From Blood by Edward Wright

I started this book on a Saturday morning and neglected everything until it was done!   I wasn’t interested in this book to start with because of the title but I was encouraged to read it and I’m glad I did. 

Shannon Fairchild is a mess.  That’s the first line of the first chapter and is pretty descriptive of the main character.   She’s in limbo in her life having stopped writing her PhD dissertation and started a house cleaning business.    Her world is turned upside when her parents are murdered.  Her mother’s dying words “find them and warn them” sends Shannon on the hunt for some friends of her parents and also for the person who killed them.  In the process of finding out who killed her parents, Shannon finds a mystery about her own past.

The action and plot twists are endless and entertaining.  The characters are believable and I enjoyed the glimpse into the 60’s protests that provides the framework of the story.

My only complaint with the book is the title.  To me it conjured up visions of vampires and such and I am squeamish about violence so I was not inclined to read the book because of that.  But obviously the book is not about any of that.   The title is to do with the motivation of Shannon to carry on with the quest to find out about her parents and their past.  The author describes it as responding to a call that came from her very blood. 

Edward Wright is a new author to me and I fully intend to find and read his other books.  If you want an engaging mystery with nonstop action then clear your weekend and read this book.

Books Read in August, 2012

Summer nights are for reading and I had a week of vacation so there was lots of time to read

 in August.  Following is a list of the books read and my recommendations.

Janet Evanovich –  Pretty much all the same, light summer reading, not recommended if you’re squeamish about language/sexuality talk-but very funny and highly entertaining despite that

·         High Five,

·         Hot Six,

·         Seven up,

·         Hard Eight,

·         To the Nines

·         Ten Big Ones

John Dunning –   Great series about an ex-cop turned bookstore owner/book scout-lots of information about books and interesting mysteries

·         Booked to Die

·         The Bookman’s Wake

Robert Parker – Jesse Stone novels- I’m hooked on the TV movies starring Tom Selleck so decided to read the books.  Good mysteries and great character development about an alcoholic police chief in a small town of Paradise where things are never quite as they seem and murder happens on a regular basis.

·         Night Passage

·         Stone cold

And finally for something completely different I read

• the Disciplined Life by Calvin Miller. 

He passed away in August the day after I had downloaded this small book to read.   Everything by Calvin Miller is worth reading and I highly recommend it.