THE DEVIL'S QUEEN

by Jeanne Kalogridis



"Born into one of Florence’s most powerful families, Catherine was soon left a fabulously rich heiress by the early deaths of her parents. Violent conflict rent the city state and she found herself imprisoned and threatened by her family’s enemies before finally being released and married off to the handsome Prince Henry of France.

Overshadowed by her husband’s mistress, the gorgeous, conniving Diane de Poitiers, and unable to bear children, Catherine resorted to the dark arts of sorcery to win Henry’s love and enhance her fertility—for which she would pay a price. Against the lavish and decadent backdrop of the French court, and Catherine’s blood-soaked visions of the future, Kalogridis reveals the great love and desire Catherine bore for her husband, Henry, and her stark determination to keep her sons on the throne." (from Macmillan's site)

I thought Jeanne Kalogridis was going to let me down. 150 or so pages into The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici, I was becoming bored. Things weren't moving along at the pace I've come to expect from her. I wasn't captivated by any creepy weirdness. Then: Wham! I couldn't put it down. This was the Kalogridis I have come to know and love! Somehow she manages to make the infamous Catherine de Medici a sympathetic character while in the middle of participating in a human sacrifice! Unreal. And pretty gruesome.

Yeah, The Devil's Queen has a couple graphic scenes that the more squeamish among us may want to bypass (execution by quartering, anyone?), but once you get invested in this book it really is awesome and well worth peeking between your fingers once the icky parts are over. This book has me champing at the bit to learn more about Catherine and her rotten children. (Well, not all of them are rotten, but if I tell you which ones, I'll wreck the story for you!) It will be interesting to see how I react to her in other books considering how she was portrayed here. The very first book I ever read about Henry VIII was The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George. With all of Henry's rationalizing about all the hideous things he did, I found myself actually feeling a little sorry for him. The guy was a psychological mess! Because of this, it took me along time to get that sympathy out of my head every time a read another story about him and his wives. In fact, I still find myself making excuses for him every now and then! I wonder if I'll do the same thing with Catherine de Medici now.

I have Jean Plaidy's Medici trilogy on my desk. Do we think I can stick to my personal pledge to finish the Countdown Challenge before I read it? Bets are being taken now . . .



PS If you go to the publisher's site, there is a link to a Reading Group Guide PDF, and check this out . . . (You'll have to click on it to see the ebook in full)



Other reviews:

A Girl Walks Into A Bookstore
Tanzanite's Shelf and Stuff

KILLER SUMMER

by Ridley Pearson



"Sun Valley, Idaho -- playground of the wealthy and politically connected -- is home to an annual wine auction that attracts high rollers from across the country, and Blaine County Sheriff Walt Fleming is the one who must ensure it goes off without a hitch. The world's most elite wine connoisseurs have descended on Sun Valley to taste and bid on the world's best wines, including three bottles claimed to have been a gift from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams. With sky-high prices all but guaranteed for these historic items, it's no wonder a group of thieves is out to steal them." (From the Uncorrected Proof of Killer Summer)

I haven't been accepting many ARCs lately, but when I was asked if I would like to review Ridley Pearson's third and newest Walt Fleming novel, I couldn't pass it up. I'm still mourning the end of his Lou Boldt series, but I'm warming up to Walt and I definitely wanted to keep up with his story.

If you decide to pick this one up, hold on to your hats! The plot moves so quickly that more than once I had to check to make sure I hadn't missed a page somewhere. It read like an action movie. It wasn't overly complicated, but there were enough twists to keep things interesting. Walt's personal life gets tangled up in the mystery which results in a few of his relationships being brought to a new level, some better, some worse. It will be fun to see where those go in future installments.

I'm still not as sold on this series as I was on Lou Boldt, but as I've said before, that is not the fault of Pearson's writing. Killer Summer is a very entertaining read and a perfect beach book. And when I give you my thoughts on the next Walt Fleming novel, I won't even mention Lou Boldt. I'm finished whining. I promise! :-)

THE LAST DICKENS

by Matthew Pearl



"Boston, 1870. When news of Charles Dickens's untimely death reaches the office of his struggling American publisher, Fields & Osgood, partner James Osgood sends his trusted clerk Daniel Sand to await the arrival of Dickens's unfinished novel. But when Daniel's body is discovered by the docks and the manuscript is nowhere to be found, Osgood must embark on a transatlantic quest to unearth the novel that he hopes will save his venerable business and reveal Daniel's killer." (From the CD container.)

I'm going to exhibit my ignorance right now, so bear with me a moment. Until all the buzz about Dan Simmons' Drood came up a while back, I had no idea there was an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. Suddenly two books come out early this year only weeks apart using that very unfinished work as their premise. Does anyone know what brought this on? Just curious.

