ONE-LINE SUMMARY: When Mac’s sister is mysteriously murdered in Ireland, MacKayla (Mac) discovers that she has the power to see the Fairy Court and becomes engaged in a battle against evil.

In order to read this book, you have to first get past the half-naked bodies on the cover and the author’s apparent history of writing romance books. Once you accept that the author still hasn’t quite found the line that would bring her more solidly into the fantasy realm, the book is actually entertaining enough to pick up further sequels.

But you do have to be open-minded. There are numerous descriptions of Mac’s clothing as “pretty,” which doesn’t seem so irritating until you realize that there is no reason for all these mentions. Do I need to know that the silver sandals Mac props on a coffee table are pretty? No. In fact, I don’t even need to know they’re silver.

One of the most unintentionally hilarious bits in this book is when Mac gets caught in a rainstorm and goes into a bookstore. She explains, “I love books…way more than movies. Movies tell you what to think. A good book lets you choose a few thoughts for yourself. Movies show you the pink house. A good book tells you there’s a pink house and lets you paint some of the finishing touches, maybe choose the roof style, park your own car out front.”

Less than twenty pages later, this description appears: “This morning I’d awakened to find a wide band of bruises across my torso, just beneath my breasts. I couldn’t wear a bra because the underwire hurt too much, so I’d layered a lacy camisole trimmed with dainty roses beneath a pink sweater that complemented my Razzle-Dazzle-Hot-Pink-Twist manicure and pedicure. Black capris, a wide silver belt, silver sandals, and a small metallic Juicy Couture purse I’d saved all last summer to buy completed my outfit. I’d swept my long blonde hair up in a high ponytail, secured by a pretty enameled clip.”

No, no, no. We do not need this kind of detail in this kind of book. Are you a movie, or a book? (That being said, this has probably already been optioned for a movie. Gorgeous young male immortals, ugly special-effects type monsters, hot young fighting woman on a personal revenge mission, AND fairies that can MAKE YOU HAVE SEX WITH THEM. This is a winner by Hollywood standards.)

However, despite the occasional foray into cheesy paperback romance description, I still enjoyed the book. The plot is enough to keep me interested, and the second book in the series, Bloodfever, is much improved in the romance description department. I’ll be following this series — cautious, but hopeful.

ONE LINE SUMMARY: Dixie Hemingway left the Sheriff’s department three years ago after a tragic accident, and is now a pet-sitter in Florida who frequently comes across dead bodies.

I like reading mystery books and books about animals (as long as the animal doesn’t die), and yet I am not a fan of mysteries involving animals. I’ve tried a few: The Cat Who…series, the Dog Lover’s Mystery…and I largely dismissed them because many animal mysteries seemed to focus more on the animals and not so much on the mystery.

With Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter, Blaize Clement has restored my faith in animal mysteries. This book is similar in style to Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series (the early ones), but contains far more depth in the mystery plot as well as in the character development.

I have already read the second in this series, Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund, and while I enjoyed it as much as the first, I have to wonder how the series will hold up after the number of dead bodies Dixie finds start heading into the double digits. After you’ve discovered 4 bodies within a few months, people aren’t really that keen on giving a petsitter keys to their houses and security code access.

The next book, I feel, should be called: The Chihuahua Sniffed His Butt

ONE LINE SUMMARY: Rei returns to Japan to work for a high-end department store with questionable finances.

I’ll be honest. I hated Massey’s last Rei Shimura book, The Typhoon Lover, and almost didn’t check out this one when I spotted it at the library. But I’m glad I gave Massey another chance, because this book is back on track with the others in the series.

If I could do it again, I would simply have skipped the last book. All you need to know is: Rei breaks up with Hugh. Rei is recruited by some kind of American intelligence agency. And then I would have gone straight to this book.

Most of the books in this series have Rei doing things that simply don’t sound like things a real person would do (if there’s danger and she’s been warned away from it, she’ll be there…and without backup, even when backup’s available). And you just have to accept that for whatever reason, an intelligence agency would actually see Rei as an asset. But the plots are interesting, and I love getting a glimpse of Japan through Rei’s eyes.

ONE LINE SUMMARY: When two policeman are found dead in snowmen, Detectives Magozzi and Rolseth must investigate.

This is the third “Monkeewrench” book from the mother-daughter writing team of P.J. Tracy, and the weakest yet. Though this book only peripherally involves the Monkeewrench team, the plot is involved and engrossing. However, where it falls flat is in the conclusion. Admittedly, in real life, not every mystery gets wrapped up neatly. But in this particular case, I feel like the authors hesitated from making a clear-cut ending because they didn’t want to choose a side about wrong and right, and that, I felt, was wussing out.

You can still demonstrate the gray areas of a choice, while still making a choice, and I would have enjoyed this book as much as the previous two had it had a stronger conclusion. As it is, the book feels like it just stopped, rather than ended.

ONE LINE SUMMARY: Burke tracks down a woman whom he rescued years earlier and returned to her parents.

I’ve been a fan of the Burke books for some time now, but I was a bit disappointed in this book. I didn’t have a hard time finishing it, but once I was done, I realized that nothing much really happened. The plot is kind of lame, and all of the regular characters seem one-dimensional. Yes, Burke is still upset over the loss of his dog. Michelle used to be a man. Clarence is a young guy in need of instruction from the Prof. Blah, blah, blah. It’s about time for them all to move forward and develop more nuanced personalities.

ONE LINE SUMMARY: Slider captures the killer from the last book, investigates the death of a lovely young woman, and then learns something about the killer from the last book.

The mystery in this book is far more interesting than the last one, although Slider’s fascination with the victim is unexplained.

ONE LINE SUMMARY: Bill Slider investigates the death of a man found in a park swing.

I was not very interested in this book. Joanna barely shows up, which you would think would allow the mystery plot to advance, but I kept losing track of what was going on and who was accused of what. There are so many deaths tangentially connected to the main killer that the main killer barely makes an appearance.

ONE LINE SUMMARY: A pacifist finds himself mistaken as a terrorist and works undercover for the government.

It’s been a few weeks since I read this, so I’ve already forgotten the name of the protagonist. This is another comic spy novel from Westlake, and it was enjoyable but largely forgettable. I like Westlake’s Dortmunder series more.

ONE LINE SUMMARY: Bill Slider investigates the murder of a woman who had multiple affairs and multiple possible murderers.

I was about 80 pages into this book when I realized two things:

1. I was much more interested in the mystery plot than I had ever been in a Bill Slider book; and,

2. In 80 pages, no mention had yet been made of Bill’s personal life.

These realizations came as a surprise to me, because I’d thought I enjoyed the personal details about Bill’s life a lot. And while I still enjoy them, I think that not mentioning the personal stuff for many chapters allowed the author to develop the mystery. For once, I had no idea who the murderer was until the last few chapters.

ONE LINE SUMMARY: Slider copes with the death of an erotic dancer that may have to do with drug dealing, while his main man, Atherton, recuperates in a hospital.

I had figured out who the killer was as soon as he was introduced in the book. But I still liked this book, although I wished Atherton had been more prominently featured.