MellowDrama

Some major drinking is happening in the titles that I have read recently. I am though no drinker. Salted buttermilk is more up my alley than any other hard drinks. Getting back to the book at hand, or rather the book on the mobile device that I finished about a month ago but was too disheartened by lack of engagement on this amazing project of mine to write the review of. So Liliana Hart's Whiskey Rebellion happened at a good time to me when I was so down in the dumps that a murder mystery with M&B feels was the only thing that could have pulled me out. Well, this is the book review for you in a nut shell. This book like the ones that I am reading under #yearofthethriller project is the first in a series where Private Investigator Addison Holmes makes her first appearance. It would not be wrong to say that this is the book in which she, a History school teacher desperately in need to make money for buying an apartment gives a shot to being stripper, fails at the auditio

Read it for a spunky, hardworking and hard hitting female protagonist and a villain who will send chills down your spine. ------------------- I have to say at the outset that I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery as I have seen being the case with everyone of them where a female cop who is good at her job. Credit must be given to the author JA Konrath for writing a plot that has the twists and turns of a good, gripping thriller and still has the scope for character development, more like fleshing out the character, in this book. So our heroine is named Jack Daniels, short for Jacquline Daniels is an insomniac, her boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer and in generals having a difficult time coping with life when a serial killer who calls himself the Gingerbread Man starts to leave mutilated bodies of women in dumpsters in her district. A binge eating partner, an old gangster she had busted years ago and a couple of (moronic looking and sounding) guys from the FBI form

Read this medical thriller for a superbly knit plot, leave it aside if you can't deal with gory descriptions. ------------------------------------ I have not been so scared after reading a thriller as I have been after reading The Surgeon byTess Gerristen. It had a very deep impact on me and It is I guess a good one month after I read it that I could bring myself to write a not so long review of this medical mystery where Detective inspector Jane Rizzoli makes her first appearance. The Surgeon begins with the story of a successful doctor Catherine Cordell handling an emergency wherein an old man who has met with an accident is brought in a critical condition. Next we are told that she had escaped a murder attempt by a former student in a different city two years back and had shot her assailant dead. A new set of murders comes to light and Detective Thomas Moore realises that the MO of these murders have something in common with the attack on Cordell. The police is befud

Still Life is lovely in so many ways. Though a murder mystery there is hardly anything dark (beyond the obvious) that clings to you on reading about murders and killings. The book is the first where Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec makes his appearance. He is compassionate and cerebral and this fact alone makes him worthy of being followed into every book that Penny has written with him as the central character. It must have been indeed a stellar debut by Louise Penny for it to have fetched her the Anthony Award for the Best First Novel in 2007. *************** Three Pines is a small quaint village, a heaven for its residents, which wakes up to the murder of an old beloved school teacher Ms Jane Neal one morning. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec and his team are sent to investigate this death which looks like a hunting accident, after all who would want Jane Neal dead. Gamache, who sees and observes everything (A certain Mr. Holmes wou

Precious Ramotswe- Botswana's only and finest female private detective makes her debut with this book which is divided into short stories like chapters, full of warmth, wit and intuitive charm, taking our detective to solve a case in strange locations amongst still stranger people. ************* The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith is everything that you might expect from a thriller novel and then some more. The book perhaps might seem like the life story of Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's only and finest female private detective, from her birth till the time she sets up her agency and you might be tempted to give up, (if you are in search of blood and gore) but I would suggest against it. The book not only gives you the entire history of the now thirty-five years old and large (but the traditional way) Precious Ramotswe and some of Botswana as to what this place and its people are like, but I believe that the very skilled Mr Smith is just

A spine chilling novel where Detective Inspector Helen Grace makes her first appearance. Read it for a prose that doesn't meander or wastes time in getting to the point. ************************** I have bee postponing writing about Eeny Meeny because I wanted to be in a certain mood to write this review. There has only been one other book besides this one that has given me a sleepless night. That book was Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None'. There is nothing graphic or gory in either of these books over which I might have lost sleep but the sheer reason for which people were being murdered, shook me up. Of course And Then There Were None is very atmospheric, that whole abandoned island, the morose weather, crashing sea waves- is enough to spook you. It is the woman herself- Agatha Christies- who is a master storyteller, you might just say. Getting back to Eeny Meeny, credit should be given to Arlidge for creating a spell binding narrative doled out in

If you have been following me for sometime, you might know that I am on a personal mission to read as many first thrillers where a Detective or a Detective Inspector makes an appearance, from world over. So far, I have read some awesome Detectives etched by writers from the Nordic countries ( Jo Nesbo , Helen Tursten , Kristina Ohlsson ),  the US ( JK Rowling aka Robert Galbraith ) and this one that I am going to review next, from England ( MJ Arlidge , this though is his fifth on the link). I have also read some remarkable stand alone thrillers like No time for Goodbye and the Japanese masterpiece Devotion Suspect X (which I think kicked my obsession with finding the first ones of the series and which was so mind-blowing that its review isn't even comprehensible slink to another one of his works that is also so so good. Must rectify that one someday though when I can get over the awesomeness). You might wonder why am I doing it. Even I think what is this going to achiev

