The Printed Page

• Number of books read: 21 (15 eBooks)
• Number of pages read: 7,101
• My ratings: can be found following the book covers

1. Blood Vines by Erica Spindler | favorite author
2. Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris | favorite series, book #4
3. The Search by Nora Roberts | favorite author
4. Murder on Gramercy Park by Victoria Thompson | favorite series, book #3
5. Damaged by Alex Kava | favorite series, book #8
6. The Queene’s Christmas by Karen Harper | favorite series, book #6
7. Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen | favorite series, book #8
8. What Remains of Heaven by C.S. Harris | favorite series, book #5
9. In Harm’s Way by Ridley Pearson | favorite series, book #4
10. Murder on Washington Square by Victoria Thompson | favorite series, book #4
11. The Reversal by Michael Connelly | favorite series, book #16
12. His Last Letter: Elizabeth I & the Earl of Leicester by Jeane Westin | Very good/excellent
13. Broken by Karin Slaughter | Very good
14. The Fyre Mirror by Karen Harper | favorite series, book #7
15. The Big Dirt Nap by Rosemary Harris | Good, book #2
16. Secrets of the Tudor Court: Between Two Queens by Kate Emerson | Very good
17. Once Upon Stilettos by Shanna Swendson | favorite series, book #2
18. Murder on Mulberry Bend by Victoria Thompson | favorite series, book #5
19. Dead Head by Rosemary Harris | Good, book #3
20. Murder on Marble Row by Victoria Thompson | favorite series, book #6
21. The Fatal Fashione by Karen Harper | favorite series, book #8

• My rating: Good
• New-to-me author: No
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: Dead Head (Dirty Business, book #3)

Author/website: Rosemary Harris

Publisher: Minotaur

Publication date & page count: April ’10 & 245 pages

Fugitive Mom. That’s the tabloid headline that rocks Springfield, Connecticut when one of the town’s favorite ladies is discovered to be an escaped convict. With a little help from the always game Lucy Cavanaugh, Paula is hired to find out which of her neighbors is a fugitive from the law and why the long-kept secret has finally come out.

• My rating: Very good
• New-to-me author: No
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: Secrets of the Tudor Court: Between Two Queens

Author/website: Kate Emerson

Publisher: Gallery

Publication date & page count: January ’10 & 374 pages

Between Two Queens is the story of Anne (Nan) Bassett, who came to court in 1537 as a maid of honor to Queen Jane Seymour. Jane, however, promptly died in childbirth, leaving all her maids of honor in limbo until Henry VIII married again. Between the two queens, Jane Seymour and Anna of Cleves, Nan herself receives considerable attention from King Henry. Was she his mistress? Historians can’t say for certain. That’s what makes writing a novel such fun!

The title comes from the time period between Queen Jane and Queen Anna, but also from the in-between times that followed. Nan Bassett resumed her career as a maid of honor under Anna of Cleves and transferred to Catherine Howard’s household when the marriage to Anna was annulled. Between Catherine Howard and Kathryn Parr, Nan once again attracted King Henry’s attention. The Spanish ambassador thought she might end up as wife number six. Why didn’t she? Once again, writing fiction gave me the chance to answer that question.

Along the way, of course, Nan has other adventures. In 1540, her mother and stepfather were arrested on suspicion of plotting against the Crown. How this affected her, and how involved she and her sisters might have been in treason are other areas I was able to explore in the novel.

History records that Nan was a pretty girl, so there were other men besides the king who were interested in her. Why did she wait until the reign of Mary Tudor to marry? That’s another question I tried to answer in the novel, and it provided a way to link Nan to the treason plot

• My rating: Good
• New-to-me author: No
• Would I read more from this author: Yes; book #3, Dead Head, is sitting on the review shelf

Title: The Big Dirt Nap (Dirty Business, book #2)

Author/website: Rosemary Harris

Publisher: Minotaur

Publication date & page count: February ’09 & 246 pages

Something stinks to Paula Holliday, and it isn’t just the corpse flower, titan arum, named for its off-putting fragrance. When Paula’s friend Lucy asks her to tag along on an all-expense-paid junket to the Titans Hotel, it seems like a good idea. Paula even manages to squeeze a few bucks and a byline out of the local paper for writing an article on the titan arum, a rare flower that’s just about to bloom and on display at the hotel.

But when her friend is unavoidably detained, a would-be suitor is found with a gaping hole in his head, and the corpse flower refuses to bloom, the entire venture starts to seem like less of a good idea.

