The Shadowed Mind by Julie Cave

The Shadowed Mind by Julie Cave ISBN-13: 9780890515907 Trade Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: MasterBooks Released: Nov. 2010 Author Website

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description from Back Cover:
Who will be found worthy to live; who is the next victim?

After the deadly investigation into the Smithsonian murders, Dinah Harris is now facing a daily battle to keep her sobriety while struggling to form a new career from the ashes of her former job as an FBI agent. From the shadows will emerge a cunning and terrifying killer, who carefully and methodically will decide whose life has value to society and whose does not.

Using her profiling and security skills as a private consultant based in Washington, DC, Dinah uncovers a connection to the shadowy world of neoeugenics, and those who publicly denounce the killings but privately support a much different view.

Against this backdrop, Dinah must come to terms with her own past. Those associated with the deepening mystery face their own personal demons and struggle with the concept of God's inexhaustible grace and forgiveness. Old secrets are revealed, tragedies unearthed, and the devastating legacy of science without compassion is finally brought to light.

The second book in this thrilling new fiction trilogy!


My Review:
The Shadowed Mind is a well-written, fast-paced detective suspense novel. It's the second novel in the trilogy, but you don't need to have read the first novel (Deadly Disclosures) to follow what's happening in this one. However, the "whodunit" in the previous novel is somewhat revealed in this one, so I'd recommend reading them in order if both sound interesting to you.

The suspense came from trying to stop the killer before he killed again, personal danger to the main characters, and Dinah's struggle with alcoholism. A subplot with some secondary characters also created suspense by the stresses the daughter (Ella) underwent in dealing with her father's Alzheimer's Disease and her anger after learning a horrible secret about his past.

The characters were interesting, complex, and had realistic struggles. Dinah struggled with staying sober during a stressful case and with her quick temper.

The details about the police work, setting, and historical information relating to the case where excellent and interesting yet didn't slow the story down. These details brought the story alive in my imagination.

I don't think most people will figure out who the killer is before Dinah does, but it is possible to do so. Overall, I thought this was a more polished novel than the first one, but I still noticed some inaccurate, conflicting, or odd minor details. Like why did Cage and Dinah (who's on the case as a profile consultant) ignore that the profile she made of the killer didn't match their favorite suspect?

Dinah and several minor characters were Christians. Dinah and Ella struggled realistically with forgiveness and grace in their difficult circumstances and talked with other Christians about this struggle. Also, Dinah consulted a Christian about the Christian viewpoint of eugenics, but she also consulted a secular source and heard the views of several pro-eugenics characters. I felt the pro-eugenics characters were handled realistically.

There was no sex and no bad language. I'd highly recommend this well-written, suspenseful novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
He looked utterly ordinary.

Cruising the streets of Washington DC, he looked like he belonged there. He was wearing a charcoal pinstriped suit, a red and blue silk tie, and shiny Italian leather shoes. He carried a calfskin briefcase. His cell phone was tucked in his pocket — one of his most useful props. Who would look twice at a man in a suit with a briefcase and cell phone, in the heart of DC?

Yet his reasons for being in the city were far from ordinary. He had come to find and stalk his prey.

It was early evening in the first week of a promising summer. The streets were busy and the restaurants and cafes packed with patrons, enjoying the arrival of longer, warmer days. A new, wild optimism seemed to charge the atmosphere when summer arrived — the shackles of winter thrown off, thoughts turned now to vacations, beaches, and the possibility of a tan. Business lunches seemed less highpowered, with talk revolving around yachts and summer houses rather than the economy and falling commodity prices.

He should know — he existed in that world during the day and partook in those very lunches and conversations. But at night, when the mood overcame him, a new creature emerged.

His prey wouldn’t be found on Pennsylvania Avenue or Constitution Avenue. He would have to traverse the shadowy alleyways and the darkest corners of the city to find what he was looking for. He wasn’t afraid. He was the one who struck fear into the hearts of others.

He headed northeast of the city, where crack cocaine was sold on the streets only blocks away from Capitol Hill. He was entering neighborhoods where the shade of his skin could put him in danger, but he strode confidently. As he walked, his eyes constantly roamed, taking in the people around him. Though he received several catcalls and jeers, those who got sufficiently close enough to see his eyes soon backed away.

He realized that in this part of town, potential victims were plentiful. Human life was cheap and could be bought by the highest bidder. But he wanted more than a chance to buy five minutes in an alleyway.

It took some time, but finally he found someone who had real potential. She stood on a street corner, arms crossed over her skinny ribcage, and shoulders hunched defensively. Her dirty blonde hair hung forward over her face, but he could see that she was still attractive despite the weariness evident in her face. Track marks dotted both arms. Boldly, he approached.

Read more from chapter one.

