Leave the old people home.

Whether its their home or A Home! If I had no job and no life I'd invest some serious time in finding out which author began this trend in mystery books to include the "zany old person sidekick". Evanovich certainly brought it way into mainstream with Stephanie's grandmother Mazur. It has GOT to stop.

Who exactly are these authors catering to with this nonsense? Is it the young people? Are the young supposed to find shriveled old ladies who dress in multicolored costumes and talk about sex all the time amusing? Or perhaps its to the older crowd itself. All those shriveled old guys who wear their pants up to their armpits and deliver raunchy sexual come ons to the young heroines are heroic symbols to the over 70 crowd. Yeah, I don't think so. The first time this showed up in a book, for a scene, it was funny. Once. For an entire book? Its annoying and I'm skipping those pages. For an entire series? Well, you are going to lose me.

Regular type older person can be just as funny as you think these absurd caricatures are, even more so. Exercise those creative muscles and develop a character that's interesting to read. Please. For the love of Pete.

September Book

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I'm sending it out early.

I'm choosing: Last Whisper, by Carlene Thompson

I've read all her books and find them fun little reads. They're stand alones. They have a little thriller, romance, little mystery. Great vacation reads!

This book comes out on the 29th of August, so you'll either have to buy it or read it in the store. It'll be fun. Splurge.

Here's the back of the book:
Someone is tracking her every move.A killer who knows that true nightmares never end...And that the perfect murder is always worth waiting for...Brooke Yeager's childhood ended the night she crept downstairs to find her beautiful, gentle mother, Anne, lying in a pool of blood. Standing above Anne's shattered body, a gun aimed right at the terrified little girl, was Brooke's stepfather, Zachary Tavell. Luck saved Brooke that night, and in the years since, she's managed to build a good life in Charleston, West Virginia, secure in the knowledge that Zach is behind bars. Until the night another woman is murdered-a woman who looks just like Brooke. Zach Tavell has escaped from prison, and this time, Brooke will need much more than luck to survive. As the police search for Tavell, Brooke is shaken by a string of gruesome deaths and disturbing messages linked to her mother's murder. Everyone she has ever cared about is in danger. And soon it's clear that the nightmare that began fifteen years ago won't be over until Brooke comes face to face with a monstrous evil that's closer, and more cunning, than she ever imagined....

Killer Insight, by Victoria Laurie

Guess what I got to read this weekend??!! I LOVE my local store that puts books out early...

Killer Insight is the fourth installment in the Abbey Cooper Psychic Eye series. This one, as the others before it, are a great read. What's it about? Well, Abbey heads to Colorado for a good friend's wedding (so good I don't believe she was ever mentioned before, but I have to check on that). As a bridesmaid fill in, Abbey's obligated to do all the pre-wedding stuff, which kicks off in an unfortunate way when Abbey looks at a photo and sees that one of the women is dead. The woman she replaced in the wedding party. What follows is Abbey assisting the bride's brother - the local sheriff - with uncovering info about this death, and the many crimes that follow. The psychic stuff Abbey does is good and explained well. The supporting characters all get a little role that ties in with the story. There are new twists to Abbey's love life - which I admit I was not so happy about to begin (The bastard!), but it seemed to work out for the best.

What's good? Abbey's psychic revelations, the overall story - ie murders. Dave. He's a hoot. The scene at the mall where the bystander helps out Abbey - you'll see.

What could be improved? Confusing names that sound similar! Dutch is the usual guy in the books, but in this book there's a Duffy that takes center stage - a little confusing. Fortunately, the author didn't mix them up anywhere - which most authors do at some point, when they have characters with similar names.