• My rating: Very good
• New-to-me author: No (though its been years since I’ve read a book by this author) / (Broken can be read as a stand alone but if you want to know that back history of these characters I recommend reading in series order. I didn’t but I know some of the history as I’ve books #1 and #3 in the Grant County series)
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: Broken (Grant County, book #7)

Author/website: Karin Slaughter

Publisher: Delacorte Press (a division of Random House)

Publication date & page count: June ’10 & 398 pages

When the body of a young woman is discovered deep beneath the icy waters of Lake Grant, a note left under a rock by the shore points to suicide. But within minutes, it becomes clear that this is no suicide. It’s a brutal, cold-blooded murder. All too soon former Grant County medical examiner Sara Linton – home for Thanksgiving after a long absence — finds herself unwittingly drawn into the case. The chief suspect is desperate to see her but when she arrives at the local police station she is met with a horrifying sight — he lies dead in his cell, the words ‘Not me’ scrawled across the walls. Something about his confession doesn’t add up and deeply suspicious of the detective in charge, Lena Adams, Sara immediately calls the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Shortly afterwards, Special Agent Will Trent is brought in from his vacation to investigate. But he is immediately confronted with a wall of silence. Grant County is a close-knit community with loyalties and ties that run deep. And the only person who can tell the truth about what really happened is dead.

• My rating: Very good/excellent (based on entertainment value not historical accuracy which I don’t read for) / (nit picky: Elizabeth I referring to herself in the plural drove me crazy)
• New-to-me author: Yes
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: His Last Letter: Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester

Author/website: Jeane Westin

Publisher: NAL Trade (a division of Penguin)

Publication date & page count: August ’10 & 390 pages

One of the greatest romances of all time — between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley — is finally revealed through the missing page of his last letter…

They were playmates as children, impetuous companions as young adults and for thirty years were the center of each other’s lives. Astute to the danger of choosing any one man, the Virgin Queen could never give Dudley what he wanted…to be a king…yet she insisted he stay close by her side. Possessive and jealous, they survived quarrels, his two disastrous marriages to other women, her constant flirtations, and political machinations with foreign princes. Yet still, there is no written evidence that confirms the depth of the love between Elizabeth I and her “Sweet Robin.” Or was there? His Last Letter exposes the hidden depths of an impossible love…impossible to fulfill and impossible to stop.

• My rating: Favorite author/series (you can’t go wrong when Det. Harry Bosch and attorney Mickey Haller team up to work a case)
• New-to-me author: No
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: The Reversal (Harry Bosch book #16)

Author/website: Michael Connelly

Publisher: Little Brown

Publication date & page count: October ’10 & 389 pages

Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to change stripes and prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder. After 24 years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Haller is convinced Jessup is guilty, and he takes the case on the condition that he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch.

Together, Bosch and Haller set off on a case fraught with political and personal danger. Opposing them is Jessup, now out on bail, a defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years.

With the odds and the evidence against them, Bosch and Haller must nail a sadistic killer once and for all. If Bosch is sure of anything, it is that Jason Jessup plans to kill again.

• My rating: OK; not my favorite in this series
• New-to-me author: No
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: In Harm’s Way (Sheriff Walt Fleming book #4)

Author/website: Ridley Pearson

Publisher: Putnam Adult

Publication date & page count: August ’10 & 389 pages

Sun Valley sheriff Walt Fleming’s budding relationship with photographer Fiona Kenshaw hits a rough patch after Fiona is involved in a heroic river rescue and she attempts to duck the press. Despite her job and her laudable actions, she begs Walt to keep her photo out of the paper, avoiding him when he can’t.

Then Walt gets a phone call that changes everything: Lou Boldt, a police sergeant out of Seattle, calls to report that a recent murder may have a Sun Valley connection. After a badly beaten body is discovered just off a local highway, Walt knows there is a link-but can he pull the pieces together in time?

If you’ve stopped by lately you might have noticed that posting is almost non-existent but reading has gone over the top. I swear I’m logging on every day or every other day to update the ‘Just finished…’  box on the side bar. And you may have noticed that some of June’s and most of July’s books were either a favorite author and/or favorite series. Review books are down to less than a trickle which means I’ve been able to devote my time to some serious pleasure reading and moving books into the archive folder on my Kindle. Day 6 of August brings book #6 for this month and #100 for the year.

The Queene’s Christmas draws readers into the magnificent realm of Elizabeth Tudor and the magic of her Court at Yuletide, circa 1564. But in the intoxicating sixth novel of Karen Harper’s celebrated Elizabeth I series, the Twelve Days of Christmas are murderously interrupted when the Dresser of the Queen’s Privy Kitchen is found hanged and trussed like the peacock he’d been fashioning for the holiday feast. With foul play afoot in her Court, Elizabeth does her royal utmost to track down the poor man’s killer while striving to salvage the joy of Christmas. Doomed to suspect even her most trusted courtiers, she is nevertheless determined to vanquish the Christmas culprit-who will not only strike again but has targeted Her Majesty as his ultimate prey.

Read: 18 books (14 eBooks) DNF’d: 4 Pages read: 7,476

Excellent

Very good/excellent

DNF @ pg. 50

Favorite author/series

Very good/excellent

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Excellent

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DNF @ pg. 27

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DNF @ pg. 65

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DNF @ pg. 42

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DNF @ pg. 74

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Favorite author/series (US: Keepsake)

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