Mary's Pregnant and on a Mission for Justice: Feared by Lisa Scottoline

Mary DiNunzio, Judy Carrier, Bennie Rosato, et al, return in this latest thriller about, of course, a murder in Philadelphia. The audio version was read by actress Kate Burton, who does a fine job with the local accents and level of tension required.

Descriptive and fast-paced, Mary and her colleagues seek to solve a murder in their midst and find justice. Some good twists and turns, and lots of great local color as usual. Author Lisa Scottoline, a former lawyer and law professor, knows her stuff and her Philadelphia (my original hometown).

A good piece of distraction, written by a practiced professional.

The Epistolary Novel, Digital-Style: When You Read This by Mary Adkins

When a young woman in her early 30s named Iris finds out she has a fast-growing, inoperable cancer she seeks out a blogging community of her fellows and begins to write about her experience, and her story becomes the basis for an epistolary novel for the digital age. 

Through Iris's entries, and email exchanges between her boss and friend, Smith, her sister, Jade and others, we get an insight into what it feels like to be young, sick and know you won't be living long enough to accomplish your goals and follow your dreams, and also about the nature of family relationships, friendship in its many forms, love and grief. 

It's a unique treatment of a difficult subject and very insightful. We've all struggled with our feelings when we are faced with the serious illnesses and potential deaths of family and friends, but when it is one's own life, it's obviously a different matter.

Adkins provides a moving and sensitive take on what it means to be seriously ill, and how it impacts friends and loved ones.

Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West by Stephen Fried

What a great book! A historical account/biography that reads as a intriguingly as a novel. Investigative journalist Stephen Fried clearly delved into his subject with relish, and as a result has produced an important work about development of (primarily) the Southwest via the railroads, specifically the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, and hospitality network created by Fred Harvey, whose company fed and the housed travelers and tourists discovering the West. 

I came across this book in the gift shop of the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ during a recent trip and on my return, was able to obtain it from my local library. Not only did I enjoy it immensely, but I learned a tremendous amount about the locales where Harvey's network of restaurants and hotels were established, and in some cases, still exist under other management. Can't wait to get back out West and visit a few of them.

Idyllic Edinburgh: The Quiet Side of Passion by Alexander McCall Smith (Isabel Dalhousie Number 12)

What better escape from the daily grind is there than to virtually accompany philosopher Isabel Dalhousie on her rounds through Edinburgh, as she solves problems large and small, conquers moral dilemmas and generally puts everyone's lives to rights. 

Actually I don't just want to accompany Isabel, I want to be her. She's admired, respected and loved by nearly everyone, with the possible exception of the annoying Dr. Lettuce (one of McCall Smith's perfectly-named characters), and she lives in a large and lovely inherited home with her charming, handsome and considerably younger husband, a professional musician, and her two young boys. She edits a journal of philosophy, occasionally helps out in her niece's gourmet delicatessen, and attends a lot of concerts and plays. She also continues to cultivate Brother Fox, who lives in the woods behind her home, with the occasional roast chicken. It's a very good life and she's a good person.

I just finished this latest installment a few evenings ago and closed the book with contentment. All was made right in Isabel's world, and thus, for a little while, I shared in her good fortune. It definitely made me sleep better, and that is worth 5 stars anytime.

Anne Frank as Heroine: Annelies by David R. Gillham

Once I started this novel, I could hardly put it down. The author has created an alternate scenario for Anne Frank. Instead of dying at Bergen-Belsen, as the real Anne did, she survives and returns to Amsterdam, where she joins her father (the actual sole survivor of the eight who hid together from the Nazis), Miep, Bep and the rest of the office staff at 263 Prinsengracht.

Hers is not a happy existence. Her anger, anxiety, survivor's guilt and the post-war surroundings are portrayed with a remarkable intensity. It is all so vivid and compelling that it is easy to almost believe that it is true, not fictional. As a reader, you want to believe it.

From the age of ten or so, Anne Frank has been a part of my life. Like so many other girls, I read The Diary of a Young Girl multiple times, and as an adult, I read every book and account of her life I could find. I first visited the Anne Frank house in 1987, when it was still possible to climb the narrow stairs that led to the attic where the Franks and their friends had lived, and peer into her room, where some of her film star pictures were still glued to the walls. 

Despite all this, Anne remained untouchable and abstract. It was always clear that she had a talent and unique intelligence, and her death (along with the millions of others) was a horrible and unfathomable crime. I have always wondered what work she would have produced had she survived.

Somehow, this novel provides a context, even though it is all conjecture. It is, however, an amazing window into the workings of the mind of a survivor of a horrific experience, and into the conditions in Amsterdam and other European cities, post World War II. I don't think, for those of us Americans who were born after the war, that this is really something we can easily grasp.

The author has clearly done an immense amount of research into Anne Frank and the others who hid in the Annex, the Jewish community of Amsterdam prior to and during the war, the circumstances of the expulsions to the camps and the conditions and experiences of the inmates, survivor life in The Netherlands and elsewhere, and the psychological and emotional effects of such experiences.

On top of all that, this is a compelling story with a satisfying conclusion. I look forward to reading more by this author.