Dead By Sunset, by Ann Rule

This is the true story of the murder of Cheryl Keeton on September 21, 1986. She was found bludgeoned to death inside her Toyota van, blocking traffic on an Oregon freeway. The only suspect was her husband, Bradly Morris Cunningham, but there was no physical evidence left at the scene to prove him guilty. Brad was a charismatic, intelligent manipulator, married 5 times (to women that he abused behind closed doors). It took eight years before he was arrested and tried for the murder of Cheryl, the mother of his three young sons. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1995.

Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf

First published in 1925, this is a story about Clarissa Dalloway's preparations one day for a party she is having that evening. It is more about people's thoughts, feelings/memories than of dialogue. It is also the day that a young war veteran suffering from mental illness takes his own life.

Black Hills, by Nora Roberts

Lil Chance met Cooper Sullivan one summer when he came from New York to spend the summer with his grandparents in South Dakota, when she was just 11. They became good friends and saw each other almost every year until she was age 20. By then there was a romance between them, but Cooper broke it off while trying to finish school and make his way for himself. But not before Lil found a body in the Black Hills. Twelve years later, Lil has created The Chance Wildlife Refuge, where cougars, tigers and other animals are kept and cared for. Cooper comes back to live with and help his grandparents and he and Lil start to see each other around again. Someone kills a cougar that Lil was tracking, and other things start to happen, among them a trail hiker being killed and found in the river. Cooper, being an ex-private investigator, digs around & they narrow their search for the killer down to a guy who once volunteered at the refuge, named Ethan. Ethan believes he is Sioux Indian and is after Lil. With the help of Coop, and a cougar named Baby, the hunt comes to an end.

The Shining, by Stephen King

Jack Torrance, with his wife and 5-year-old boy, Danny, go to stay the winter in the old Overlook Hotel in the snowy Colorado mountains. Jack has the job of caretaker there until the following spring, as it is shut down for the winter. Danny has a special "sixth sense" going on, and can see people or things that happened there many years before, such as a dead woman in the bathtub of one of the rooms. Jack was once a violent alcoholic, but had been sober quite some time before coming to the Overlook. Jack starts seeing things too, and though there is no alcohol at the hotel, he falls into a "drunken" state at times after the family has been there awhile. He begins hallucinating and people from the hotel's past convince Jack that he should hurt his family. Without revealing more, I can say the scary ending turns out better for Danny & his mother than it does for Jack. I have seen the movie for this book a few times before reading it. Parts of the story, especially near the ending, are a bit different than in the movie.

'A' is For Alibi, by Sue Grafton

Private investigator, Kinsey Millhone, investigates the murder of a man named Laurence Fife. Nikki, his wife, has just served an 8 year sentence in prison for the murder, but when she gets out she hires Kinsey to find out who the real killer is. Kinsey meets with several people who were close to Laurence Fife at the time of his murder, including his ex-wife and his former law partner, Charlie Scorsoni. This book is fast-paced and keeps you guessing throughout. I will definitely read more from this alphabet series of mysteries by Sue Grafton.

The Moon Looked Down, by Dorthy Garlock

This story is set during World War II, where a 20-year-old Sophie Heller and her family, who have immigrated to Illinois from Germany, are threatened by three local men who think that they are Nazis. Sophie meets Cole Ambrose, a young schoolteacher with a crippled leg, and they fall in love. Cole does whatever he can to protect Sophie and her family from the men that are after them. This story has drama, romance & action.

A Cry In The Night, by Mary Higgins Clark

Jenny is a divorced mother of two young girls, working at an art gallery in New York. She meets artist Erich Krueger at a gallery showing of his work, where everyone notices that Jenny looks just like the painting of Erich's deceased mother, Caroline. Erich & Jenny begin dating & become engaged within a few weeks. When Jenny marries Erich less than a month after they meet, she & the girls move to Erich's large home in Minnesota. Jenny soon realizes disturbing things about Erich, especially his obsession with his late mother. Erich becomes more & more possessive & controlling, and Jenny plans an escape back to New York with her girls, but instead, Erich takes the girls away with him and leaves Jenny in the house alone, not knowing where he has taken them or when they'll be back. A scandal involving Erich's artwork erupts, and when Erich is returning home, Jenny realizes that he is far more disturbed than even she realized. She is worried for her children's safety. Jenny's life is threatened when Erich returns home, but with help from her neighbors, her terror comes to an end.

