"H" is for Homicide--#69 finished

I wasn't planning on jumping into the next book in this series so quickly but I was donating blood and wanted a book along in case there was a wait and this being one of the old mass market paperbacks that fits into my pocket I grabbed it.  Now days later I have finished it.  Like all in this series it was a quick and fun read.  Kinsey gets pulled into an insurance scam gang but at least the police know she was pulled in & they wanted her help.  Action starts in home town Santa Teresa but moves to LA.  A more gritty kind of book that some in this series.  A good quick read.

This stays on my keeper shelf.

Trumpocracy--#68 finished

The rest of the title: The Corruption of the American Republic.  David Frum was a Republican that like many left the party after the election of Donald Trump back in 2016, maybe earlier since some were actively trying to help Hillary then.  This book was published in Jan 2018, so most of 2017 is what he was writing about--not even 1 year after the inauguration.  Things he pointed to and the dominance over the party that Trump was already establishing seems even funnier/pathetic when reading you realize this whole book was before Impeachment #1, Jan 6th, Impeachment #2 and then the investigations and then his re-election.  Just amazing that Trump has kept his position as the main person in the Republican party, everyone in the party & I mean everyone has to kiss his ring or risk being run out of office or positions.  I do worry for our country.

There are no copies in PBS system and no WL for this book either.  I have a bunch of politics books so I figure it will go on that shelf for now.

Whirlaway--#67 finished

This is a book of strange characters doing strange things.  The main character Eddie Plum is in a state psychiatric hospital where he doesn't see himself as belonging but refuses to work to get out either.  After years a new director--that is not qualified, just an actor making it up as he goes--helps him escape and gives him a new license and identity.  He goes back to where he was before and meets up with an old friend that is more screwed up than himself.  Characters are interesting and have to kind of read between lines a bunch to get what is actually going on.  I really enjoyed some of this author's other books/short stories, this one not as much.  Still overall interesting and entertaining.

This one is a keeper for me as all the books by this author, Poe Ballantine, since he lives in NE--way out western NE.  

This Town Sleeps--#66 finished

A really different sort of story.  It is about characters around a Ojibwe reservation in MN.  The main character grew up there and lives outside reservation but only a 1/2 hr away and he is an out gay man.  There is a lot about a relationship with a former high school classmate who is not out.  There is also a 2nd story about a boy that was murdered at 17 in the reservation town and how his spirit is still there first as a wolf and then later as a person.  Some mystical storylines like that that I am not quite sure about but in a native American sense does carry or make sense.  Like I said a little different kind of read.  

I have already posted it on PBS and it is the only copy in system.  

A Chain of Thunder--#65 finished

This is the 2nd novel in the Western series of the Civil War.  This one is about the Siege of Vicksburg.  Vicksburg is under Confederate control and the Union wants it so they can control all of the Mississippi river a main source of shipping equipment, supplies, men around the West.   I like the writing style of focusing on a couple people on each side & talking about what they were going through day to day along with the generals.  Grant had the numbers and better supply lines and basically forced the Confederates back into Vicksburg where they were stuck.  Not sure why Confederate general Johnson didn't come to help.  Good read that gets into the details of the people and battle.  I think there is 1 more in this series that I need to get to in the coming months.

There is 1 copy already on PBS but this series is a keeper so will be going back on my shelf.

"G" is for Gumshoe--#64 finished

I am back on the Kinsey Millhone series running through F & G this month.  This one she is being tracked by a contract killer.  A guy she helped get arrested has put contact on her a judge & maybe prosecutor and judge has already been killed.  A bodyguard comes to help her Robert Dietz.  Kinsey also moves into the rebuilt apartment but her VW bug is a total loss.  Books ends without knowing what happens to car.  Dietz has moved on.  She does solve a case and actually a murder case from long ago along with it.  A good story that keeps moving.  Maybe too many moving parts on this one, gets confusing.  Also a few times where not sure why she didn't step back & let police takeover.  Oh well still a fun read and a fun series.

This is a mass media paperback and plenty of copies on PBS but this is a keeper series for me so will go back on my shelf.

Grit, Spit and Never Quit--#63 finished

This is by Rob Riggle, a comedian that also served as a Marine--getting deployed to Liberia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.  I saw him doing the NFL picks and seemed like a pretty funny guy.  Reading this he also did a year on Saturday Night Live and also worked for The Daily Show--these were times when I wasn't watching these shows much so I don't remember him.  I have seen him on different movies and always plays a pretty funny character.  I guess he has done some drama roles but I haven't seen or at least remembered them.  I enjoy these type of memoirs, reading about how people--celebrities--got to where they are.  His is a really good story with also doing it while serving as a Marine--a lot of credit to him.

There are 2 WL for this book on PBS and since I got it from PBS I will probably post & send off at some point.