Book Reviews by Patty Crane

In Her Boots by KJ Dell'Antonia
In Her Boots by KJ Dell’Antonia is a warm-hearted novel about…

The Lost Ticket by Freya Sampson
In 1962, at age twenty-two, Frank Weiss felt destined to follow…

The Woman Who Built a Bridge by C.K. Crigger; Shutter by Ramona Emerson
Deciding to try something new to me, I picked a couple of novels…

The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick
When she has time around her three cleaning jobs and family,…

The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life by J. A. Jacobs
In a Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle, the clue “A.J.…

Six Mystery/Thrillers that Take You Places
My reading over the last few weeks has taken me to a lot of different…

The Day He Left by Frederick Weisel
Paul Behrens had found his calling teaching literature to middle…

Pump: A Natural History of the Heart by Bill Schutt
Everyone has a heart. Some are described as cold or big, some…

Courting Misfortune by Regina Jennings
America’s first detective agency, the Pinkerton Detective Agency,…

Random Road by Thomas Kies
Geneva Chase is a really good reporter. She writes well, has…

Our Team: the Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series that Changed Baseball by Luke Epplin
When thinking of historic moments or teams in Major League Baseball,…

We Came, We Saw, We Left: a Family Gap Year by Charles Wheelan
Charlie Wheelan is standing on a train platform in Medellin,…

Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney
Caroline B. Cooney is known for her young adult novels but she…

Cozy Reads for January
Hidden Treasures by Jane Cleland
The Crystal Cave Trilogy…

The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams
I enjoy mysteries with well-developed characters and if it is…

Vanishing in the Haight by Max Tomlinson
The Summer of Love occurred in the Haight-Ashbury area of San…

The Sum of the People: How the Census has Shaped Nations, from the Ancient World to the Modern Age by Andrew Whitby
Even before the events that have changed our lives over the last…

The Big Finish by Brooke Fossey
Eighty-eight-year old Duffy Sinclair is a little bit of a crank,…

The Moon: A History for the Future by Oliver Morton
On March 9th I was headed east around 9:00pm and saw a spectacular…

Deep State by Chris Hauty and Lost Hills by Lee Goldberg
March is Women’s History Month and I’d like to be able to…

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helen Tursten Review by Patty Crane
Helen Tursten is a Swedish mystery writer with two very successful…

Men of Valor by Irene Hannon; Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center; Something Read, Something Dead by Eva Gates; Bloody Genius by John Sandford
My book choices lately include a police procedural, Christian…

The Consultant by Tj O'Connor
Tj O’Connor is a former government anti-terrorism agent. He…

Breaker's Reef by Terri Blackstock
In our reviews the library staff often mention the variety of…

Bluff by Jane Stanton Hitchcock
If you’ve ever taken a writing course you’ve heard ‘write…

Thyme of Death by Susan Wittig Albert; Blood Oath by Linda Fairstein; Justice in Plain Sight by Dan Bernstein
Although not by conscious choice, most of my reading lately has…

The Burglar by Thomas Perry
Thomas Perry’s latest novel, The Burglar, has many of the elements…

Thanks a Thousand: a Gratitude Journey by A. J. Jacobs
The latest book by A. J. Jacobs, Thanks a Thousand:…

Gone to Dust by Matt Goldman, Sweet Tea and Sympathy by Molly Harper, Deadly Proof by Rachel Dylan
Lately I've been reading random things that catch my eye. Some…

The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda
I recently finished the Stella Crown mysteries by Judy Clemens.…

Only Child by Rhiannon Navin
First graders huddled in a closet listening to the pop, pop,…

It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree by A. J. Jacobs
A. J. Jacobs has amused and informed us by living for a year…

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
Jennifer Egan began the research for her latest book years ago.…