Books, Movies, and Chinese Food

Summary from BN.com: The cause of death is "undetermined," but the cops peg Chicago television producer Kate Conway as the main suspect when her soon-to-be ex-husband, Frank, is found dead. To make matters worse-and weirder- Frank's new girlfriend suddenly wants to be friends. Happy for the distraction, Kate throws herself into a new work assignment for the television program Missing Persons: the story of Theresa Moretti, a seemingly angelic young woman who disappeared a year earlier. All Kate wants is a cliché story and twenty-two minutes of footage, but when the two cases appear to overlap, Kate needs to work fast before another body turns up-her own. What do you do when someone you love goes missing and is presumed dead? You get on one of those missing persons TV shows and try to get attention about the case is what you do. That's what Kate's job is as she interviews people who are going through these experiences. Unfortunately for her, she then star...

Summary from BN .com: In her twenties, Emily Wilson was on top of the world: she had a bestselling novel, a husband plucked from the pages of GQ , and a one-way ticket to happily ever after. Ten years later, the tide has turned on Emily's good fortune. So when her great-aunt Bee invites her to spend the month of March on Bainbridge Island in Washington State, Emily accepts, longing to be healed by the sea. Researching her next book, Emily discovers a red velvet diary, dated 1943, whose contents reveal startling connections to her own life. After a string of mediocre reads, I was so thrilled with this book. It's been in my TBR pile for quite a while and I've been hearing many good things about it. Yet it was only now that I was able to get a chance to finally read it. I'm so glad that I did. I had no idea what I was in for. From the cover and the endorsements, I thought this was going to be a light women's fiction read with some dramatic moments. Inst...

As another college year draws to an end, Professor Michael Branden is weary after nearly thirty years of teaching. Sitting in his office on a warm spring day, he receives an unexpected visit from an Amish man who claims his brother, a dwarf like himself, has been murdered. Their discussion of the odd details of the case is interrupted by a commotion on campus, which turns out to be the apparent suicide of a young college woman, who it seems has leapt to her death from the college bell tower. The investigations of these two deaths become intertwined as Professor Branden again teams up with Pastor Cal Troyer and Sheriff Bruce Robertson to seek explanations for these bizarre events. Out of all the books so far in the Amish-Country series, this one was my favorite. First off, I believe it's the longest (though not by much) but enough to give the story a bit more depth. Second, this is a really good story dealing with everything from college life to dwarfism to genetics to child kidn...

Summary from author's website: Amid a whirlwind of drugs, sex, and other temptations of the "English" world, a group of Amish teenagers on the Rumschpringe test the limits of their parent’s religion to the breaking point. The murder of one teenager and the abduction of another challenge Professor Michael Branden as he confronts the communal fear that the young people can never be brought home safely. Along with Holmes County Sheriff Bruce Robertson and Pastor Cal Troyer, Professor Branden works against the clock to find a murderer and a kidnapper, and to break a drug ring operating in the county, determined, wherever the trail may lead him, to restore the shattered community. Unlike my last review of Clouds Without Rain which left me feeling kinda ho-hum, this new volume in the Amish-Country Mystery series brought back much revival into the series. For one, this story stood out in my mind because it shows the faults and difficulties that do happen with the Amish. The ...

Summary from Christianbook.com: In the wooded Amish hill country, a professor at a small college, a local pastor, and the county sheriff are the only ones among the mainstream, or "English," who possess the instincts and skills to work the cases that impact all county residents, no matter their code of conduct or religious creed. A fatal accident involving and Amish buggy and an eighteen-wheeler sets Professor Michael Branden on a quest to uncover the links between the crash and a spate of disturbing events. I have to say, unfortunately, out of all the books in the series that this was the most forgettable. Unlike the past books, I didn't find anything that really stood out to me in the story. It's written well and I like Professor Branden and Pastor Troyer's characters very much and I really enjoy their knowledge of the Amish community. The plot about the two sects of Amish are interesting as modernization vs Old Order gets a lot of discussion in the book. T...