A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick

In 1907 Wisconsin, wealthy businessman Ralph Truitt advertises for "a reliable wife". A Few months later, he marries Catherine Land, who has secret plans of her own for him and his money. In the end, the reader is surprised to discover that things don't turn out quite the way the story builds them to expect.

Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn

Libby Day's mother & 2 sisters were murdered at their home when she was 7 years old. Libby ran into the freezing snow and hid in a nearby field, lost some fingers and toes to frostbite, but survived. Her 15 year old brother, Ben, is blamed for the murders, and Libby's testimony helps put him behind bars for life. Now, 24 years later, after meeting a group that is trying to get Ben set free, Libby investigates what really happened that night, by interviewing people who were close to Ben, and even her estranged father. The club pays her for all her research into the case, which takes her all over Kansas & Missouri, as well visitations to Ben, who she hadn't seen since that tragic night. It turns out that Ben is innocent, but he is protecting someone else. The story keeps the reader guessing all the way through, and is almost impossible to put down for a break.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, by Tiffany Baker

Truly Plaice was born so large that her mother died giving birth to her. Her sister, Serena Jane, is her exact opposite: small & pretty. When their father dies, each girl goes to a separate home to live with family friends. Truly goes to live with the Dyerson's, a poor, out-of-luck family with a daughter her same age, Amelia, who rarely talks. A few years later, Serena Jane is married to "Bob Bob" Robert Morgan, who comes from a long line of Robert Morgans, all doctors. Bob Bob takes Serena Jane to Buffalo, where he goes to medical school & Serena Jane gives birth to a son, Robert "Bobbie". Meanwhile Truly takes care of the horses & does other work on the Dyerson farm. Serena Jane & Bob Bob move back to town & live in the doctor's house, while Bob Bob starts his new practice. Truly moves in with Bob Bob to take care of him & Bobbie, age 7, when Serena Jane leaves. Bob Bob is ashamed that his wife has left him, so he invents the story of her death, and Truly doesn't know the truth. Truly's friend Marcus returns from Vietnam, with injuries to his hand & leg. He becomes the gardener for Dr. Robert "Bob Bob" Morgan. There is an ongoing idea of romance between Marcus & Truly. Truly discovers the secret shadowbook of Tabitha, the first doctor's wife. She begins mixing herbs to try out remedies, and finds that there are herbs that can heal, but also herbs that can cause death. Bobbie moves out the house at age 18 with a secret of his own, estranged from his father. Soon after, Robert Morgan is diagnosed with cancer, and after his death, Truly learns the truth about her sister, who is still alive, and feels betrayed by Amelia, who knew the truth but didn't say anything. This book was hard to stop reading!

Made In The U.S.A., by Billie Letts

15 year old Lutie and her younger brother, Fate are living with their father's ex-girlfriend, Floy, in South Dakota until the day that Floy drops dead of a heart attack at Wal-Mart. Fearful of being put in foster homes, Lutie & Fate steal Floy's car & drive to Las Vegas to look for their alcoholic father. It turns out that their father died a year earlier and the two kids have to live out of the car for several weeks, until Lutie is badly beaten for the little money she had saved to get an apartment. A stranger, Juan, and his dog come to her rescue just in time & Juan drives Lutie & Fate to Oklahoma, where he has family that he hasn't seen in 15 years. The family runs a circus, and after healing up from her injuries, Lutie begins to learn to walk on a high wire. Fate meets a boy who becomes his best friend and the circus family becomes family to both the kids. It is the first real home they have had for years. This story was an entertaining read for me.