I Shall Not Want by Debbie Viguie

I Shall Not Want by Debbie Viguie ISBN-13: 978-1-4267-0190-0 Trade Paperback: 268 pages Publisher: Abingdon Press Released: Oct. 2010 Author Website

Source: Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher.

Book Description from Back Cover:
Charity work can be murder!

It’s Thanksgiving and Joseph Tyler, one of the members of Cindy’s church, has organized a new charity that provides homeless people with rescue dogs to love and care for. But one by one, the homeless recipients are being murdered and their dogs stolen.

Could an overly competitive millionaire with his prize-winning pooches and a grudge be behind the crimes? Or could it be someone much closer to Joseph who has something sinister to hide?

Cindy and Jeremiah must rush to find a killer before he strikes again.


My Review:
I Shall Not Want is a fun cozy mystery. This book is the second in the series, but you don't need to read the first book in order to understand this one. However, this book promptly revealed who the murderer was in the previous novel, so you'll want to read the first novel before this one if you're intending to read it.

There's an underlying humor to this mystery, and the characters were engaging and interesting. I figured out whodunit long before the characters did (due to understanding mystery forms, not because the characters overlooked obvious clues), but the writing was good enough to keep me reading and enjoying it.

While the "police stuff" was generally good (and safely vague), I did wonder about the scene where two men entered a dark, apparently deserted morgue to set the corpse of a murder victim on an examination table and promptly left. Wouldn't they need to process the body (paperwork) and refrigerate it until it was time to examine the body?

Though the main characters were a church secretary, a rabbi, and an atheist police detective, there was very little religious content. Certainly, none of the characters tried to convert each other.

I was reading an advanced reader copy, so this may be changed in the final version. However, several times the rabbi referred to God as "Jehovah" in his casual conversations. First, that's not the Hebrew spelling of God's name. Second, he also referred to God as "Yahweh" once, near the end. Third, Jews--even those not highly devout--don't casually refer to God by His personal name. They even write "G-d" rather than "God" when referring to Him. Also, when asked to pray before the Thanksgiving dinner was eaten, the rabbi gave a very Christian-style prayer rather than a Jewish one. Granted he's a cool character with a mysterious past, but I didn't find him very convincing as a devout Jewish believer let alone the leader of a synagogue.

There was no sex and minimal gore (mainly just references to pools of blood). There were a few uses of both explicit and "he cussed"-style bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable novel, especially to those who love dogs and mysteries.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
Cindy Preston loved Friday. Anything-can-happen Fridays was how she liked to think of them. As they neared the holidays, they became even more deserving of their name as First Shepherd church became a center of activity. Being a secretary at a church was a far more chaotic job than most people imagined.

For Cindy, the job had gotten even more exciting a few months earlier when she had stumbled across a dead body in the church sanctuary. The week that followed had seen many people murdered by a serial killer, one whom Cindy had helped stop.

For a couple of months afterward, the church had seen a large swell in attendance as people wanted to come gawk at the woman who survived attack by the Passion Week killer and helped the police turn the tables on him.

Their interest had gradually waned, and aside from three new members who actually joined the church, things had pretty much returned to normal. That was just how Cindy liked it.

The one unfortunate thing was that her friendship with Jeremiah--the rabbi at the synagogue next door--forged in shared danger, had slowly faded as well. They still exchanged pleasantries over the shrub hedge that separated the parking lots of the church and the synagogue, but not much else. It made sense, really. They had nothing in common.

Please pray for...

The 13-year girl I mentor & her father woke up this morning to discover that her mother died during the night. Please pray for them. Thanks.

For Whom the Stars Shine by Linda Chaikin

For Whom the Stars Shine by Linda Chaikin ISBN-13: 1-55661-647-3 Trade Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Bethany House Publishers Released: 1999

Source: Bought through Half.com.

Book Description from Back Cover:
Set in Hawaii in 1888 to 1891, Eden Derrington's world is in disorder. When she was young, her mother died in a boating accident that no one in the family wants to talk about. Her father travels far and wide looking for a cure for leprosy as the disease gets worse on the islands and Hawaiians who catch the disease--no matter their influence--are forced to live in isolation on the island of Molokai. For years, she's lived with an uncle and his native wife who continue the family's missionary past by ministering to the native Hawaiians. But recently she's been taken to live with an uncle and aunt who own a huge plantation.

The family is dividing down political lines. The king of Hawaii is ill and may die soon. The plantation owners are worried that his sister will make political ties with Britain instead of America when she becomes queen. Eden's uncle is pressuring America to take Hawaii as a territory and make it a republic. Her aunt is a staunch supporter of the queen's right to rule.

