (Curse you, Red Baron!).
Where did it really come from and why am I giving it away?  It was given to me by a Russian girl I met in Scotland.  (It's common for veteran travelers to take gifts to give to new friends; I've given away dozens of bandanas and imitation turquoise necklaces and US flag pins in 25 different countries.)  Since I own 6 other Russian shawls (purchased in Russia), 1 Italian silk shawl (yup, purchased in Italy), and two off-white Mexican shawls (yes, purchased in Mexico) very similar to this one, I've never worn in.  It's been carefully wrapped and sitting in a drawer for several years, and someone else may as well enjoy it.
Want it?  Want the rest of the goodies?  Enter right here:


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Charming Small-Town Libraries

We bookish folks love libraries.  We even visit them when we travel.
Due to my own and family members' health problems, I haven't been blogging much or writing much since before Thanksgiving.  But earlier in 2015, I did have some vacation time, and I snapped some shots of some great little libraries.

This is the library in Bergen, Norway.  It's in a very prominent spot between the train station and the large city park.

And this library was darling:

Located in the near-village of Mount Pleasant, Utah, it was built art deco style with Carnegie funds in 1917.  It has comfy leather chairs, a sizable amount of books for a small town library, restrooms, and a grumpy librarian.  The art deco windows are the best. :)  I bought a book there at their used book sale.

Book Reviews: Two Mormon Mysteries Contrasted

A week or so ago, I happened to read two Mormon mysteries back-to-back, which provided for an interesting experience.

The first one was A Killing in Zion by Andrew Hunt.

This book was the second in a series, but, although I hadn't read the first book, I had no trouble catching onto the characters and set up.  This is always a plus in a mystery series.
Hunt has set this series in Salt Lake City in the 1930s, specifically for this book in the summer of 1934, and he clearly revels in his historical research.  He describes streets and buildings I know or have heard about (Sweet's Candy Company, anyone?) and appears to pay meticulous attention to details -- except when he doesn't.
In this particular story, Hunt uses the murder of Rulon Allred  by a polygamist rival as an inspiration for his fictional crime set decades earlier.  He changes the real polygamist towns of Hilldale and Colorado City (collectively known as Short Creek) to Dixie City, but that's OK; it's fiction after all.  However, he's got the polygamists wearing pioneer clothes decades too early; a brief glance at the round-up photos even from the 1950s show that they didn't start their back-to-Brigham look until later.
Also, Hunt has a few other anachronisms which seem to arise from using only books for research and not talking to real people: 1) Family Home Evening.  Uh, that was a David O. MacKay Mormon thing which took hold in the late 1960s and early 70s.  Hunt's a good 30 years too early. 2) His cop protagonist keeps noting how the nearby wildfires have polluted the air in the Salt Lake Valley.  However, what Hunt doesn't seem to be aware of is that this would have made the summer skies look like the winter skies.  In the 1930s, Salt Lake residents used mostly coal in their furnaces, and the result was winter air thick enough to slice -- air that made our current temperature inversions look sparkling clean in comparison.  Hunt's protagonist would surely have thought of this, but Hunt doesn't seem to know about it.  3) The protagonist's wife teaches school at East High.  She's married, has two kids at home, and is pregnant, and she's teaching school in 1934.  Probably not.  Obviously, Hunt wants to make his cop protagonist into a man with modern appeal, a man who thinks of his wife as a partner instead of as a lesser human whose job it was to keep him happy.  While I admire this sentiment, I believe Hunt has pushed it too far past believability.  He seems to have forgotten that 1934 was during the Depression.  I knew a woman (now deceased) who taught school in the Salt Lake Valley in 1934; she had to hide her marriage and lie to her employer in order to keep her job, as it was district policy to fire married women so a man could have the job.  (It was assumed that a married woman would be taken care of by her husband.)  When this woman got pregnant, she had to quit because she could no longer hide her lie.  Thus, I have a hard time believing that this pregnant school teacher whose husband has a good job would be allowed to continue her profession in 1934.
Then there's the problem of travel.  The protagonist and his buddy zip out past Utah Lake to an abandoned army fort without one thought of where they would buy gas.  They also travel south to the fictional Dixie City -- which is somewhere past St. George, Utah -- without a single tire blow-out and without even worrying about the car's overheating in scorching weather.  This is ridiculous.  People who lived in southern Utah at the time used to tie wet burlap to the grills of their cars to help keep the engines and radiators cool.  Heck, I used to drive a 1966 VW Beetle, and it would just shut down in weather over 100 degrees.  Yet Hunt's characters have no car problems at all.  They don't even worry about paying for gas in the height of the Depression.  This bothered me.
Other than that, the book is pretty good.   The protagonist is a bit of a Mary Sue, but the criminal underworld of the polygamist clans was great.
I'd definitely recommend this book to mystery lovers and those who enjoy historical fiction.

