eyes.2c Reviews

Christmas in Newfoundland--Memories and Mysteries: A Sgt. Windflower Book (The Sgt. Windflower Mysteries)   by Mike Martin.    What can I say. Windflower's Christmas stories are as I expected redolent with that Newfoundland spirit of independence, the joy of simple pleasures and communal eccentricities. Set in both Grand Bank and St. John's I could easily picture the houses and streets described in St. John's, the areas of the town, the snow, the excitement and traditions of Christmas, and the tragedies. I loved the illustrations provided by the 'young artists from the Visual Arts Program at Canterbury High School in Ottawa.' They aptly depict my memories of the St. John's houses in rows and their colorful exteriors. I loved the Grand Bank Christmas tales, "where gifts were few and love was plenty. Those were the days when the snow and a homemade sled were sufficient entertainment, the nights were filled with kerosene lamps and laughter, and the tw...

The Fast800 Diet: Discover the Ideal Fasting Formula to Shed Pounds, Fight Disease, and Boost Your Overall Health   by Dr. Michael Mosley           A combination of ideas put forward about food, exercise and losing weight by Mosley are ringing bells with me. Particulars he's mentioning are factors my doctor has been raising with me. Although my need is more to do with excess weight putting pressure on my arthritic knees. The book is pithy, easy to read, not too complicated in its explanations, fairly straightforward and most importantly, held my interest. The things that struck me most included: that Mosley gives "a number of options so you can tailor the program to your needs, goals and motivation...based on 800-calorie fast days—it’s high enough to be manageable and sustainable but low enough to trigger a range of desirable metabolic changes." So changing metabolism gets a tick and there are Options available for the way you might approach the pr...

Rebellion's Message (A Bloody Mary Mystery #1)   by Michael Jecks     I first reviewed Rebellion's Message in 2016. Before going any further, I must say I do like the cover for this new digital edition. I loved Jack Blackjack when I first met him and have continued to shake my head over his wayward journey. He's somewhat like that annoying younger brother, always walking deeper and deeper into trouble, and then wondering how on earth things had come to pass. Thankfully, like a cat with nine lives, he seems to land on his feet, even if the landing is somewhat shaky. Jack being Jack, and me being me, I am incorporating parts of my review from two years ago.  Rebellion's Message was the first in a Tudor mystery series rife with "intrigue, deadly court politics, a roguish, likeable anti hero, and murder-- all centered on the firm historical detail of the period during the rebellion of 1554 lead by Jane Grey supporters against Queen Mary." An "engaging...

Treachery (Giordano Bruno #4) by S. J. Parris.                Caught up with intrigue, the Spanish question, the French and English monarchs, and his own troubles Italian "defrocked monk, excommunicated for heresy," and now spy, Giordano Bruno accompanies his friend Sir Philip Sidney, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth's to Plymouth where Sir Francis Drake's fleet is readying  to set sail for the Spanish Main. It's 1585 and Drake is on the eve of departure. Ostensibly Sir Philip is to escort Dom Antonio, the pretender to the Portuguese throne, back to Elizabeth's court. In reality Sir Philip has decided to go against the Queen's wishes and join Drake on his great adventure. That great voyage though has been brought to a halt. A man, "Master Robert Dunne, a gentleman of Devon," has apparently suicided on Drake's galleon. On closer inspection it appears that the suicide is actually a murder. A lose-lose situation for Drake. Sailors being a su...

Trace of Evil (Natalie Lockhart #1) by Alice Blanchard           Natalie Lockhart is conflicted. She has a list of hard things she'd faced in her life. Natalie's now back in her hometown of Burning Lake as a detective. Burning Lake a town where everyone knows everyone, but in the end, they didn't. A town with a history of witchcraft that drew tourists and troubled the teenage population.  The attraction of witchcraft for the teenagers of the town is like a rite of passage. All partake, not all relinquish it. "On the surface, it would appear that Burning Lake had a sparse Wiccan population, but that was due to the fact that many of them were still in the broom closet." We have disappearances, we have secrets, we have dead bodies and we have concentric circles linking everything together. "Death was like a secret. You could bury it deep underground, but it wouldn’t stay buried for long. Eventually, our secrets—like old bones—had a way of knuckling o...

The Sacrament: A Novel by  Olaf Olafsson             A boy locked in a school's broom closet views something strange out of the window. A Catholic nun whose locked away her own secrets, including the reasons for her not quite belonging despite her best efforts. Her sense of humor, her attachment to her dog George Harrison and her rose garden don't quite still her heart. The persuasive church hierarchy who don't want to know. Cardinal Raffin, a sly holder of Sister Joanna Marie's life from before. He thinks that sending a nun with secrets can be controlled to investigate a school where abuse charges have been made. That this will suffice. Sister Joanna is sent not once but twice, in her forties and then twenty years later to investigate complaints about the church school. The major part of the novel, is set in Reykjavík, Iceland. How Sister Joanna comes to speak Icelandic is another story that we glimpse as Joanna recalls her time at the Sorbon...

City of Pearl (Aelf Fen #9) by Alys Clare           A presence fills the alleys near Gurdyman's house. A vagrant is found dead with a lustrous pearl in his hand propped up against the wall outside Grurdyman's house. Gurdyman is panicked. He knows he's being called back by his past to the places of his childhood and his growth in magico-mystical knowledge. Lassair is feeling isolated. Jack Chevestrier has sent her away and she finds no place but Gurdyman's. When Gurdyman asks her to accompany him to Spain, despite it being near to winter, she agrees. After all healer Lassair is Gurdyman's pupil and as is pointed out, 'it is a part of his duty to ensure that [she] encounter others who are so much further advanced in the arts.’ These words are those of Lassair's aunt, healer Edild. Edild is now married to Hrype, who first introduced Lassair to Gurdyman. Hrype knows what Gurdyman is and what Lassair could be. He also feels that Gurdyman is exposing Lassair...