Read it for a flawed heroine who is tormented by her past and is not allowed a moment of rest and peace- welcome to the world of Detective Inspector Helen Grace.  *********** Though I  personally want to read all the firsts of the various detectives that have been created in the world of fiction, MJ Arlidge's Eeny Meeny has not easily fallen into my lap. What instead I found was the fifth book featuring his heroine DI Helen Grace- Little Boy Blue. This is the book where Helen's professional and personal lives clash giving us some idea about what might have happened in her past. Helen has deep, dark secrets that begin to bubble up to the surface as a man is found murdered in the city's deepest and darkest corner. He was well-known to Grace and it could purely be an accident but then another man is found murdered grotesquely and he too was known to her. As leads and misplaced suspicions come to the fore, the murder investigations get sidetracked by her infightin

Read it for the sketch that Rowling draws of her private investigator Cormoran Strike. If you don't want that or conversations between characters going around their business in the city of London then better leave it out. ************************** The Cuckoo's Calling is the first Cormoran Strike novel penned by JK Rowling of the Harry Potter fame under an alias Robert Galbraith. I must admit that I did not read this first, rather I read the last one in the series Lethal White first and found it to be good enough to read the other three in the Cormoran Strike series. But alas! I picked up The Cuckoo's Calling and never went back for the rest. The Cuckoo's Calling is an ordinary mystery wherein a model Lulu Landry, fondly called Cuckoo by family and friends, falls to her death and her brother John Bistrow refusing to believe the police's verdict that it was a suicide, comes to hire Strike. Strike is a wounded war veteran who lost one leg in Afghanistan and

If you would want to give your system a shock or a jolt then this book is for you. If you are facing a reader's block and thrillers are your thing then read this book. Pick this book if you want to have a good time page after page. *********************************** The Plot No Time for Goodbye by the Canadian author Linwood Barclay is a nail biting thriller that is as simple and humane as it is complex. As a 14 year old Cynthia Bigge is dragged from her boyfriend's arms by her father who finds her sloshed in his car one night. Next morning Cynthia wakes up to find that her parents and brother have disappeared without leaving a single trace or note for her. The house is spic and span as her mother likes to keep it, nothing is out of place or amiss to suggest any kind of foul play and still no one can seem find anything about her family. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of this event, Cynthia agrees to feature in a documentary about this. A few days later strange things be

Read this book if you are looking to not tax your brain and a happy place to be in. Pick it up if female friendship and solidarity brighten your day and lift your spirit. Read it if you have or crave friends who stick with you and don't falter in calling out your self-harming (if any) games. ******************************* Sassy and charming, as well as a social commentary of sorts that the over-the-top setting of the book would allow, When Life Gives You Lululemons by Laura Weisberger of the Devil Wears Prada fame, was a 'New York Times Bestseller' and among Best Books of Summer 2018. I don't remember how I got to it but am I glad that I did. It is a light read, pacy and with a kickass heroine and co-heroines who are all set to bring down a man who has set up one of these three friends. If you have read either of the two Devil Wears Prada books or seen  the movie then you will be familiar with Emily Charlton (played by Emily Blunt in the movie), the former firs

I AM M-M-MUMBAI is a romantic novel written by @fishyrishi / Rishi Vohra. This is his third work of fiction. . The book revolves around a Mumbai lad Rudra Talpade who wants to become a Hindi film actor. But this wish remains deep inside his heart as he knows that it is just next to impossible to make it come true. Why? Because Rudra stammers. The story progresses and we meet other characters that make up the book among which are his parents, a sister living in the US and his  friends Shibani and Ankur. We also know that Rudra is working as an Assistant Director for a certain film where only the lead actress is kind to him. Soon Rudra meets Richa at a wedding and falls hard for her. Richa agrees to meet him on a couple of occasions and breaks off her engagement to be able to follow her heart which she has been inspired to do, by Rudra. But soon enough she realises that it was a mistake and dumps Rudra who akin to Devdas spirals down to some bar, gets sloshed, finds himself in a gut

The Chopra Sisters is Rahul Vishnoi's third presentation after Who Burned The Moon? and a collection of shorts called Love Littering the Lanes. I have read the debut book and one of the 4 stories featured in the collection. Then I read this and I can summarise all that I have to write by saying that he is getting better at his craft. But as a had-been editor, I won't be justifying my previous job title if I do not talk about the lacunae. The story outline first. The main cast of the story that Vishnoi presents to us here is quite apparent from the title of the book. This is about two sisters who are actually more or less disasters. Always at each other's throat, the girls are just too much to handle for their father, especiallyafter the mother dies. (Reminds one of the trailers of Patakha, a film about two forever fighting sisters.) Anyway they go their separate ways once the elder one decides that she wants to marry the boy who was chosen by their father to marr