I then read His Right Hand by Mette Ivie Harrison, the sequel to The Bishop's Wife, which I reviewed here.

As a mystery, His Right Hand isn't quite as good as The Bishop's Wife: the guilty party is too obvious way too early in the book.  And again, the big problem with setting a series of books in a tight Mormon community is that there's just so very much that must be explained to the non-Mormon, non-Utahn reader.  This does bog things down a bit.
However, I feel that this is an important book, rather than a terrific mystery.  Harrison explores gender issues within a strict religious setting, and that's a very hot topic for 2015.  (Only a few short months ago, Born Again Kim Davis became a homophobic heroine to many who claim to be Christians.) Harrison probes into some pretty deep areas about gender as a construct vs a God-given state.  (I suspect the author may have been reading some feminist literary theory, which is something not very many Mormon women do.)  She forces the reader to think through some difficult things: What does gender mean?  Is it fluid?  How can a person be devout in a religious organization which actively condemns what the said person believes is true about her/his basic identity? What are the downsides to the LDS Law Of Chastity?  How many marital problems are caused by following this doctrine?  How many suffer in silence and ignorance because all discussion is taboo?  How can the kind-hearted religious person who fits the mold possibly understand and accept the person who does not?  These are some might tough questions with which lots of LDS women wrestle.  And I think Harrison's book might make a few more women -- those who perhaps feel that the "Sunday School" answers will do (Note: LDS Sunday School answers to all life's problems are: pray, go to church, read the scriptures.) -- wrestle a bit more and think a bit more deeply.
Thus, while His Right Hand is not a superb mystery, it IS a superb bit of philosophy wrapped into a contemporary mystery novel in a way that will make difficult thinking accessible to the non-academic reader.  I'd like to see this book in the hands of all Utah Relief Society members -- but that image makes me giggle. :)
If you're not from Utah and not a Mormon, you might have some difficult with this book.  However, if gender issues and/or religions grappling with modernization interests you, it might be a good choice anyway.

Spend Christmas With A Half-Vampire! Giveaway!

Let's have another book-and-swag giveaway!  (Hey, it's Christmas.  Why not?)

Of all my books, the Half-Vampire ones have remained the most popular.  I guess there's just something alluring about a vampire....
Fortunately for all of you, I still have some Half-Vampire swag left to give away with books.  Let's start with this bundle here:

This prize pack will include a copy of Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire by Lisa Shafer (that's ME!), a "Just another average half-vampire" tee-shirt (size XL), a bookmark featuring Confessions on one side and the sequel, All in the Half-Vampire Family, on the other, a button featuring the blood splatter and the Half-Vampire logo, and the "Vampire's Lair" scent pack from Adventure Scents tucked into a "frosted blood" jar with a silver lid.
(To learn more about the books, click on the titles or visit my "books" page.)

Are you age 13 or older?  Good.  You can enter.  Here's the giveaway:




a Rafflecopter giveaway

And the winner is.....

Mary S. has won the tote bag full of goodies!

But don't worry; another giveaway is coming soon. :)