Night and Day, by Virginia Woolf

In this novel, Katherine Hilbery must decide whether to be engaged to poet William Rodney, or to have a relationship with Ralph Denham, whom she finds much more interesting. Also in this story is Mary Datchet, a friend of Katherine's who is involved in the Women's Rights movement. Katherine's mother is struggling to put together a book about her late father, a famous poet, with help from Katherine. This book was first published in 1919. It is by far one of the best stories I've ever read.

An Unkindness of Ravens, by Ruth Rendell

A man (Rodney Williams) disappears & it is thought that he has run off with a woman other than his wife. But then a second woman reports that her husband is missing. It turns out to be that same man, for he is secretly married to two different women & has children with both. Later his body is found buried near a wood, and the mystery of his murder is eventually discovered. Turns out that the two daughters from different wives know each other, and the murder was committed by the two of them. This story is another Inspector Wexford mystery. I enjoy these British mysteries very much.

A Guilty Thing Surprised, by Ruth Rendell

This is an Inspector Wexford mystery. A woman (Elizabeth) takes a walk in the woods at the grounds of her & her husband's (Quentin) estate, and winds up murdered. Inspector Wexford and his partner, Inspector Burden, talk with the husband, Elizabeth's brother & his wife, the employees of the estate and a few others. It is initially thought that Elizabeth was possibly having an affair, meeting someone in the woods, and when caught, was killed by either her jealous husband, or the gardener, Sean, who obviously had a crush on her. It turns out a little bit different, a surprising twist at the end. The great writing of Ruth Rendell makes her books hard to put down.

Needful Things, by Stephen King

It's been over a month since I finished reading this one. It takes place in Castle Rock, Maine, where Alan Pangborn is the sheriff. He is also in some of the other Stephen King books. A man named Leland Gaunt opens a new store in town called Needful Things. He sells all different types of items, like an autographed baseball card, a photo of Elvis, a piece of petrified wood. These items don't seem all that rare, but they are powerful. When a person holds one of the items they feel transported to the place in which the item is from. For instance, the Elvis photo takes the woman who holds it onto the stage with him. The price to buy these items is not much in cash, but the buyer also has to agree to play a prank on someone else from Castle Rock. Pretty soon almost everyone in town is visiting Needful Things and then playing a prank on someone else in order to "pay" for their item. A boy throws rocks through the windows of one woman's house. She thinks it was done by another woman with whom she is already having a feud. Someone else kills the other woman's dog, but she blames it on the first woman. They end up meeting on a street corner with kitchen knives in hand. The results are horrifying, as the town is almost completely destroyed by it's residents, all of them getting back at one another. This was Leland Gaunt's plan from the start. It is an interesting book, but at 690 pages I was very glad to be finished with it.

Stephen King Goes To The Movies

This book is five Stephen King stories that all had movies made out of them. The titles are: 1408, The Mangler, Hearts In Atlantis (Low Men In Yellow Coats), The Shawshank Redemption (Rita Hayworth & Shawshank Redemption) and Children Of The Corn. I've seen Shawshank Redemption & Children of the Corn, but not the other three. Of all the stories, I liked Hearts In Atlantis best. The Mangler was also pretty good. Hearts in Atlantis is about an 11 year old boy named Bobby who meets an old man (Ted) living in the same apartment building that he lives in with his mother. Ted "hires" Bobby to be on the lookout for signs of the "Low Men In Yellow Coats" looking for him (Ted). Bobby doesn't quite believe that there is anyone looking for Ted, but after awhile he begins seeing the signs that Ted warned about, such as a child's chalk-drawn hopscotch with a moon & star drawn beside it in a different color, a kite hanging from a telephone wire, or mysterious missing pet ads tacked to telephone poles or upside-down on grocery store bulletin boards. Bobby begins to see these signs but doesn't tell Ted right away, then regrets it later, when his mother turns Ted in for the reward money. It was the longest short story (over 300 pages) in the book, but also the most interesting. The book has introductions by Stephen King before each story that describe the movies they were made into.

