The Color Chartreuse, Etc., by Jane Hallock Combs

The Color Chartreuse, Etc by Jane Hallock Combs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Who doesn't love reading about quirky family members? But then, most of us are related to quirky family members; that, or we are the quirky one, right?

The Color Chartreuse, Etc, by Jane Hallock Combs, is full of quirky family members. Many of the essays here were read on NPR station WKMS in Murray, Kentucky, as well as appearing in several newspapers.

Disclaimer time: I do appear several times in The Color Chartreuse, Etc, as Jane Hallock Combs was my mom. So, maybe I'm a little partial to many, if not most of the essays. I have a feeling, though, that even without that family link, I would laugh at many of these essays.

Why? you ask. Fair question.

Example: Cousins Anna Mae and Ezra, who, during WWII, held off a Nazi invasion with a baseball bat - when they weren't literally tearing their house apart; Greg, who didn't want the tooth fairy tip-toeing into his room to leave money for the tooth under his pillow, and sat in his bedroom doorway with a baseball bat to keep the tooth fairy out; Greg, who after breaking his leg, had a double-legged cast on, and, unable to help Mom at the laundromat, leaned out the Volkswagon's sun-roof, giving a passionate speech to passers-by about being "a poor little boy with a broken leg who just wanted to hep with the laundry!"; and more. There's the time the school bus went to take Mom to school, after her brother told her that the road being taken was the road to heaven...

If you want a good laugh, this is the place. The Color Chartreuse, Etc, by Jane Hallock Combs, has enough laughs to help you through the day.

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Dead Land, by Sara Paretsky

Dead Land by Sara Paretsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How is it that trouble always manages to find certain people? Fortunately for those of us who love Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski books, trouble doesn't so much find Vic as much as trips her up, sending her in an unexpected direction.

Dead Land starts off with a mysterious man, Coop, leaving his dog tied up outside V.I.'s apartment, with a note to "Look after Bear until I come back for him."

Just what Vic needs: another dog to watch after.

Vic's goddaughter, Bernie Fouchard, is spending the summer in Chicago, coaching a girls' soccer team. Bernie has also discovered that singer-songwriter Lydia Zamir in now living on the streets of Chicago, playing her music on a toy piano, and protected by the mysterious Coop. While Bernie wants to rescue Lydia, Vic finds herself protecting Bernie.

At one point, Vic accompanies Bernie to a community meeting. Unfortunately, tempers flare up during the meeting; it doesn't take long for people to begin dying because of the flare-ups, including Bernie's boyfriend.

Between trying to find the killer(s), locating Lydia (who disappears to Kansas, along with Coop), and keeping Bernie and her friends safe, V.I. must also try to stay alive. She is shot at numerous times, ending up in the hospital.

On top of that, Vic's ex-lover, Murray Ryerson, is shot and left for dead. Will he make it? (Yes, he does, but you'll have to read the book to find out the details.)

All in all, Dead Land is another fine example of Sara Paretsky's writing, and well worth the read.
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