With paper between the fingers and scary lights at night

I read four books printed on real paper last week, so I thought I'd post all four reviews together. Not that the books have anything other than paper in common. One's a wonderful literary mystery drama set in post WWII Europe, one's a distinctly modern American political fable, one's set in the old wild West, and the fourth is part of a continuing paranormal series set in present-day Seattle. But they're all printed on paper. And paper is good...

...not so good for the environment I suppose, but hey, I plan to put all four of these on my best-reads bookshelf, so it's a good use of paper, and of glossy covers to reflect the sunlight (or moonlight) in the room.

Did you know book spines reflect moonlight? And very scary they look too, in ranks of half-formed stripes of silvery gold in the room's dark corners, with flashing staring eyes. It took me months to realize the scary light-effects are just new books on the shelves. And the eyes are just reflections of the digital clock.

So switch on the lights, grab a coffee, and enjoy:

Starting with The Tenth Witness, by Leonard Rosen: I read the author's All Cry Chaos a while ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Henri Poincare is a great protagonist near the end of this Interpol career, but here we meet him before he joins the force. Clever, curious, and eager to pursue business success, solve academic puzzles, investigate history, and stay close to the love of his life, he finds some hidden depths hold mud rather than treasure and some challenges lead you further than your friends want to follow. In post WWII Germany, Honk Kong, Argentina and France, what binds a holocaust survivor to a beloved industrialist? And what conflicting images of the past will be found when the tide goes out? Enjoy this rich complex story with a rich complex 4-star coffee. Then keep it on your best-reads bookshelf to haunt you with its cover.

Next is The Accidental Senator, by Dixie Swanson, a novel filled with humor, pathos, and biting political satire. Since I don't like politics, you'd think this one wouldn't appeal but I loved it. The author has a pleasingly light touch with deep feelings and thought-provoking questions that makes this really hard to put down. Enjoy it's rich pleasures with another 4-star rich complex coffee.

Heading back into the recent past, Morgan Kane: Without Mercy, by Louis Masterson, is a good old-fashioned Western with family values bringing kindness to strangers while cheating gamblers try to murder a Texas ranger. Step back to a time when heroes weren't all handsome and superpowers were a steady aim and a good hand at sewing up bullet wounds, and enjoy a well-balanced smooth 3-star coffee coffee with this smoothly written tale. (I have a feeling this one's only available in ebook formats at the moment--I got seriously lucky receiving a print copy for review!)

And finally, a book my husband will surely be reading soon... We somehow managed to forget we hadn't read Downpour by Kat Richardson yet. When we got an early copy of Seawitch from a Seattle mystery bookstore, we realized we had some reading to do. And Downpour is great fun, restarting the series in style after the climactic closure of the last book. You can probably start reading here, but why deny yourself the pleasure of all the earlier books? Enjoy this atmostpheric view of Seattle and the fog-laden Olympic peninsula with a 5-star bold, dark, intense cup of coffee.



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