W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton

Another addition to the Kinsey Millhone collection. This time we learn a bit more about Kinsey's family that she never knew existed. She gets to meet some cousins that she wishes she didn't have which makes for some funny/tense moments in the book. She gets to solve a couple of murders and have an old love interest turn up. It was fun to once again visit the 80's where Kinsey has been since the debut of A is for Alibi. Reading about her having to grab handfuls of change to make calls from a phone booth, having to leave her door open so she could hear the ringing of her telephone while she was outside, and a description of a Walkman all had me reminiscing about "the good old days"! With the way Kinsey likes to keep her life uncluttered I could not imagine her living in 2013. Being attached to all of our electronic gadgets would send her over the edge! Three more books to go in the alphabet and the series will be over. Considering that it takes Sue Grafton a couple of years to finish each book, by my calculation we have about 6 more years to wait for the end of the series. While I am impatient for each book to come out I have to admit that because the author is not churning out a book every 6 months the series is well researched and she manages to keep the character fresh while still keeping her in the 80's. W is for Wasted was a solid addition to the series but yeah, I'm looking forward to Z!

I borrowed this book from my local library and was not required to write a review for it.

I Shall Not Want by Debbie Viguie

Cindy Preston is a secretary at her church. She is helping Joseph, a member of the church, put on a charity benefit. Joseph breeds dogs and this benefit is a project that he came up with to put dogs and homeless people together. Each homeless person that adopts a dog also receives a voucher that they can use to feed their new pet.

Cindy has just recently helped the police stop a serial killer. It seems that her luck with dead bodies is still following her around. When asked to go find Josephs assistant Derick she finds more than she bargained for. Derick has been murdered and Josephs prize dog is missing.

When several murders happen and the owners dogs are missing Cindy is once again forced out of her comfort zone much to Homicide Detective Mark's dismay. He and his partner Paul insist that Cindy stay out of the investigation, but that is hard for Cindy to do since bodies keep turning up everywhere she goes!

I really enjoyed the story. I didn't read the first novel in the series The Lord is my Shepherd, I think it would have helped with some background with characters. But it wasn't too hard to jump into this book and understand what was going on. Cindy has a caring heart that seems to give her a knack for getting into trouble. I found it funny that she doesn't like danger and throughout the book talked about taking risks and expanding her experiences yet she has helped catch a serial killer and now in this book keeps getting into pickles. Her foray into speed dating cracked me up! But she may have found a match, maybe we will see in the 3rd installment of the Psalm 23 Mysteries? A little bit of romance, a little bit of mystery and a lot of suspense I Shall Not Want was a fun read for me!

I obtained my copy FREE from Amazon several months ago. It is no longer offered for free.

The Street Lawyer by John Grisham

Another hit for John Grisham. I hope that he never goes the route of co-authoring with someone like so many of these authors are doing. So far I have enjoyed every one of Grisham's books.

The Street Lawyer starts off with a gunman holding a group of lawyers hostage in a conference room. From the very beginning this book is a page-turner! The gunman known as "Mister" is a homeless man who is disgruntled at the law firm for evicting him from an abandoned warehouse. Michael Brock is one of those being held. He is 32 years old and on the fast-track to becoming partner in the firm. Shook up over the ordeal and its outcome Michael searches for answers to what resources the homeless have in the Washington DC area.

With lots of twists and turns John Grisham takes us from the streets to the courtroom. A very interesting read!