{I've Been Reading} Between A Flock and a Hard Place

After Oz by Gordon McAlpine

Several days after her aunt and uncle's farmhouse is scooped up by a tornado then dropped into a splintered pile of wreckage, eleven year old Dorothy Gale is found unharmed in a pumpkin patch with her little dog at her side. She tells a detailed story about the colorful land she visited, the friends she made there, and the witch she accidentally melted. Unfortunately, a local woman has been found with her face burned away, as if melted, by lye. 

This is the story of the young female psychologist who visits Dorothy in the asylum and tries to decipher what actually happened. It's not quite what I was expecting -- there are very few references to the original book. Instead, it's a procedural mystery as Dr. Evelyn Grace Wilford tries to find out what actually happened to the spinster and if little Dorothy is as innocent as she claims. The people of Sunbonnet, Kansas are an unpleasant bunch. I don't know if I've ever read so many bible quotes in such a short book, religious or not (and this one is definitely not.) The original book describes a sad, gray world that Dorothy escapes and in this book she's right back in it. As bleak as it all is, the author kept me interested until the very end. 

Between A Flock and a Hard Place by Donna Andrews 

There's a lot going on in the latest Meg Langslow mystery. Another reality show is in town, this one filming a home rennovation for Marvelous Mansions with absolutely no concerns about how their plans are going to inconvenience the rest of the neighborhood or what the local building codes are. Someone has released a huge flock of feral turkeys into the area, terrorizing the locals and the construction crew. And there's been a murder. 

This is a well established series with a LOT of characters. I jumped in with the last book (Let It Crow! Let It Crow!) and absolutely loved it, but I had a harder time getting into this one. Maybe it was because it was so fast paced, or maybe because I had a hard time relating to the turkeys. (We've got a local flock that I've never seen as a threat -- are wild turkeys and feral turkeys different critters?) The mystery itself is just complicated enough to be interesting and has a satisfying conclusion. I should really go back and start this series from the beginning. 

A Poisonous Palate by Lucy Burdette 

Food critic Hayley Snow is asked  to help investigate the disappearance of a young woman who was last seen at a communal campground on Big Pine Key in the late 1970s. That intrigued me, and so did the idea that one of the characters is researching a book about Hemmingway. This book offered a great chance to visit a different place and time and the solution to the mystery was suspenseful and satisfying. 

Don't Tell a Soul by Jessia Huntley

This is a wild ride of a thriller. A teenager flees her abusive father. Her escape plan doesn't work out as expected, but she finds herself in a small town renting an attic room from an older woman who was in a similar situation as a girl. The arrangement is going well until she breaks her landlady's rules and goes down to the basement. If you don't insist on realistic situations and want a fast paced read with unexpected twists, this is a fun one. 

A Mask of Flies by Matthew Lyons

The book starts with a botched bank robbery. Anne Heller is driving towards the isolated cabin she once fled with her mother, an injured friend bleeding in the passenger seat of the Oldsmobile, a police officer in the trunk. She never wanted to return to that place, but in that moment it's the only option she can think of. The story is fast paced and full of violence...until it suddenly isn't. Things really slow down once Anne confronts the nightmares of her childhood and I found myself losing interest.  

Disclosure -- The publishers provided me with advance review copies.