Finished 10-22-11, rating 3.5/5, mystery, 222 pages, pub. 2010

Book 1 Cupcake Bakery Mystery series

Melanie Cooper, Angie DeLaura and Tate Harper have been best friends forever and now they are in business together with Fairy Tale Cupcakes.  When Tate’s fiance is murdered by a killer cupcake the police are very interested in Mel’s relationship with Tate and the ingredients of her cupcakes.

I liked that the characters were fun and the relationships interesting.  Mel was a strong woman who followed her dreams and was comfortable in her own skin.  She still had her insecurities with men, which only made her more appealing.

I liked that it was a fast and easy read and a great set-up for the series.  This was a perfect first book for the read-a-thon.  Not my normal type of mystery, this was more of a cozy, but it was solid.  I chose it because I can now say I’ve been to Arizona in the States challenge.

I didn’t like Mel’s ridiculous cavalier attitude at the end.  She seemed to think that she could be a detective and put herself in dangerous situations.  I know lots of mysteries are this way, but nothing that Mel did made me think she was smart enough to stay alive.

I didn’t like that all I wanted to do after reading this was go buy a gourmet cupcake!

I checked this book out of the library.

Take a minute to vote for the scariest characters in literature.

Finished 9-29-11, rating 4.5/5, mystery, 390 pages, pub. 2011

#21 in the Prey series

Series main character  Lucas Davenport has been in Minnesota law enforcement for all 21 novels.  He started as a detective and now works as an investigator for Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.  He’s married to a surgeon and has three children with another on the way.

What makes him special? Lucas is a tough guy who doesn’t mind bending the rules to catch the bad guy.  He has the smarts to track down leads and the muscle and charm with the ladies to make them talk.  He’s also filthy rich and a clotheshorse.

This is what Sandford said about him in 2004, “I’ve always thought of him as a kind of sociopath who is slightly warped. Of course, Davenport changed a lot throughout the stories, he became calmer… ”

Supporting Cast His police friends Del, Jenkins, Shrake, Marcy and Sandy are all on the case.  A pregnant Weather and adopted daughter Letty try to keep him from doing something stupid.  Should I tell you that one of them won’t be in the next book?  Oops.  Forget I said anything.

The story Two young sisters disappeared in the 1980’s and were discovered buried under a house in 2011.  The sisters were the first case Lucas worked on and a good portion of the book is a flashback to that case with a young Lucas getting his first big break.  Now that the bodies have been discovered he is ready to find the murderer who got away.

How does it stack up with the rest of the series?  I fell in love with Lucas in the first half of this series, but felt that the last few have been uninspired.  This one is as good as some of the first and it feels like the series is back on track.

Can it be read as a stand-alone?  I always think it’s better to read a series from the beginning, but because of the flashback section I think this is one of the rare occurences where it would be it okay to read alone.

Who should read it? Fans of police procedurals and fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series.

This was from my personal library.  I picked it up (and way too many other books from my wish list) from Border’s for practically nothing.

Finished 9-26-11, rating 4.5/5, Vampire mystery, 292 pages, pub. 2001

You can tell I don’t get out much.  And it’s not because I’m not pretty.  I am.  I’m blond and blue-eyed and twenty-five, and my legs are strong and my bosom is substantial, and I have a waspy waistline.  I look good in the warm weather waitress outfit Sam picked for us: black shorts, white socks, black Nikes.

But I have a disability.  That’s how I try to think of it.

The bar patrons just say I’m crazy.

Either way, the result is that I almost never have a date.  So little treats count a lot with me.

And he sat at one of my tables-the vampire.

Chapter 1

Sookie is a waitress in Louisiana.  Bill is a vampire trying to assimilate into the human world.  While vampires are now legal beings they are not really accepted so when dead waitresses start showing up, Bill is in trouble.

I really don’t read vampire stories.  I did read the first Twilight and was entertained, but not so overwhelmed that I wanted to read more.  So, I skimmed all the reviews on this one and thought that I would give it a try someday, but it wasn’t until I picked this first one up at Border’s and then realized it would help me on two challenges that I started to read.  The verdict is still out on vampires in general, but I totally loved this book.

What’s there to say about Sookie that has’t already been said?  Sookie knows who she is and isn’t afraid to show the world. She hadn’t really considered the upside of her ‘disability’ and it was fun to see her start to see herself in a new light.  I loved that she was brave and impulsive and looking for some excitement.

The plot had more serious twists than I was expecting and that’s a good thing.  The mystery was solid, but it was much more fun finding out more about vampire protocol.  A vampire book I loved.  Who knew?

This was so much fun to read that I know I will be continuing on with Sookie, Bill & Co.  It was light and fun and told with great humor and sass.

This was from my personal library.  I picked it up (and way too many other books from my wish list) from Border’s for practically nothing.