Another book by Keigo Higashio that is simple yet complex in terms of plot development, Salvation of a Saint might have strained my nerves because of its length but was in no way a disappointment. I started the year 2018 with the Devotion of Suspect X by the acclaimed Japanese author and was blown away, and so when nothing seemed to work in terms of my reading in 2019, I went back to him, knowing whatever I might pick I will enjoy it and break the jinx that the year seemed to have started on. As soon as the book begins we know that a murder has been plotted. We are introduced to the killer and the victim in almost a single breath. You might wonder then what remains to be revealed. And this is where Higashino's expertise lies. The HOW- How was the murder committed? He presents you the settings for a perfect crime. No one seems to be able to figure out how was the deed done even if the detective at times might already know who did it. This seemingly impossible thing to figure ou

I have just finished reading the 1983 Pulitzer Prize winner and a National Book Award winner, The Color Purple by Alice Walker. As I write this I realise that I was two years old when the book was first published and maybe 4 when the movie based on it released. Women were even then (1982) fighting for things which they are struggling for now (2018) and they seem to be doing just that even during the time the book is set in (1900-1940s roughly) Alice Walker had been on my to-be-read list this year. A list that had made somewhere in the middle of the year about authors new and old, that I wanted to at least taste in this year. (I am mighty proud that I have accomplished quite some) The interesting thing about this book is that I have come very close to reading this book a few times really but never ever got down to even getting started. The a few months ago I downloaded it on to the Kindle. I started and though it wasn't easy to read it- both because, of the difficult subjec

The Other clearly asks us to stop treating people as if they were invisible, whatever their flaws might be. ******************************* Paro Anand is an award winning writer who has written for children- big and small. Her book The Other- Stories of Difference, is a collection of short stories though written for the young adults in our society but, I presume, intended for us all. The protagnists in The Other are generally children standing on the threshold of adulthood, those who are on a journey of discovery: on a journey, discovering their otherness. There is a story about a girl dealing with grief; another who witnesses a woman being assaulted in broad daylight; a handicapped boy who falls for a girl and learns to see himself with new eyes and yet another girl who comes to terms with her best friend's discovery of his sexuality. The book has a range of emotions owing to the varied subjects that the author has chosen. The stories often left me moist eyed by the end, thoug

*Where the Peacocks Sing* is a memoir written by internatinally acclaimed journalist Allison Singh Gee. The book has been published by @speakingtiger whom I owe #gratitude for my #reviewcopy as well. . I finished reading the book in almost a couple of days when I finally sat down with it and I must say that it is an easy read. By this I mean the book is not taxing emotionally and the language and the flow are seamless. The memoir is Gee's account of how she- an LA girl who is half Chinese, met with her husband- a journalist and a minor Prince, fell in love and came to Mokimpur- his village and Haveli just outside Delhi. . Gee's life does a complete 360 degree turn from shiny and fast paced Hong Kong life to laid back rural life as she travels to Mokimpur with her boyfriend Ajay Singh. We witness India through her eyes. Everyday systems which we do not even register in our everyday lives like the master servant relationship bring tears to Allison's life as she witnesses

*I Am Thunder and I Won't Keep Quiet* by Muhammad Khan is a book that has brought to the table a few things we need to acknowledge outrightly. More so in the times we live. This #book speaks of the other (for dearth of a more appropriate word) Muslims who are regular people, living mundane lives, trying to be good students, neighbours, employees, friends, thr Muslims we barrly ever see on TVs or about whom we never hear on the news. These are the unfortunate people who bear the brunt of the actions of some from their own relegion who have chosen to interpret and spread the word of the Prophet for their own petty gains. I Am Thunder speaks of Muslim boys and girls who are culled out of the masses and brainwashed slowly and steadily to understand that the world is out there to get them because of their relegion. . I Am Thunder is the story of Muzna Saleem a British born Pakistani Muslim girl who is trying to get through life as would any child standing at the threshold of adolescenc

This is the first book in the Vish Puri series and I unfortunately read it after I had read The Case of the Love Commandos. Had I read it before I would have been even more favourably inclined towards the author. To cut a long story short, this is a much more lovable book then the previous one and something gives me a feeling that all the other ones after this, as wel.. So without much ado, here is what I thought of the plot, characters and the writing in the book, "The Case of the Missing Servant". A servant goes amiss and the employer- an upright lawyer in Rajasthan- is charged with her murder. When our hero, 'the' Vish Puri of Most Private Investigators starts on the job, he has nothing to go on with. The lawyer's wife and others in the household can't help him beyond the missing servant's name. They did not know where she came from and of course where had she mysteriously disappeared to. The only thing he finds in the servant quarter that she occu