...And Never Let Her Go, by Ann Rule

This is the true story of the murder of Anne Marie Fahey on June 27, 1996. She was secretary to the governor of Delaware, and disappeared that June 27th after a dinner out with her secret lover and prominent millionaire attorney & former state prosecutor, Thomas Capano. Capano was then separated from his wife, but had also been secretly seeing another woman named Debbie for 18 years. Thomas Capano was a seemingly likable, quiet family man, but after weeks & months of investigation, which included Anne Marie's diary entries, emails and interviews with countless people, it was discovered that Capano had another side: a manipulator driven by power and greed. It took three years to uncover the truth behind Anne Marie's disappearance and death, her family waiting the entire time to find out where their sister was. Capano had disposed of her body far out into the Atlantic Ocean, and her remains were never found. Capano was sentenced to death by lethal injection, but several years later after a lengthy appeal, his sentence has been changed to life in prison without possibility of parole (per internet).

The Mercedes Coffin, by Faye Kellerman

When a young billionaire woman reads about a crime in the L.A. newspapers about a man found shot in the head and stuffed into the trunk of his Mercedes, it reminds her of a similar crime from 15 years earlier, the murder of her favorite high school teacher, a crime that had never been solved. She contacts the police & offers a multi-million dollar award for the solving of the cold case. Upon investigation of the two cases, detectives discover many similarities. Certain students from the high school where the teacher had worked seemed to be connected, including two aspiring rap artists and members of a late-1980s punk rock band. Detective Peter Decker, although not involved in the most current murder investigation, pokes around at solving the cold case which turns out to be connected to the more recent murder. After many interviews with the former students and the original (now retired) detectives (one of whom apparently commits suicide the day after being questioned), all the clues start to fall into place and everything points to a guy named Rudy Banks, the former lead-singer of the punk band. Just when police are ready to arrest him, Rudy is trailed to a motel where he holds 3 women hostage. After a very long stand-off, Decker convinces Rudy to let go of the hostages and walk out of the motel with hands up, but someone else (another former band member) shoots & kills Rudy as soon as he is out in the open. This is the first Faye Kellerman book that I have read, but it definitely won't be the last.

Love The One You're With, by Emily Giffin

Photographer Ellen has been married to Andy for 100 days when she bumps into her ex-boyfriend, Leo, at a crosswalk in New York. She had never understood the reason for the breakup eight years earlier. Leo wants to be friends, and Ellen reluctantly says yes. The past relationship had been very intense. A few weeks later, Leo calls Ellen to offer her a photo shoot with a famous star that he is writing a magazine article for. The job is in L.A. and when she arrives there, she finds that Leo is there waiting. Having never felt closure about their separation, she asks him why he broke up with her. They end up sharing the plane ride home & Ellen feels old emotions start to stir. She doesn't contact him after the flight & a few months later, she & Andy move to Atlanta where he (a lawyer) works with his father & they live close to his family, including his sister, Margot (who happens to be Ellen's best friend since college). Ellen is not too happy living in Atlanta & longs to return to New York even though her husband seems to be happy with the move. When Ellen reads Leo's magazine article that accompanies her photos, she emails him to say she liked the article. He then invites her back to New York, the place she wishes she would've stayed, to take photos at Coney Island. While there, Leo reveals that he still has feelings for Ellen, and although she feels the same & considers leaving Andy & everything else behind, a phone call from her sister, Suzanne, brings her to realize that she could be making an irreversible mistake. She leaves Leo's place & calls Andy, who has flown to New York to find her. The choice between what is and what could have been is the theme throughout this book. I really enjoyed the writing style.

All That Matters, by Stef Ann Holm

Chloe, divorced & about to turn 40, has her own bakery shop called Not Just Cakes. Before her lease is up on the building where she does business, a large chain grocery store wants to take over her space, even offering her a settlement to move out early. She meets a lawyer, John, who talks with her on the details. But Chloe isn't budging from her location and is ready to fight to the very end. John keeps finding excuses to ask her to dinner and before long they are pretty serious about each other. Chloe's stubbornness toward the grocery chain pays off later when she is offered her own spot within the grocery store, a move that will increase her profits significantly. I read through this book quite quickly as it had me interested throughout to see what would happen between Chloe & John.