“Shallow Ground” is the first of three Detective Ford novels by Andy Maslen. The story begins with the tragic accidental death of Ford’s wife, ultimately caused by Ford, which leaves him as the sole parent of an 8½ year-old boy. The story picks up exactly six years later when Ford, still anguished over the accident, becomes the lead investigator in a series of mysterious related deaths. DI Ford does have a real first name, but he never uses it. Instead, his co-workers call him Henry, mostly as a joke, which he does not discourage. His primary partner in the investigations is Dr. Hannah Fellowes, whose background is also somewhat of a mystery, being employed in what is seemingly a low-level position at a small regional UK police station despite her education and previous work with the FBI in the US. Once in a blue moon there is a sentence in a book that causes me to reread (relisten) multiple times just to admire the creativity of the author. In this case, Sergeant Natalie Hewitt is the first officer on scene at an apartment where the downstairs residents reported blood dripping through their ceiling, leading to: “Natalie nodded, eager now to enter the death room and deal with the latest chapter in the Big Book of Bad Things People Do to Each Other.” Steve West does a masterful job on the audiobook narration. His deep but not overpowering voice, with a rich, smooth British accent, is perfect for the male roles, yet soft enough to pull off the female roles. I am looking forward to the next volumes in the series, earbuds in.

Frieda McFadden has become one my favorite authors. It starts out letting the reader know that someone has been murdered and that someone is burying the body. In this page turner, I kept switching my guesses between who I thought the murderer was and who was the victim. The twist at the end had me reading well past midnight to discover I was wrong about both! Karma definitely prevailed!

Diving back into a long-running series by a great author is as comforting as watching another season of a long-running TV show. Harlan Coben’s “Think Twice” is no exception. This book is the twelfth and latest in the Myron Bolitar series. It has been a long, long eight years since book eleven was published, and I have missed Myron and his normal cast of companions: Win, Esperanza and Big Cyndi. That being said, Coben has delicately recapped the histories of the main characters without being boring. The book is written in such a way that it would be entertaining, and not confusing, to readers approaching this novel as a stand-alone. In the midst of reentering the world of professional representation after a hiatus, Myron becomes involved in a murder investigation that involves his one-time rival/client, Greg Downing, who is believed to have died three years ago. The story, as usual, has many twists and turns along the way, providing a very pleasurable read. The Myron Bolitar series represents approximately one-third of Coben’s body of work. The remaining books are primarily stand-alones, none of which disappoint.

This walks you thru President Obama life up to where he becomes Afro American President of the United States.

I enjoyed learning about the clouded leopard

Great book!!!

E.P.I.C.!!!

The more I read the more i needed to know! The ending was shocking, I was trying to put the pieces together and then boom!

“The Final Twist” is the third book in Jeffery Deaver’s Colter Shaw series. Shaw, the son of a survivalist, makes his living collecting rewards from private families and law enforcement agencies all across the country by finding missing or endangered individuals. His adventures typically become dangerous, both for himself as well as the people he is helping, especially when the target of his search does not necessarily want to be found. In this venture Shaw deviates from the normal reward seeking routine when he begins investigating clues regarding his father’s death. He is soon reunited with his long-estranged brother, Russell. Together they pursue BlackBridge, a devious corporation whose motives are very suspect. The CBS TV series “Tracker” is based on these stories. The TV series is good because it is based on good books; the books are enhanced because the reader can easily picture Colter Shaw looking and acting like Justin Hartley. In audiobook format, Kaleo Griffith does a great job voicing the characters and setting the tone for the action. I am hoping that Deaver will continue with more episodes in the near future (book four was published in 2022.)

I enjoyed the quotes from Louisa May Alcott and Little Women that were scattered throughout the book. I think Frederick did a good job of incorporating Little Women into her plot while keeping her own story line.