Lee Child's PERSONAL

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In Personal, Jack Reacher, a former Army MP, sees an ad for him to contact an acquaintance in a military paper that he finds on a bus. He does and is whisked away within hours to  the former Pope Air Force Base.

He learns of a possible assassination attempt at the G8 summit, and our government thinks that a former sniper that Reacher put away fifteen years ago may be one of the suspects. Reacher, along with a rookie analyst from the State Department, try to track down the sniper, recently released from jail. Their journey takes them to Arkansas, France, and England where they battle two different gangs and bureaucracies of several governments.

The title becomes evident in the last few pages of the book. And Child ties up all of the loose ends. He does a good job with building tension in this novel. I always like Jack Reacher, but I wasn't that fond of his sidekick in this one.

Mary Miley's Book Launch

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I had the pleasure of attending Mary Miley's book launch for Silent Murders this week at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. Her theme was the Roaring 20s, and the Art Deco Society of Richmond came in costume.

Mary talked about some of the myths of silent films. And the library featured Don Q, Son of Zorro, the movie that is featured prominently in Mary's latest mystery.

Mary's mystery series that features amateur sleuth, Jessie Carr, assistant script girl at Pickfair, is set in the heart of Hollywood's heyday.  

Check out Mary's mysteries, The Impersonator and Silent Murders.

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Writing Stuff...

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It's raining here in Central Virginia. It's a good day to work on my manuscript. I'm editing chapter thirty-one. I also made a gift basket for Virginia is for Mysteries for the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (CVC). It's full of mugs, hot chocolate, chocolate candies, other goodies, and a copy of our VIFM anthology.

Disney and Riley also tried on parts of their Halloween costumes. They were not that enthusiastic about the entire ordeal. They only hung out because they were promised treats.

I hope you have a great weekend. Happy writing and reading!

Mary Miley's SILENT MURDERS

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I finished Mary Miley's Silent Murders this morning. It is the second in her Roaring 20s series. I love how Miley intertwines real characters and 1920s Hollywood with her murder mystery. In her novels, the reader is right in the middle of cinema's heyday. 

Her amateur sleuth, Jessie, is an assistant script girl for Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Because of her connections, she's invited to a director's shindig filled with all kinds of debauchery. There are a string of murders, and Jessie investigates. She is able to pull the random facts together to solve the crimes that center in and around the Hollywood studios. Miley does a great job of recreating a world of the past.

I love that the "Hollywood" sign features prominently in this novel. Miley's novel caused me to do some research on the landmark. The pictures on the website, Hollywood Sign, were fun to peruse.