Well, I'm back with another book review.  This one is my 3rd 4/4 in 2025!  I am on a some kind of hot streak!  But let me get to it. Becoming Madam Secretary, by Stephanie Dray, is an amazing story. It's all about the first female cabinet member.  Frances Perkins was picked by FDR to be his Secretary of Labor when he officially became president in early 1933.  We learn that right at the beginning of the book.  Then Stephanie goes back to 1909 and gives us Frances' background.  We learn about her husband and his difficulties, her pregnancies, her path that led to her appointment.  And, later, we learn about everything she did as Labor Secretary.  We see how being a woman affected her job and her ability to get things done.  We learn a lot about FDR and Eleanor.  it could NOT have been more interesting.

This is not a short book.  it comes in at 500 pages.  But, boy, did I get through it quickly.  I picked it up every available minute.  And, like any good historical fiction, we find out in the author notes which characters were fictional and which were real.  I have to say that these author notes were particularly interesting.

So far I've only read one other book by Stephanie Dray.  It's called The Women of Chateau Lafayette.  And it was also a 4/4!  I need to get off my keister and read more...and I will!  In the meantime, please read Becoming Madam Secretary.  I can't wait for Stephanie to Zoom in to our book club in May!

 

Big Event at Beyond Text!

Beyond Text, the new bookstore in downtown Los Gatos, is having a big event the weekend of March 22 and 23. Each day, from 2-4, there will be 3 authors discussing how they became authors, answering audience questions, and signing books. Don't miss it! It's located at 318 N. Santa Cruz Avneue. And the phone number is (925) 660-9336.

Silent Are the Dead - Book #2 from D.M. Rowell

D.M. Rowell's 1st book, Never Name the Dead, was my 1st exposure to the Native American Kiowa tribe. And it was fascinating. Well, now we've got a second book in the series. It's called Silent Are the Dead. Mae Sawpole, whose Kiowa nickname is "Mud," comes back to her tribe in Oklahoma, where she grew up, to help preserve an important Peace Medal (from Thomas Jefferson!). She has a flight back to Silicon Valley the next day, where her tech company is preparing for a huge event that will catapult Mae's company to the next level. The only problem is that "Mud," and her cousin Denny, become aware of fracking on Kiowa land, along with more efforts to steal precious artifacts, and...oh, yeah, a murder! Mud and Denny have about 12 hours to resolve these issues before Mud has to catch a flight back to Northern California in order to be there for her life-changing business event! Besides D.M. writing a very good mystery, it's also really interesting to learn so much about the Kiowa tribe and its language and traditions. I know we learned a lot in Never Name the Dead. But it's great to be reminded of what we already learned and then to learn even more! We all have 24/7 exposure to what we already know. I'm glad that both books remind us that there are other traditions that we may not know much about and that take us out of our own heads for a little while. Thank you, D.M. Keep 'em comin'!

Call Me Carmela by Ellen Kirschman - Another Winner!

Ellen Kirschman has a long and storied career as a clinical psychologist, interacting often with police and fire departments.  And she has written a number of books designed to teach both professionals and family members how to deal with the stress associated with these careers.  Fortunately for the rest of us, Ellen decided to write novels based on an Ellen Kirschman-like character.  Her name is Dot Meyerhoff, and she is a police psychologist.  Call Me Carmela is #5 in the series.  

All of her Dot books are good.  This one is a little different than the others.  Dot's very close friend, Fran, is the godmother of an adopted girl, who is now eighteen and wants to find her birth parents.  Because of Dot's relationship with Fran, who is also a police widow, Dot decides to help Ava in her search.  You will be very interested to see how this affects Ava's adoptive parents.  And there will, of course, be a number of police veterans as part of the story.

As usual, Ellen makes you feel for the main character in the story along with a few of the others.  In this case it's Ava as well as Ava's adoptive parents and several others.  You will definitely have to read Call Me Carmela to see who these "several others" are.  I'm not going to tell you.  And after you read CMC, and if you haven't read her first four, you might want to pick those up too.

Dugoni Is On Fire!!!

  

I have read many, many historical fiction novels in my many, many years of reading.  But Hold Strong, by authors Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree, is unlike any other.  It’s the story of a young man, Sam, and a young woman, Sarah, who are very committed to each other and who live in a very small town in Minnesota.  When the United States enters WWII, Sam joins the army.  A large part of the story is the years of captivity for Sam in the Philippines under Japanese rule.  At the same time, Sarah joins the WAVES and becomes a code breaker.  This is her story too.

 

Both storylines are fascinating.  But what Sam has to endure is mind-blowing.  Some of it is so unbelievable that you might think the authors made it up.  If you ever think that, then just go to the Afterword and the 90(!) pages of footnotes, and you will see that only the characters are fictional.  My hat goes off to the three authors of Hold Strong.  They researched the heck out of events from 80+ years ago.  We readers definitely did not “enjoy” a lot of what we read.  But we were never sorry we read it.

 

If you are into history like I am, then I know you will be glad you read Hold Strong.  If you aren’t…you will still be very glad you read this amazing book. 

 

 

Robert Dugoni and Keera Duggan, #2 in the Series

Back on October 21, I reviewed Robert Dugoni's new series, starring a Seattle attorney named Keera Duggan.  I told you how much I enjoyed it.  Well, I just finished Book #2 in the series, Beyond Reasonable Doubt.  And, not surprisingly, I was as captivated with this one as I was with #1, Her Deadly Game.  BRD is another great combination of behind-the-scenes action with Keera, her family, her client, and the events leading up to the trial.  Her client in this case is a young woman, Jenna, who started a company that touted its medical findings and how they would save lives.  As you might have guessed, things don't go smoothly for Jenna.  And, on top of that, Jenna was a school classmate and friend of Keera's.  Let's just say she was neither the ideal classmate nor friend.

We see a lot of people in Beyond Reasonable Doubt that we saw in Her Deadly Game:  Keera's family (Maggie, Ella, and her dad and legendary trial attorney, Patsy), Frank Rossi, Seattle detective, and JP Harrison, private investigator, among others.  We also get to meet Jenna's partner, Sirus Kohl, and his daughter and corporate counsel, Adria Kohl, as well as Johnson Marshall, judge, Lisa Tanaka, controller, and, of course, Eric Wei (deceased!).  There are even more supporting cast members besides those I just listed!

I admit to being a sucker for a good courtroom battle.  And Bob does a great job of taking his time on the build-up to the trial.  The courtroom drama is mesmerizing.  I couldn't wait to see who would be called to the stand next and how Keera would approach them.  My guess is that you will feel the same.  But the only way you're going to know for sure is if you read Beyond Reasonable Doubt NOW!  And let's hope that there will be a Book #3 in the Keera Duggan series.  Wait...do I see a possible date for...Her Cold Justice...in 2026?  Read #1 and #2 and then prepare for #3.

Footnote:  Like most series, #2 can be read independently of #1. However, it does help to get some background from #1. 

New Authors (for me) and Pages Read in 2024

Here the authors I read in 2024 (not counting those assigned by the publicist) that I have not read before.

PJ Peterson

Kate Evans

Christina Lauren

Jessica Rosenberg

Janie Chang

Kristin Vukovic

Maddie Dawson

Susan Dormady Eisenberg

Monica Wood

Tami Anastasia

Richard Snyder

Erika Montgomery

Jill Fordyce

Jeffrey Deaver/Isabel Maldonado

Victor Method

Pages read - 13,757