Hornet Flight, by Ken Follett

The time is June 1941 and it’s the darkest period of World War II for England.  America has not yet entered the war and England is bracing for a possible invasion by Nazi troops.  England is able to strike at Germany with its bombers but they are suffering devastating losses.  It’s almost as if the Luftwaffe knows where the planes will be ahead of time.  Could the Nazis have perfected radar?   Churchill has about a fortnight to find out what the Nazis have and then find a solution before the start of a huge planned bombing mission that could be one of the turning points in the war.  To do so, he will turn to a group of unlikely characters who do themselves proud.   In a fast-paced thriller that jumps from England to the underground war resistance in Denmark, Follett has come up with a truly riveting story filled with wonderful villains and heroes.  There seems to be no end to stories set in World War II and this is one of the best I’ve read in some time.  I don’t often lose all track of time when I’m reading but I did with this one—again and again.
 

Jinxed, by Carol Higgins Clark

Mary Higgins Clark’s daughter Carol also writes mystery novels and this is her latest featuring Regan Reilly, a private eye in L. A.   Millionnaire Lucretia Standish, 93, is about to marry a fortysomething golddigger and she would like to have all her former husband’s family at the wedding, where she plans to give each of them $2 million.   They mistakenly believe that all of them must show up or no money will be given to them and they’ve got a problem—one of the members, Whitney, is missing.  Whitney is an actress and during a break from a movie she is making she has gone off on her own without telling anyone where.  With only a couple of days before the wedding, Regan is hired by the other family members to find Whitney.  The golddigger, meanwhile, has hired his own thug to locate and kill Whitney because she can identify him as a scam artist and prevent the wedding.  The race is on to see who can locate Whitney first.  This was an enjoyable read set in the wine country of California.
 
 

Murder at Ford’s Theatre, by Margaret Truman

Nadia Zarinski, a beautiful young intern, has been found murdered in the alley behind Ford’s Theatre.  She had worked for Senator Bruce Lerner and volunteered at the theater.  She had also been linked romantically to the senator.  Lerner’s ex-wife, Clarise Emerson, is the head of Ford’s Theatre and is about to start confirmation hearings to become the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.  The murder isn’t good timing for the senator, either, as he is mulling a run for President.  Wading into this delicate mess are two mismatched DC cops, young, Jewish Rick Klayman and black veteran Mo Johnson.   Klayman and Johnson soon come up with a prime suspect and it’s a shocker—Jeremiah Lerner, the son of Clarise and Bruce.  But, is he guilty?  Truman, the daughter of the former president, is pushing 80 but you wouldn’t know it from her writing, which seemed young and fresh to me.  There’s a nice mystery here but also a lot of interesting information about Lincoln and the assassination at Ford’s Theatre.
 

The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold

“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name Susie.  I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.”   So begins this wonderful book by a new and very talented author, Alice Sebold.  Susie has been brutally murdered and her body hidden by a neighborhood man and she is now in heaven looking down on the world—especially the family she left behind and her killer.  Her parents and her younger brother and sister are all trying to cope with her death, her missing body, and the knowledge that her killer is still unknown and at large.   Susie can see everything from heaven and she watches and describes to us how her death has forever changed her family and their immediate friends.  The result is a unique look at death, loss, and the hereafter that is filled with sadness but, surprisingly, also humor, hope, and even suspense.   Too bad Oprah abandoned her current fiction book club—this would have been a terrific selection.  But, it’s encouraging that it has topped the bestseller charts on its own.   Lovely.
 

Conflict of Interest, by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg

Assistant District Attorney Joanne Kuhlman’s life has had some recent radical changes.  She has moved to a new house and she is finally divorced from her husband.   Best of all, she has regained her two children, stolen from her by her ex-husband and hidden from her for the past two years.  More change is in store for her when she is assigned the prosecution of a young man for armed robbery.  The young man’s defense attorney, Arnold Dreiser, is convinced that he was an unwitting accomplice in the robbery and he seeks Kuhlman’s help to find out what really happened.  Despite Kuhlman’s best efforts not to, she finds herself falling in love with Dreiser as they investigate a case that becomes more and more complicated.  Ms. Rosenberg’s last two novels had me complaining about the overwrought dialogue.  Thankfully, her latest has been toned down somewhat and it made for a better read.
 
 
 

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