The Lonely Silver Rain: A Travis McGee Novel by John D. MacDonald

 
272 pages
Billy Ingraham asks Travis McGee to locate his $700,000 custom cruiser.  McGee doesn’t feel like sticking out his neck for this case, but Billy’s wife  convinces him to take the case. With the help of a  pilot friend he locates it, only to find everyone on board murdered.

McGee finds himself in center of an international cocaine ring, while being confronted by a secret from his past.

The Green Ripper: A Travis McGee Novel by John MacDonald

Travis McGee has been living a carefree live on his houseboat, with a lot of casual relationships with women But when he meets Gretel, he is ready to settle down. Then Gretel suddenly dies, seemingly as the result of an insect bite. But when Travis learns that she was murdered, he becomes unhinged.

He leaves Florida for California, taking on an alias, and posing as a fisherman searching for his daughter. He starts picking off targets. Has it lost it completely?

257 pages

The Scarlet Ruse: A Travis McGee Novel by John MacDonald

Travis McGee is perfectly happy enjoying his retirement when his good friend Meyer talks him into helping an old man who is a stamp collector. A book of valuable stamps he invested in for a client has been swapped for a book of worthless low-value imitations.

What follows are the usual McGee hijinks; murder most foul, boat wrecks, etc. But in the end, McGee finds the good stamps and retrieves them for the little old man.


338 pages

Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore

Reincarnation Blues
by Michael Poore

374 pages

4.5/5

What if you could live forever—but without your one true love? Reincarnation Blues is the story of a man who has been reincarnated nearly 10,000 times, in search of the secret to immortality so that he can be with his beloved, the incarnation of Death. Neil Gaiman meets Kurt Vonnegut in this darkly whimsical, hilariously profound, and wildly imaginative comedy of the secrets of life and love. Transporting us from ancient India to outer space to Renaissance Italy to the present day, is a journey through time, space, and the human heart.

This is a unique book, y'all.

It's an emotional rollercoaster - as in, you're tossed all over the place.  I laughed, I grimaced, I had to take breaks, I couldn't put it down.  The main character, Milo, has lived thousands of lives but has yet to reach perfection (nor does he really want to).  The reader goes with him in between the 'afterlife' and his human lives, and the author doesn't shy away from the messiness and complications of people and experience. Hence all of the emotions.

Some of the lives were more interesting than others, and sometimes the action lags, but overall, I think this book was worth it.  Pick this up when you're ready for a journey and are willing to enjoy the trip.

Red: The Heroic Rescue (The Circle #2)

 Red: The Heroic Rescue (The Circle #2)
by Ted Dekker
Pages: 400
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Less than a month ago, Thomas Hunter was a failed writer selling coffee at the Java Hut in Denver. Now he finds himself in a desperate quest to rescue two worlds from collapse. In one world, he's a battle-scarred general commanding an army of primitive warriors. In the other, he's racing to outwit villians intent on taking over the world with an unstoppable virus.

The story picks up in the second book now that all the main characters are introduced and the way Thomas is in both worlds is already established. 

Black (Circle Series #1)

 Black
by Ted Dekker
Pages: 560
Rating: 4 out of 5

Ted Dekker is known for his fast-paced, character driven novels that are unlike any other Christian fiction I have read and is often not marketed as Christian fiction. This series is a fantasy tale with our reluctant hero, Thomas, fleeing for his life from loan sharks in our world but entering a whole other reality when he dreams. Is he in the future, the past, or an entirely different planet? The beings he meets in the dream world tell him different things and that the others are lying. Who to believe? Which world is real. Both his sister and his new friends say that their world is real and the other a dream. Are they both real? After several "trips" back and forth Thomas is suffering from sleep deprivation but must learn information from both worlds to save the other. If only he can remember and make the right choices. As you may guess from the subtitle, book one sets up the major problems and players in this series. Part of Thomas' task is to decide which side is evil and which side is good and how does he really know? Whose definition of good and evil is correct?

Baltimore Blues (Tess Monaghan #1)

 Baltimore Blues (Tess Monaghan #1)
by Laura Lippman
Pages: 336
Rating: 3 out of 5

Tess is a former reporter (the newspaper closed) who knows every inch of her town. A city where someone is murdered almost every day. When attorney Michael Abramowitz's  is murdered his death should have been just another statistic, but the slain lawyer's notoriety makes the case front-page news in every local paper. Tess's friend, Rock is now the prime suspect and Tess has to do some unorthodox snooping to clear his name. This is a solid first book in a series. As with most first books, the author has to introduce her to her main character and the setting. Having read a couple of the later novels in the series I know that the action and writing style-pick up in future works. 

I'll Be Your Blue Sky

 I'll Be Your Blue Sky
by Marisa De los Santos
Pages: 320
Rating: 5 out of 5


Clare Hobbes meets an elderly woman named Edith Herron on the weekend of her wedding. She already had doubts but her conversation with Edith gives her courage to break off her engagement. Three weeks later, Clare learns that Edith has died and left her a house in a seaside town in Delaware. Unsure if she will keep the house, Clare goes to Delaware to learn more about Edith. Her search for Edith's past helps her to find her future.

The description and prose in this work are beautiful. Go along with Clare on her journey. You won't regret it.

The Deep Blue Good-by: A Travis McGee Novel by John D. MacDonald

Years ago I read all the Travis McGee mysteries. They all have a color in the title, so it seemed a good year to re-read them all. 

In this first book in the series, McGee seeks to retrieve a fortune in gems smuggled into the U.S. at the end of WWII by the father of his client, Cathy Kerr, a down-and-out dancer. Cathy's father died in prison without ever telling his family about the fortune. Unfortunately, he did discuss it with a former inmate named Junior Allen., a sociopathic, ruthles deviant who seduced Cathy and lived with her until he could locate the jewels her father hid on the family land. Then he dumped Cathy and began living the good life. 


242 pages
Color in title

Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea (Aunt Dimity Mystery #11)

 Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea (Aunt Dimity Mystery #11)
by Nancy Atherton
Pages: 336
Rating: 4 out of 5

Lori's husband receives death threats against him and the whole family including photos of their twin boys playing in the backyard. Bill arranges a place for Lori and the twins to go stay while he and the police try to figure out who is sending the death threats and Bill stays in protective custody. The boys love exploring the Scottish castle and small village on a tiny island off the coast of Scotland. They don't realize their new caretaker is also their body guard.