But when Eden receives a mysterious note implying that her mother's accident was really a hushed-up murder, Eden begins to question everything she thought she knew. If only she could remember that night when she last saw her mother; the night Eden fell down a flight of stairs and hurt her head...


My Review:
For Whom the Stars Shine is a historical set mainly in Hawaii from 1888 to 1891. It also has a fairly typical romance and a mystery about Eden's mother's death. However, it's primarily a historical novel, and anyone skilled in solving mystery novels will probably have this mystery figured out before the book is halfway done.

Daily and social historical details were woven into the story which created a vivid picture of what life was like then. There was also a lot of information on the (past) Hawaiian missionary movement and (current) political turmoil in Hawaii due to the plantation owners wanting to have Hawaii made an American territory. If you're not interested in this, then you'll probably find the level of detail a little heavy since more information was given than was strictly needed. However, if you are interested, this story is a very enjoyable way to learn about about this history.

The characters were engaging, though Eden was rather naive and the only other character we really got to know was Rafe. The suspense was created by the mystery surrounding Eden's mother's death and the family discord.

There was a high level of Christian content, from giving the history of the missionaries on Hawaii to a preacher character who liked to quote Scripture. But I didn't feel like any of it was preaching at the reader. There was no bad language or sex. Overall, I'd recommend this novel as an enjoyable way to learn more about this period in Hawaiian history.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
On Oahu, near Honolulu
Pearl Lagoon, Kea Lani Plantation

White moonlight filtered through the palms and reflected from rain beads, illuminating the distant wooden cross on the small mission church founded by Eden Derrington's parents. Nineteen-year-old Eden galloped her horse along the wet sandy beach as leafy fronds shook overhead. She must hurry! Would Ambrose still be at the church?

It was after ten. The night was full of wind, shaking trees and raising ocean waves that inched closer toward the narrow dirt road.

Not far from the little church, a golden light glowed in a window of a thatched-roof house built on silts. Nearby, heaps of coconuts, bananas, and mangoes shone with pale muted tints of yellow-golds and browns.

Eden urged her mare onward, its dainty hooves kicking up sand. She had just left a prestigious dinner at Kea Lani Plantation House, and there hadn't been time to change into her riding habit. As she raced along, her silken frock flowed in the moonlight, the stylish Victorian eggshell lace at the high neck and wrists fluttering like nervous bird wings. A strand of her ebony hair had come loose from its sedate chignon and whipped over her shoulder. Eden's eyes, like two green peridots, shone in the moonlight. She breathed gulps of warm, moist, salty air mingled with a strange potpourri of sweet-scented flowers that shook on tall bushes and robust vines.

Toxic Waste by Helen Goodman

Toxic Waste by Helen Goodman ISBN-13: 978-0-373-26642-5 Mass Market Paperback: 252 pages Publisher: Worldwide Mystery Released: 2008

Source: Bought at a library book sale.

Book Description from Back Cover:
Recently recovered from a stroke, Fonnie Beachum is ready to reclaim her life--with a little help from her grandson, a rookie cop, and a competent but preoccupied aide who helps out daily. But her bustling North Carolina town is embroiled in a bitter controversy over a proposed landfill, and Fonnie has divided loyalties. When Christine Hauner, Fonnie's aide, is found dead at a demonstration, the older woman takes it personally.

Along with her new friend Bebe Englehook, a dedicated activist determined to expose the dangerous landfill scheme, Fonnie digs into Christine's past. But high-stakes corruption and scandal are dangerous traps for a woman just learning to walk with a cane. But Fonnie hasn't come this far to sell out to a clever killer--at any price.


My Review:
Toxic Waste is a cozy mystery with an elderly lady doing the detecting with the help of some friends. The target audience appeared to be adult women. This book is the second in the series, but you don't need to have read the first book to follow this one.

The story had a serious tone since the characters were dealing with realistic problems, like Fonnie learning to get her independence back and dealing with feeling insecure in her house after her house was robbed. The characters were varied and engaging. The mystery was a somewhat complex whodunit with a surprising solution. Suspense was created by the physical danger to those investigating the crime.

I accept why Fonnie felt the need to "help the police out" up until she solved the crime. However, I wasn't convinced by her reasoning after she solved the mystery which led her to put herself (and others) in danger in the grad finale scene. The author also had a supporting character do something supremely stupid (tell information to someone she suspected which would put her life in danger if he indeed was the killer) near the end to create suspense. Characters that suddenly do something (uncharacteristically) stupid which puts them in danger is a pet peeve of mine, so I found this annoying.

Cover Note: While there was concern in the story about landfill leakage contaminating local water sources, this story has nothing to do with dumping toxic waste directly into streams like this cover and book title suggests.