Synopsis from BN.com: The peaceful town of Millersburg, Ohio, in the heart of Ohio's Amish country, is rocked by the vicious murder of one of its citizens at the hands of an ex-convict. When a local reporter covering the story ends up dead as well, with the convict already behind bars, suspicion falls on David Hawkins, father of the first victim. But Hawkins is nowhere to be found, not even among the protective Amish colony that had taken him in as one of its own regardless of his shadowy past. Following on the critical and popular success of his first book, mystery writer P. L. Gaus again brings us a moral and legal conundrum as Professor Michael Branden, Sheriff Bruce Robertson, and Pastor Cal Troyer set out to uncover the truth that seems so elusive in their otherwise quiet corner of the world. I have really liked this Amish mystery series from P.L. Gaus. I had read the first book in the series last year and really enjoyed it because it was not the normal Amish book. In fact, a...

Nell Fitzgerald and the Someday Quilts ladies are asked to lead a quilting workshop at a new bed and breakfast in upstate New York. However, the retreat quickly takes an unexpected dark turn. When a body is found in the woods, and one of their own is the chief suspect, the ladies must rely on their craftiest thinking as they embark on their most personal case yet. With smart, sassy Nell leading the charge to clear her friend's name and find the real murderer, The Double Cross is sure to confirm Clare O'Donohue as a master of the mystery genre. This was probably my favorite book of the entire series. This story takes the characters away from Archers Rest and to a quilting retreat workshop. I personally like it when characters are pulled away from their norm and set in a brand new environment. It gives the reader the chance to see if they will act the same or if a brand new personality will appear. I loved seeing the women interact with the new characters introduced. From old...

In the sleepy town of Archers Rest, Nell Fitzgerald is finishing her first quilt and preparing for her first date- with Police Chief Jesse Dewalt. When Jesse stands her up, it turns out he has a good reason-the body of a murdered young woman has been discovered near the Hudson River. Meanwhile the members of Nell's quilting circle encourage her to take drawing classes with the famous artist Oliver White. When Nell's professor meets her grandmother Eleanor, owner of the Someday Quilts shop, he seems instantly smitten. But once another woman's body is found outside her grandmother's home under a blanket of snow, Nell begins to patch together clues and follow a path of evidence that suggests her professor may also have a degree in the art of murder. After reading the first book in the series, I was ready to return to Archers Rest and hang out with Nell and the rest of the Someday Quilts gang. I really had enjoyed my first adventure with them and I was looking...

In the wooded Amish hill country, a professor at a small college, a local pastor, and the county sheriff are the only ones among the mainstream, or "English," who possess the instincts and skills to work the cases that impact all county residents, no matter their code of conduct or religious creed. When an Amish boy is kidnapped, a bishop, fearful for the safety of his followers, plunges three outsiders into the traditionally closed society of the "Plain Ones." This is the first Amish book that I have read that is not faith based, meaning it's not from a Christian publisher. Therefore the story is a lot different from those that are from a Christian point of view. There were two main differences from what I could tell while reading. First off, while religion is a part of the story due to the Amish culture it is not a main focal point at all. The other is that there is no romance in this book. Almost all the Amish books in Christian fiction have ro...

Nell Fitzgerald is thrilled when she receives a gorgeous handmade quilt in a lover's knot pattern from her grandmother Eleanor as an engagement gift. Her joy is short-lived, however, when her fiancé announces he's calling off the wedding. Heartbroken, 25-year-old Nell flees New York City for her grandmother's home in quaint Archers Rest. In this small town Eleanor's life revolves around her quilt shop, Someday Quilts, and the members of the shop's quilting circle. When the body of a local handyman known for his flirting is found in the quilt shop, murdered with a pair of quilting scissors, Nell finds herself drawn into the case— and drawn to the handsome police chief. As a pattern of clues begins to emerge, one of the prime suspects is Nell's ex-fiancé, whose arrival in Archers Rest seems suspicious. The ladies of the quilting circle continue to piece together their quilts as Nell unravels the mystery. This book was different from most other cozy m...

It's lonely being a Mormon in New York City. Every year, Elna Baker attends the New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance. This year, her Queen Bee costume (which involves a funnel stinger stuck to her butt) isn't attracting the attention she'd anticipated. So once again, Elna finds herself alone, standing at the punch bowl, stocking up on Oreos, a virgin in a room full of thirty-year-old virgins doing the Funky Chicken. But loneliness is nothing compared to what Elna feels when she loses eighty pounds, finds herself suddenly beautiful...and in love with an atheist. Brazenly honest, The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance is Elna Baker's hilarious and heartfelt chronicle of her attempt to find love in a city full of strangers and see if she can steer clear of temptation and just get by on God. I will admit that I'm not very familiar with the Mormon faith other than just the basics I learned in my Intro to Religion class as well as stereotypes abo...