So what have you been reading?

Jack is now working at a consumer protection website doing stories that matter. When two cops come knocking to talk to him about a one night stand he had a year prior he immediately starts a deep dive into the case of Tina’s murder. When consumer DNA analysis comes up into looking into the story, Jack has way to hook it into consumer protection and build a story around it. But some people don’t want him looking into what they are doing and it may not go well for Jack and his coworkers.  A good mystery and the bonus interview at the end of the audio with Connelly and the editor of the real Fair Warning is wonderful.

Change the Recipe: Because You Can't Build a Better World Without Breaking Some Eggs by José Andrés, Richard Wolffe

This is a bunch of anecdotes from Jose’s life and businesses.  He is honest in the mistakes and the choices in his life.  There is talk about food but this isn’t a cookbook, it more like listening to a friend tell you about times in his life. The book also discusses how he started World Central Kitchen. This is a great small book that is perfect for either reading in one sitting or dipping in and out of as time permits.

Set in the same universe as The Spellshop but there is no need for the reader to have read it before this one since it doesn’t hurt the enjoyment of the story.  Terlu was a lonely librarian in the Capital of the Empire and used magic to make a sentient spider plant. Her punishment is to become a statue and placed in a library reading room as a warning to anyone who thinks about using magic without being a sorcerer.  Six years later she wakes up in a snowy wood not knowing where she is or how she got there.  She finds herself on an island full of magical greenhouses and one irritated gardener. Yarrow is the last person on the island of Belde taking care of the magical greenhouses created by a sorcerer that has died, but the greenhouse magic is failing and he needs help.  Terlu uses her linguistic skills to puzzle out the late sorcerer’s magic all the while worrying about being caught and turned back into a statue.  This is a very slow friends to lovers story and the setting is so gorgeous And I hope there will be more stories set in these islands.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

A group of bots that had been working in a restaurant decide to reopen it so they can pay their bills. Robots have a limited number of rights in California after the war and this group of friends decide to take matters in their own hands and make Biang Biang noodles to pay the bills. They are selling well but dister strikes in the form of review bombing them based on being a robot kitchen. By the end of the book they find out who is doing this and take the bad press and make it work for them.  This is a SF cozy even if it is set in a future San Franscisco trying to rebuild from a war.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly, Peter Giles (Narrator), Titus Welliver (Narrator), Christine Lakin (Narrator)

This is a Lincoln Lawyer book with Bosch also appearing since he is working for Mickey in order to keep health insurance since he is fighting cancer from radiation exposure from an old case.  Harry is sorting through all the letters Mickey gets looking for a needle in the haystack of people saying they are innocent but in jail. They find a case in a woman serving time for the murder of her ex-husband, a sheriff’s deputy.  Once they start looking at the details, things don’t add up and Mickey does his magic in the courtroom.  A good mystery and of course there is more than just a simple murder.

 

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki, Jesse Kirkwood (Translator), Sadao Ueda (Narrator), Tomoko Komura (Narrator), Yuriri Naka (Narrator)

The book has three POV people that each find a magical coffee shop run by cats during the full moon.  It isn’t where you would expect a coffee shop to be and but guidance the cats provide with coffee and snacks helps each person find their way.  A nice low stakes read when you need a little pick me up of a read.  I really enjoyed the audio version of this book. 

Mallory Viridian has seen way too many murders in her life and even after leaving Earth to live among aliens she hasn’t completely gotten away from it.  Currently in a lull ignoring her messages and trying to raise a baby spaceship. When a cruise ship full of mystery lovers is going to dock at the space station she finds out that she is supposed to give a keynote and meet with her agent who has been trying to reach her.   The ship docking isn’t a normal ship it seems to have limitless ability to adapt its interior to anything and has stored almost all of the data from Earth’s internet.  Mallory meets up with her agent and guess who gets murdered later on that day.  Now she needs to solve the murder and figure out what is so different about Metis. And for fans of the series, Tina is back bringing her own special blend of chaos.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

Renee catches the first case of the year of a murder disguised as an accidental shooting of a gun fired as the midnight struck on the NYE.  She drags her feet a bit getting info the the dayshift since they are working several horrific rape cases.  When the casing from the shooting matches an old open case of Bosch’s and the file is missing, she reaches out to him and working off the books together they solve the murder.  Ballard is also helping out with the rape cases task force on dayshift, and she solves that one as well.  She catches flack for how she did things and it will be interesting to see how it comes up in the next book. 

Yea for more mysteries with Sub-Inspector Ferron.  This time the victim knew she would die but now she is missing and the only clue in her apartment is a herd of tiny unicorns. This story gets into the details of social media in the future.  The killer is clever, but Ferron wins in the end.  

A good SF mystery set in a future India follows sub-inspector Ferron as she works on a murder where the victim was turned inside out.  The details of setting and how things are really elevated this murder case. The audio was thoroughly enjoyable.  Can’t wait to listen to the next one.