There was no sex. There was a very minor amount of bad language. Despite the author hitting a pet peeve of mine, I enjoyed this mystery and would recommend it.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
October 5

I'm scared. It's a new feeling for me. Even when I had my stroke I wasn't scared. Depressed? Yes. But not scared. I knew I would either die or learn to cope. Dying would have been easier, but instead, I coped. It hasn't been simple. Physical therapy is brutal, but I've made progress. My doctor says I don't need to be at Springwillow now. I've gone from a wheelchair to a quad cane. I can shuffle down the hall. And with Velcro, I can pretty much dress myself. But am I really ready to go home?

And the worst thing about being afraid is I can't tell anybody. I have my public persona to protect. I'm the invincible Fonnie Beachum, next in line to the unsinkable Mollie Brown. But surely even Mollie had her periods of self-doubt, her "monsters under the bed" moments.

Fonnie studied the computer screen; she glanced over her left shoulder to be sure no one had come up behind her. The room was empty except for the row of monitors with their multicolored screen savers waiting to commune with other lonely souls. Several months ago she'd started keeping a journal. Brian had suggested it. "It'll be good for you, Gram. Just write whatever comes into your head. It's like having your own private shrink, except instead of lying on a sofa, you can spill your guts to the computer."

"And this is supposed to save my sanity?"

"Well," Brian said, giving her a big grin. "Maybe not save it, but it'll make losing your mind more interesting."

Three Doors to Death by Rex Stout

Three Doors to Death by Rex Stout Mass Market Paperback: 150 pages Publisher: Bantam Books Released: June 1966

Source: Bought at a library book sale.

Book Description, my take:
Nero Wolfe solves three cases in this short story collection:

"Man Alive" - A young fashion model comes to Wolfe because she saw her uncle, who supposedly committed suicide months ago, at her last fashion show. But then the uncle is found dead in his old office, and Wolfe must discover who killed him.

"Omit Flowers" - Wolfe's friend and favorite chef asks him to investigate a murder that he swears a chef friend was framed for. The wealthy widow of a fast-food chain married a man she wanted trained to take over the business. The chef and her children didn't want him to take over, and they were all present at the time of the murder. But who did it?

"Door to Death" - Wolfe is in desperate need of a good gardener to take care of his orchids--so much so that he actually goes to the gardener to convince him. But right after the gardener agrees to come, they discover the dead body of the gardener's girlfriend in the greenhouse. The police arrest the gardener, but Wolfe isn't about to lose his orchid expert!


My Review:
Three Doors to Death is a collection of three short mystery stories that were written in the late 1940s and set in New York. The mysteries were whodunit logic puzzles in style but have an underlying humor. Due to the short story format, the characters didn't have much depth or complexity...though Wolfe and his clever assistant were engaging and a little more filled out.

I think I like Nero Wolfe as a brainy detective better than Sherlock Holmes and the like. It's Wolfe's genius that allows him to ask the right questions and know how to play various characters off each other. However, we get the clues as he does and so the exact moment that Wolfe knew (without a doubt) who did it, I did, too. The timing was impeccable, keeping me fully engaged in the puzzle but never feeling frustrated. I've never read anything else by Rex Stout, so I wonder if his novels are like this, too.

There was a minor amount of cussing and swearing. There was no sex. Overall, I'd highly recommend this novel (and author) to those who like logic-puzzle mysteries.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from "Man Alive"
She said in her nicely managed voice that was a pleasure to listen to, "Daumery and Nieder."

I asked her politely, "Will you spell it, please?"

I meant the Daumery, since I already had the Nieder down in my notebook, her name being, so she had said, Cynthia Nieder.

Her lovely bright blue eyes changed expression to show that she suspected me of kidding her--as if I had asked her to spell Shakespeare or Charlie Chaplin. But I was so obviously innocent that the eyes changed again and she smiled.

She spelled Daumery and added, "Four ninety-six Seventh Avenue. That's what we get for being so cocky about how famous we are--we get asked how to spell it. What if someone asked you how to spell Nero Wolfe?"

"Try it," I suggested, smiling back at her. I extended a hand. "Put your fingers on my pulse and ask me. But don't ask me how to spell Archie Goodwin, which is me. That would hurt."

Wolfe grunted peevishly and readjusted a few hundred of his pounds in his built-to-order high-test chair behind his desk. "You made," he told our visitor, "an appointment to see me. I suppose you need a detective. If so tell me what for, without encouraging Mr. Goodwin to start caterwauling. It takes very little to set him off."

And the winner is...

It's time to pick the winner of Hangman's Curse by Frank Peretti. Including the Twitter entries, we had 69 people enter. Using a random number generator and numbering the entrants in the order I received their entries, the winner is:


Kristina Barnes


Congratulations! I'll be contacting you for your address.

For those who didn't win, you can always join in the fun by buying the book at your favorite bookstore!