While The Last Dickens wasn't the most engrossing novel I've ever read, I did enjoy the creativity that went into it. I like books that spin off from classic novels and stories and seeing how various authors expand on the original and make it their own, how they make characters we thought we knew behave and events unfold. I have trouble thinking "outside the box", and I admire those who can do it so imaginatively.

I also enjoyed all the information about Charles Dickens' reading tour in the U.S. and the early days of the publishing industry, but what The Last Dickens mostly did was pique my interest in opium dens and the opium trade of that period. I must be in need of some dark and dingy reading material. And I must read what there is of the real Mystery of Edwin Drood!

RENEGADE

by Richard Wolffe



Among the overabundance of political pundits during the 2008 presidential election, Richard Wolffe was my favorite. He appeared to be an Obama supporter, but it always seemed to me he was attempting to be fair to both sides. He pointed out the Obama campaign's flaws and didn't have problems praising the McCain campaign when he felt it was deserved. He continues that fairness in this book.

Renegade: The Making of a President is a behind-the-scenes look at the Obama campaign from a man who was there from the announcement of Obama's candidacy in Springfield, Illinois to his victory on election night, inauguration and transition. You'll see Barack Obama when he's not so cool and collected. You'll see his fears and doubts about enduring the harsh grind of the election, and his conflicting emotions about uprooting his young family. And you'll see him grow from a somewhat awkward, unprepared underdog to the man you see in the White House today.

If you're looking for dirt on the Clinton and/or McCain campaigns, you'll not find it here. Wolffe leaves his personal opinions mostly unstated and gives a journalist's view of the events without partisan embellishment. He moves quickly forward and backward through through the two year process, touching on both stories we've all heard and private moments you'll only see here. Renegade will not convince the anti-Obama faction that the right man currently occupies the Oval Office, but folks who would like to see a peek at the real man behind the celebrity status and calm demeanor or experience an insider's look at that historic election should get their hands on this book.

THE DEVLIN DIARY

by Christi Phillips



"A follow-up to the well-received The Rossetti Letter (2007), Phillips once again simultaneously follows seventeenth-century and twenty-first-century mysteries. A serial killer is loose in seventeenth-century England. Are his gruesome crimes random, or are they part of a royal conspiracy? Hannah Devlin, a rare female physician, becomes convinced of the latter. Meanwhile, in twenty-first-century Cambridge, England, Clare Donovan finds Hannah’s diary. Shortly thereafter, an academic rival is murdered. Are the crimes connected? Both women work to solve their mysteries, while also becoming embroiled in parallel romances. Although the twenty-first-century plotline and ending are the weaker, both sets of mysteries and romances are engaging. An excellent afterword answers questions about historical accuracy and literary license." -- Marta Segal Block (From Booklist as posted in the Editorial Reviews section of Amazon.com)

I liked Christi Phillips' The Rossetti Letter when I read it last year, and I was very excited to finally get a hold of The Devlin Diary, which had been delayed from it's original January 2009 release date.

Like the Booklist reviewer, and for the second time for me, it was the historical chapters that I preferred over the ones set in modern times. Hannah Devlin's reluctant introduction to the decadent court of King Charles II kept me turning pages all afternoon, and I liked the way her relationship with Edward Strathern developed slowly from mutual respect of their work. In fact, it almost seemed like the modern-times chapters could almost have been completely left out and the book would have been just as good. I could live with or without the growing relationship between newly minted historian Claire Donovan and the super-reserved Englishman Andrew Kent. Their personal story didn't grab me, but it was fun to see the scholars in pursuit of their subject. I also enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at the highly competitive world of academia.

I will definitely be looking forward to whatever Christi Phillips has coming up next, and if you want to keep track of her also, you can find more information on her Official Web Site.

BONES OF BETRAYAL

by Jefferson Bass



"Dr. Bill Brockton is in the middle of a nuclear-terrorism disaster drill when he receives an urgent call from the nearby town of Oak Ridge -- better known as Atomic City, home of the Bomb, and the key site for the Manhattan Project during World War II. Although more than sixty years have passed, could repercussions from that dangerous time still be felt today?" (From the book jacket)

And my fluff reading jag continues with Bones of Betrayal, the fourth Body Farm novel. It is much like the others in that the story is engaging, but it's not a book you can't put down. The humor still feels a bit forced, but I didn't find myself rolling my eyes at the jokes quite as often as in the previous books. This one was more straight-up mystery than forensics, but it was a great book to help me pass my day in the hospital waiting room.

Some of the characters in Bones of Betrayal find themselves wrestling with their feelings regarding the U.S. decision to use the bombs code-named Little Boy and Fat Man, and that will probably be the aspect of this book that sticks with me the most. I'm not familiar with the deeper stories of the building of the nuclear weapons used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so learning about things like the Manhattan Project and the beginnings of the town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee was what really held my attention. I was inspired to pick up Hiroshima by John Hersey to continue my exploration into that side of WWII.

