On Turpentine Lane

Book 2/60 - On Turpentine Lane

On Turpentine Lane by Elinor Lipman is a little different than many books I would pick on my own, but is the 2nd book I chose to read in my quest to reach 60 this year.

What is On Turpentine Lane About?

Faith Frankel has returned to her hometown and bought a quirky little house on Turpentine Lane.  Her life is peaceful except that her fiance is on a crowdfunded cross-country walk.  He won't return her calls but has no problem using her credit card.  Then there are the problems at work, her parents problems, oh, and the creepy photos she found in her attic.
As things start to fall apart around her Faith hangs in there as best she can.

What Did I Think?

Its a CUTE book.  Really.

Stories where a female MC randomly buys a house and tries to change the tides of her own life appeal to me. (I reccomend Anybody Any Minute by Julie Mars in that vein)


On Turpentine Lane is not exactly that kind of book.

While she does buy a house on a whim, at first it seems like everything in her life starts going wrong.  Her traveling fiance wont return her calls, her job is in serious trouble, and her parents marriage is on the rocks and there are photos of dead babies in her attic!  Her whole life turns topsy turvy on Turpentine lane.

There is an element of mystery, a good bit of humor, and just a tinge of romance in this novel.
Recommended for a quick and fun read.

All the Little Liars Aurora Teagarden Book 9

Book 1/60 - All the Little Liars

All the Little Liars by Charlaine Harris is book 9 in a series of books featuring Aurora Teagarden.
Newly married Aurora (Roe) has her pregnancy confirmed.  Not long after that her fifteen-year-old brother goes missing.  Worse than that he's not missing alone.  Two of his friends are also gone, as well as an eleven-year-old girl.
During this time she takes a leave from her job at the library, and tries on her own to figure out what happened to her brother and his friends.
To her it seems to keep circling around to a group of bullies at the local middle school.  But how could they be connected?

Aurora Teagarden Mysteries Book #9

I picked this up knowing full well that it was a part of a series.  Anything tagged with "A So-n-So Mystery" usually means it is part of a long series, but that it can also be read as a stand alone novel.
This is the case here too, to an extent.  It gives some backstory on how Roe's brother came to be living with her.  It doesn't tell you exactly why the mild mannered librarian is also a super sleuth (sort of).
I am a fan of Charlaine Harris, if only a newbie fan.  I read and loved all 3 of the Midnight, Texas novels, and the 1st book of the Sookie Stackhouse series, along with one of her short stories in an anthology.  I had a good feeling I'd like this book, and I did.
I was a little taken aback, however, by the random characters that seem to drop in or call for no real reason whatsoever with information that just so happens to be exactly what she needs to figure out the next piece of the puzzle.
Her husband is also too good to be true.  A real, "I'll agree with whatever you decide to do even if it makes no sense" kind of guy.

A Movie Series!

Since All the Little Liars is new novel it has not been adapted into a movie, but 6 other of the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries have.  They star the lovely Candace Cameron Bure, who often acts for Hallmark, and you can get them in one convenient box set.


Charlaine Harris s a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over 30 years.  Aside from the Aurora Teagarden books she also has 3 other Mysteries seires as well as the popular Sookie Stackhouse novels.
The Author is no newcomer to having her books turned into visual works either.  Her Sookie Stackhouse novels were made into an HBO series called True Blood.
More recently her Midnight, Texas novels were made into a series as well (which has not yet been renewed for a 2nd season).