Unlucky 13 by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro MYS Pat

This is the only series in which Patterson is involved that I still read.  I have listened to all of them and find them entertaining.  In the latest installment the main heroine, Lindsay Boxer, is happy being a mother.  But she still wants to be the best detective in the world!  Luckily her husband is happy to do baby duty when Lindsay is busy.  When she receives a picture from the FBI she immediately recognizes the face of Mackie Morales. Morales had been an intern with the department - and doing a little killing on the side.

Lindsay fears for the safety of her friends, her family and herself.  Besides this loose psychopath, someone is putting an explosive in hamburgers which soon explode in the victim's stomach.  On the brighter side, one of her friends is getting married.  The characters are likeable so I always enjoy the stories.

The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir by Dee Williams 640.92 Wil

There are some books that inspire me - and this one did just that.  I got rid of some more 'stuff' that has been hanging around my house.  This woman ended up living in an  eighty-four-square-foot house.  She did some serious downsizing.

Dee had a busy life.  Besides working full-time she spent a lot of time fixing up the house she had bought.  The things she taught herself how to do was amazing.  She loved her house but as we all know,  home ownership is one of those things that keeps on taking......time and money.  How freeing would it be to downsize - both financially and mentally?

When she had a serious health scare at 41 she realized that she wanted to change her priorities.

Enter the idea of a DIY tiny-urban-house.  She had read an article about these houses by a guy who lives in Iowa City.  After calling him and asking some questions she ends up coming to Iowa to talk to him.  It is not a very big structure - how long could it possibly take to build????  A bit longer than she thought.

Her memoir takes us through the trials and tribulations.  And then she tells us about her new home with such wonderful vocabulary that I want one!  Of course I would just put it in my side yard and spend a few hours enjoying the stars or rain and then I would come back inside.  However, the idea of being able to clean a house in 10 minutes and to spend $8 a month on utilities is very appealing.

I loved the book and I loved her (partly because every night she carries her (rather large) dog up the ladder to go to bed).  My kind of person. 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (FIC Bac)

Ove, a 59-year-old Swedish man, is a curmudgeon.  Rigid and set in his ways.  Follows the rules and expects others to follow them, too.  A cheapskate.  In the words of one of the characters, Ove "was the sort of man who, when he was not quite certain where he was going, just carried on walking straight ahead, convinced that the road would eventually fall into line."  And the road did.

Ove may be unbending but he had one great love in his life - his wife, Sonje who passed away six months before the novel opens.  Ove's goal is to join her and over the course of the novel he tries various ways to do just that.  His efforts are thwarted, however, by his new neighbors, Patrick and Parvaneh, and their two daughters.  He tries his best to resist them but finds himself drawn into their lives as they are drawn into his.  And then there's the stray cat that won't leave him alone.  His wife loved cats...

In alternating chapters we learn how Ove became the man he is, the story of his life with Sonje, and just how all those neighbors who thought they knew him so well were so wrong.  Ove's story is funny and heartwarming, heartbreaking and uplifting.  Ultimately it is the story of how one man's life can affect many others, no matter how hard he tries to ignore them.

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian FIC Boh

When the nuclear power plant in Emily Shepherd's northeast Vermont hometown has a meltdown, she finds herself evacuated with the rest of her school -- as well as the other residents of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont -- unable to return home.  Both of her parents worked at the plant, and almost certainly died in the explosion.  Even more upsetting, the speculation is that her father was responsible for the catastrophe, with a history of being drunk at work.  With no siblings and no extended family, she finds herself orphaned and homeless, and afraid for her life as the daughter of the most hated man in America. 

Rather than remaining with her evacuated schoolmates, and taking her chances with the social workers, Emily runs to Burlington.  Now, the teenager is alone and trying to survive while inventing a new identity for herself.  Her life is theft, prostitution, and drug use before she meets Cameron, a young boy who is also living on the streets.  In caring for Cameron, Emily realizes that she can't outrun her past or her grief and returns to the only place she can.

This is not a feel-good book, but it is beautifully written and compelling.

The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger FIC Rie

Sophie Diehl, a young criminal law associate for an old, established New England law firm, gets roped into doing the intake interview for the daughter of the firm's biggest client when all of the partners are away one weekend.  Mia Meiklejohn Durkheim was served divorce papers at a prominent upscale restaurant -- and learned of Dr. Daniel Durkheim's affair with a colleague -- after 18 years of marriage.  Mia is not out for her husband's blood (or money), but wants to humiliate him and even the score.  Sophie warns Mia that she’s never handled a divorce case before, but Mia won't be swayed; she wants Sophie.  As Mia puts it:  It’s her first divorce, too. 

Old family money (Mia's), current and future money (Daniel's, courtesy of a medical degree and prominent career as an oncologist), and custody of the Durkheims' young daughter, Jane, are all sources of contention for the Durkheim's, as well as for Mia's father, Jane's doting grandfather.  Sophie's experience as a criminal attorney colors her responses to the sleazy divorce attorney hired by Dr. Durkheim, cutting through the normal back-and-forth minutia like a sharp blade.  Meanwhile, Sophie finds herself examining her own relationships as a result of the whole affair: with her own divorced parents, her friends, colleagues, lovers, and with herself.

Smart and bitingly funny, this epistolary novel tells the story through emails, memos, personal notes, newspaper articles, and legal documents.  Not quite chick lit, it's an easy, fun read if you're looking for a little bit of brain candy.

Leaving Everything Most Loved: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear MYS Win

This Maisie Dobbs novel takes place in 1933.   A young Indian woman is found shot to death.  Her name is Usha Pramal.  Maisie becomes part of the case when Usha's brother comes to England to find out what happened.  He doesn't feel that Scotland Yard has done a very good job of trying to solve it.   At the time of her death Usha was living in a type of hostel run by a couple 'trying to do good'.  The women who stayed there were all Indian women who had been servants or nannies to British families stationed in India.  When their services were no longer required they were left with no money to return home and few skills.   Usha did not fit into that category.  Although she had been doing menial jobs to earn money while living in the hostel, Maisie finds out that she worked for a family as a teacher.  The plot thickens when another young woman from the hostel is killed in a similar way.

Besides this case Maisie has other problems.  Her lover, James, is going to Canada for business.  He will be gone for several months.  And at the end of that time he wants an answer from Maisie.  Talk about pressure.  She is feeling an overwhelming desire to travel.  When this case wraps up she plans to go to India.

Another easy read with a little mystery, a little romance and an historical background for the action.

Pardonable Lies: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear MYS Win

This is one of the older Maisie Dobbs novels that I had somehow missed.  It was still very readable even if it was out of order!   If you love the 'old-time' detectives who do their solving using
their brains (like Sherlock, Miss Marple and Hercule) you will enjoy this series.  Maisie is part detective and part psychologist.  Her new case is an odd one.  She has been asked to prove that someone is dead.
 
Before Agnes Lawton died, she tried everything possible to find out about her son who was supposedly killed in the war.  She engaged the services of several psychic mediums and was convinced that he had not died.  On her deathbed she begged her husband to grant one final wish - to find out what happened to him.  The father, Sir Cecil Lawton,  does not believe that his son is alive but feels compelled to grant that dying wish.
   
This case will take Maisie back to France where she will have to face the demons of war that still haunt her.  An easy read with a great heroine.  The backdrop of post WWI Europe makes these cases even more interesting to me.
   (I listened to the audiobook and it was great.)