WICKED PREY

by John Sandford



"In the nineteenth installment of the Prey series, Minnesota investigator Lucas Davenport struggles to protect his daughter Letty from a vengeful psychopathic pimp who blames Davenport for his handicap. All the while, a professional thief plans to rob the city of Minneapolis blind right before the Republican National Convention. Can Davenport protect his daughter and ensure the security of Minneapolis?" (From the CD container)

If you've read any of John Sandford's Prey series, you know exactly what you're getting in Wicked Prey, and that's not a bad thing. When you need a book you know is going to be entertaining, but you don't want to think hard about deep messages, this is a good series to turn to. It's your basic bad guys versus the justice system with lots of personal drama and guns. And a hotel fire. And the Republican National Convention. And a gunman from Oklahoma. And a paraplegic pimp. And those aren't even the main story!

Two things stood out for me in this installment: First, I liked that it didn't end all clean and tidy but not in an "obviously setting up for a sequel" kind of way. Second, I'm starting to suspect that Sandford has plans for Lucas Davenport's ward, Letty. She plays a big part in this book, and although she is only fourteen at this point, Lucas is aging and Sandford could be testing the waters regarding a future series with Letty as the main character when she gets older. It could be my imagination, but that's what it felt like. With as spirited and intelligent as Letty is, I think it might be really great if I'm right!



Other Prey books I've written about:

Phantom Prey

GRAVE GOODS

by Ariana Franklin



In Grave Goods, the third in Ariana Franklin's "Mistress of the Art of Death" series, King Henry II sends Adelia to the recently burned Glastonbury Abbey to prove the skeletons discovered there are in fact the bones of the legendary King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. Angry at once again being dragged into Henry's schemes, Adelia makes the trip to the seemingly magical place, but what she and her friends find when they get there is a very different and dangerous mystery.

I just love Adelia and company! It's not just that the stories are entertaining, but the characters are so outstanding they keep me interested even if I feel the storyline losing me. While I find the legend of King Arthur intriguing, I'm not a big fan (yet), so that thread of the plot in this installment of the series slowed it down for me a couple of times. However, Frankin was quickly able to reel me right back in with other story elements and, of course, the marvelous cast.

The only real problem with these books is that I read them right away, then it's a year before I get to see what happens next. And judging by the end of this one, there will be a next, for Adelia's new nemesis is out there waiting. . . .

You can find my thoughts on the second book in the series, The Serpent's Tale, here.

REVELATION

by C.J. Sansom



When Matthew Shardlake's good friend is murdered, Matthew is pulled into a serial killer's web of religious fanaticism. Using passages from the Book of Revelation, he must find a way to find the killer and stop his madness before the consequences reach even King Henry VIII.

When it comes to historical mysteries, it's hard to beat C.J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake series. Matthew is a humble and philosophical hunchbacked lawyer living in Tudor England who brushes elbows with the likes of Thomas Cromwell, Archbishop Cranmer, and even King Henry himself on occasion. The supporting cast is fabulous, and I find myself caught up not only in Matthew and his cases but also in the private lives of Guy, former monk turned physician and one of Matthews oldest friends, and Jack Barak, former employee of Thomas Cromwell and Matthew's assistant.

Revelation is a chunkster, but the pages fly by as Sansom draws you into the sights and sounds of the weeks just before Henry's marriage to Catherine Parr, his sixth wife. You'll feel the tension of religious conflict. You'll see the inner workings of Bedlam and explore the path to madness.

If you haven't already been introduced to Matthew Shardlake and his friends, start with Dissolution, then come back here and yell at me for making your TBR list/pile/mountain even larger. :-)

2009 Pub Challenge

Completed: 9/9 as of July 29, 2009
** FINISHED **

1. Revelation by C.J. Sansom
2. Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin
3. Wicked Prey by John Sandford
4. Bones of Betrayal by Jefferson Bass
5. The Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips
6. Renegade by Richard Wolffe
7. The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl
8. Killer Summer by Ridley Pearson
9. The Devil's Queen by Jeanne Kalogridis

I loved this Challenge in 2008, and I have no reason to believe it won't be just a great in 2009. I'm in! I have no idea what I'll read for certain, but here are a few authors that I'm pretty sure could make this list by the end of the Challenge:

Jonathan Kellerman (Alex Delaware series)
Kathy Reichs (Temperance Brennan series)
Jeanne Kalogridis (The Medici Queen)
Michelle Moran (Cleopatra's Daughter)
John Sandford (Prey series or Virgil Flowers series)
Christi Phillips (The Devlin Diary)
Jeffery Deaver (Lincoln Rhyme series, I hope!)
Robin Maxwell (Signora Da Vinci)
Robert Crais (Elvis Cole series maybe?)

I can't wait to see who actually ends up on the final list! You can read the rules and join the fun here!