U IS FOR UNDERTOW by Sue Grafton

Sue Grafton’s U IS FOR UNDERTOW takes place in 1988, with key flashbacks to 1967, the so-called “Summer of Love.” Kinsey Millhone, who is thirty-seven, is the veteran of two failed marriages and has no desire to take the plunge again. Most of her time is devoted to her work as a private investigator, and she occasionally socializes with a small group of friends, including her eighty-eight year old landlord, Henry Pitts. Henry is Kinsey’s confidante and surrogate grandfather.

December 1, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: 2009 Favorites, California, Family Matters, Sleuths Series, y Award Winning Author

THE CONFEDERATE GENERAL RIDES NORTH by Amanda C. Gable

Set in the 1960s, Amanda C. Gable’s debut novel, THE CONFEDERATE GENERAL RIDES NORTH spans two pivotal times in American history: the Civil War and the century-later Civil Rights movement. Eleven year old Kat, a Civil War buff, finds herself on a sudden trip from Marietta, Georgia to Maine with her manic-depressive mother who has decided to start her own antiques store up north. At first, Kat believes that they are on vacation, but the signs are immediately evident to the reader: her mother is leaving her father. Not until days later does Kat discover that her mother intends for this move to be permanent. Kat, loyal to her mother as well as to those family members left behind, finds herself emotionally under siege.

November 29, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, Family Matters, Literary, Reading Guide, US South

PAST IMPERFECT by Julian Fellowes

In 1968 the London Season was on the wane. At one time it referred to the annual period when it was customary for members of the a social elite to hold posh debutante balls, dinner parties various soirees, large charity events, etc.. This period could begin any time after Christmas, depending upon the success of the hunting season in the country. It also coincided with the sitting of Parliament. London became a virtual marriage market during the Season….

September 23, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: Humorous, United Kingdom, y Award Winning Author

THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett

Kathryn Stockett’s THE HELP opens in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. Change is in the air. Although segregation is still firmly entrenched in Jackson, there are stirrings of rebellion. When Skeeter embarks on a project to interview the maids and record their stories for a book that she hopes will launch her career, she is only vaguely aware that she is detonating a time bomb that could blow up in all of their faces.

July 1, 2009 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: 2009 Favorites, Class - Race - Gender, Debut Novel, Facing History, Reading Guide, US South

KILLING CASTRO by Lawrence Block

This breathtaking thriller, originally published the year before the Cuban Missile Crisis under a pen name Lawrence Block never used before or since, is the rarest of Block’s books—and still a work of chilling relevance all these years later, with Castro and Cuba once again commanding headlines.

April 30, 2009 · Judi Clark · 3 Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Cuba, Noir, Thriller/Spy/Caper, y Award Winning Author