Restless in the Grave is 19th in the series. Kate Shugak, Alaska private investigator.

Alaska aviation entrepreneur Finn Grant died in the fiery crash of his Piper Super Cub. Someone sabotaged his engine, and virtually everyone in southwestern Alaska has a motive, including his betrayed wife, his bullied children, and Liam’s wife, bush pilot Wyanet Chouinard.

Working undercover as—of all things—a waitress at Bill’s Bar and Grill, Kate learns over beer and burgers that Grant’s business had expanded meteorically over the last two years.

After buying the closed Air Force base south of town from the federal government at a bargain-basement price, he became a fixed-base operator running his fishing, hunting, and flight-seeing business, servicing planes flying through the area, and most interestingly and lucratively, getting into the air freight business.

But what kind of freight was he moving, and where?

Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the greats of early Science Fiction. I became a fan after reading The Left Hand of Darkness in my youth.

She mocked contemporaries like Robert Heinlein for publishing  “white man conquers the universe” stories. 😀

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A Wizard of Earthsea is a seminal 1968 high fantasy novel.

As the foundational first entry in the acclaimed Earthsea Cycle, it is widely regarded as a classic of children’s and fantasy literature that pioneered major genre tropes, including the concept of a wizard school.

A reckless young village boy goes by the name Sparrowhawk.

Recognizing his immense innate magical talent, the master wizard Ogion takes him in before sending him to the renowned school of wizardry on the island of Roke.

Themes

The Magic of True Names: Magic in Earthsea relies on the “Old Speech.” Knowing the true name of a person or object grants absolute power over them. 

Cosmic Balance (Equilibrium): Strongly influenced by Taoist philosophy, the story emphasizes that magic must not be used recklessly, as altering one part of the world disrupts the ultimate balance of nature. 

Confronting the Self: The shadow serves as a psychological manifestation of Ged’s own pride, fear, and capacity for evil

There was an animated adaptation. And a TV mini series or two.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Bad Blood – Book 20 of 23: A Kate Shugak Investigation.

Another good read.

One hundred years of bad blood between the Alaskan villages of Kushtaka and Kuskulana come to a boil when the body of a young Kushtaka ne’er-do-well is found wedged in a fish wheel.

Sergeant Jim Chopin’s prime suspect is a Kuskulana man who is already in trouble in both villages for falling in love across the river.

But when the suspect disappears, members of both tribes refuse to speak to Jim.

When a second murder that looks suspiciously like payback occurs, Jim has no choice but to call in Kate Shugak for help. This time, though, her Park relationships may not be enough to sort out the truth hidden in the tales of tragedy and revenge.

A great story teller.

A Prison Diary is a series of three books of diaries written by Jeffrey Archer during his time in prisons following his convictions for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

Each volume is named after a part of Dante‘s The Divine Comedy. The volumes become progressively longer due to his stay being longer and longer at each prison in which he was confined.

Volume 1: Belmarsh: Hell

This book, written under the nom de plume FF 8282, documents Archer’s introduction to the prison system.

He was to spend the first 22 days and 14 hours in HMP Belmarsh, a double A-Category high-security prison in South London. Although Archer spent less than a month there, Belmarsh is described as a real hell-hole. Despite this, many of the inmates are extremely kind to him and regale him with anecdotes, which he duly records.

One such prisoner apparently spoken of is the inspiration to one of his short stories from Cat O’Nine Tales, “It Can’t Be October Already”.

On the other hand, some of the information Archer learns in his three weeks at Belmarsh is extremely disturbing, and he makes great play of imagining that the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, ought to be reading it and asks for his attention.

One theme is the fact that some inmates are thrown into cells for first time offences even though the cellmate is a hardened criminal or murderer and/or drug addict.

No One to Trust (2002) by Iris Johansen is a kinda dumb, easy to read, fast paced thriller.

The story follows Elena Kyler, a trained military sniper and assassin on the run from Rico Chavez, a ruthless Colombian drug lord and the father of her five-year-old son.

Desperate to keep her son from being raised in Chavez’s image, she turns to Sean Galen, a mysterious and capable operative.

Together, they flee across the country, facing a trail of murders and a final showdown as they realize there is truly “no one to trust”. 

Not bad.

Rough Justice is a legal thriller by Lisa Scottoline.

Published 1997, it serves as the third book in her popular Rosato & Associates series, which centres on a dynamic, all-female law firm based in Philadelphia.

Criminal defense attorney Marta Richter is just hours away from securing an acquittal for her client, Elliot Steere, a wealthy real estate mogul on trial for killing a homeless man in what he claims was self-defense during a carjacking.

However, right as the jury leaves to deliberate, Steere lets slip the chilling truth: he is completely guilty and completely unrepentant. 

Infuriated by the manipulation, Marta turns against her own client.

She races against the clock to uncover the evidence needed to convict him before the jury returns a “not guilty” verdict. To help her search, she recruits two young associates from the local firm Rosato & Associates—Mary DiNunzio and Judy Carrier.

This book is aimed at children aged 7 to 10.

But I enjoyed it.

Akimbo and the Elephants (1990) is the first installment in the beloved Akimbo series, which follows a brave ten-year-old boy living on a large wildlife game reserve in Africa.

Plot Overview

• The Setting: Akimbo lives on the edge of a vast African game preserve where his father works as the head ranger to protect wild animals. 
• The Conflict: Illegal ivory poachers are killing the grown elephants for their valuable tusks, leaving the helpless young calves behind to perish. 
• The Turning Point: After coming across the devastating sight of a mother elephant killed by poachers, Akimbo becomes determined to stop them. 
• The Plan: Realizing the reserve is too massive for the rangers to police effectively, Akimbo hatches a dangerous plan to go undercover, posing as an elephant hunter to infiltrate the poachers’ network.

Excellent.

Legal Tender (1996) is Rosato & Associates, Book #2.

Super high energy. Plenty of action.

Smart dialogue. Interesting characters. And humour.

In Legal Tender, maverick civil rights lawyer Benedetta “Bennie” Rosato is wrongly accused of murder – and goes on the run to prove her innocence and find the real killer. 

Publishers Weekly awarded it a “star” and raved that “Scottoline’s rambunctious legal thriller may change the way readers think about lawyers. Bennie, a delightful heroine, deserves an encore; and, again, Scottoline merits a big round of applause.”

The ending is super entertaining — and as highly improbable as any legal thriller you’ve ever read. 😀

Not bad.

Tears of the Giraffe (2000) is 2nd in The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith, set in Botswana, which features the Motswana protagonist Precious Ramotswe.

A cozy mystery novel continues the heartwarming and slow-paced adventures of Botswana’s premier female private investigator.

• The Missing American: Her primary case involves searching for a young American man who mysteriously vanished into the African plains ten years prior. 
• The Wayward Wife: She tracks a local man’s wife to determine why she remains away from home for long stretches each day. 
• The Unscrupulous Maid: An administrative plotline unfolds involving a deceitful maid working for her fiancé, which ultimately ends in a prison sentence for the culprit