DOING HARM

DOING HARM by Kelly Parsons is a great  book.  There were quite a few medical terms, although the author explained them, it made the book wordy.  Dr Mitchell was stuck in a precarious situation caused by a beautiful med student.  The student is killing patients for their safety.?  She was also blackmailing Dr Mitchell.  The trick is how will Dr. Mitchell get out from under her lies and make sure she is caught.  Well, enter Luis.  That's all  I'll tell you.  You must read it. 

THE WIFE, THE MAID, AND THE MISTRESS by Ariel Lawhon

Very good book, I loved it.  A work of fiction with many interesting events and much history.  The judge is murdered by a gangster (which is the true basis) but the why and who put the thought in his head is the mystery.  I enjoyed reading the historical events and this book made me want to read the true accounts of Judge Crater's murder.  Loved it.

ALENA by Rachel Pastan

ALENA by Rachel Pastan is ok.  The authors prose is very poetic and descriptive in a flowery way.  We don't know the speakers name but she is enticed to move from a small Wisconsin town to Cape Cod to be curator of a well-known art museum.  She finds this to be the chance of a lifetime but when she arrives she is immediately confronted by the ghosts of the past curator.  No one can give up Alena's presence.  The narrator becomes so entwined in the mystery that she never leaves although they do open a new museum in a new place yet by the ocean.  The book starts with the speaker going back to the past museum and then remembering the troubles everyone encountered.

IN THE BLOOD by Lisa Unger

Good book.  Surprise ending.  When Lana Granger gets her first grown up job she finds her young charge a force to be reckoned with so to speak.  But are things really as simple as they should be?  When Lana's roommate disappears does Luke, her young charge, know anything about it.  He seems to be on a path to find her roommate, Beck.  But the police suspect Lana after looking into a past friend's death.  There is a surprise at the end I sure didn't see coming for quite a while into the book.  I wasn't sure who was writing in the diary; it could have been Rachel, Lana or Lana's mother who was murdered.  That could be the answer to all of the mysteries.

Death of a Nightingale

DEATH OF A NIGHTINGALE by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnette Friis was ok.  I found it confusing because the characters were changed often and had to flip back and forth to remember who was who.  The time also switched from present to past. Also there are references to many historical events from Stalin's time.  I am not really a history lover.

BELLMAN AND BLACK

BELLMAN AND BLACK by Diane Setterfield is different.  I enjoyed it until the last hundred pages.  They seemed to drag on and on.  It is a story of man meets death eye to eye.  At first, I thought it was going to be The Devil and Daniel Webster, but Mr. Bellman never made a bargain with Mr Black.  I'm not sure exactly what the deal was but Bellman saved or begged for his daughter's life after all of his family had died from the plague.  He did eventually pay with his life but I guess, in a way, we all do.  It was said he could figure a way to make the sun shine all day and night.  Maybe that is what he did.

THE TULIP EATERS by Antoinette van Heugten

THE TULIP EATERS by Antoinette van Heugten is set in present day but we learn a lot about World War II.  Nora, a doctor, comes home to her little girl and mother, but she finds her mother dead and her daughter missing.  What could be the reason someone would want to harm her mother?  It can't be the baby's father because he doesn't know he has a daughter and lives in Amsterdam.  But, after finding a locked metal box Nora begins to wonder if the murder and kidnapping could be related to World War II.  Nora finds out many secrets her mother and father have carried with them for years, but cannot tell her now.  She must travel to Amsterdam to find the leads she needs to find her baby daughter.