A Galaxy of Whales by Heather Fawcett

 Fern's best friend, Ivy, didn't even call when she returned from her trip abroad. When Fern goes to her house to welcome her home, Ivy has two other friends with her, both of which had slept over. As Fern feels her best friend slipping away,  she makes an uneasy treaty with the boy next door, Jasper, whose family owns a whale watching boat in direct competition with her family's whale watching business. The new allies enter a nature photography competition together.  They want to get a picture of the dwindling Killer Whale pod that lives in the ocean near their town. As the summer progresses there are joys and disappointments as Fern mourns her lost friendship with Ivy, makes a new friend in Jasper,  and wrestles with her grief over her father who died two years earlier. 

This is by the same author who wrote the Emily Wilde series I read.  When I checked it out I expected it to be a YA fantasy, but it is a middle grade coming-of-age realistic fiction.  There are a couple of almost fantasy elements, but the reader is left to decide whether they really happened or if they were products of Fern's psychological distress and grief. The book is well written and, as I listened to it, I could imagine the 5th graders in the classes where I substitute, acting like Fern and Jasper. They are very authentic and sympathetic 10-year-olds. The "save the whales" element is not over done, and gives the book a little more depth and relevance, while the families of both protagonists are refreshingly nurturing. (192 p. 2025)

Great Courses: Creation Stories in the Ancient World by Joseph Lam

In these 12 lectures, Professor Lam compares and contrasts the ancient creation myths of the Fertile Crescent and Mediterranean.  He explores myths of the Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites, Egypt, Greece and Israelites and discusses how they reflect different life experiences and philosophies of the different regions. He comments on several striking similarities between the myths and speculates on the causes of the similarities. 

I am a bit of an Old Testament nerd and I found this series fascinating. Lam seems to be knowledgeable and has done projects for academics and the popular media on this topic. I have read the Old Testament and had heard about Baal, Asherah, Molech and others, but I didn't really know much about them.  This series gave me a lot of background and helped me understand the fundamental tensions between the Israelites and their neighbors during Jewish history. It made me ponder why the religion of the Israelites persisted until modern time while the others he discussed have not. I don't know if this series would be particularly interesting to anyone who is not into this kind of thing.  Lam's delivery is very academic and sounded like a lecture someone would give at a symposium. That suited me fine, but others might find him dry. (6 hrs. 2023)

P.S.To read my musings on the Old Testament, check out my other blog: deeexegesis.blogspot.com. 

Spirits, Spells and Caramel by Rachel Beattie

Veronica Swan is trying to be a private detective in a small town but her biggest case is to discover who is sabotaging the ex-mayor's pumpkin patch. Even with that simple case, she isn't making much headway.  As Halloween approaches, her friend plans a big party in the local diner.  All the town is invited, and everything is going great, until the ex-mayor is found, dead, in the back ally. Suddenly the sabotaged pumpkin patch seems much more sinister. Veronica works with the handsome sheriff, Seth Foster, to suss out suspects, look for motives, and find clues. 

This is a short, self-published cozy mystery, and it was OK.  The different personalities in the little town were interesting and...well...cozy.  I didn't realize when I checked this out that it is the fourth in a series, each of which is set at a different holiday. I was just looking for a Halloween themed mystery on Libby and it popped up. It didn't really matter. There didn't seem to be an overarching plot that was important to the story that I had missed by not reading the other books. The mystery plot was weak and the solution was revealed in a very cliche way.  I don't think in real life murderers confess simply because of an over active conscious. It didn't seem like the main character, Veronica, actually did much to solve the mystery or even encourage the confession.  She was just along for the ride. Still, the dialog was better than the last mystery I read, and it was entertaining enough that I finished it, even though I was reading it on my kindle rather than listening to it.  (120 p. 2025) 

Cowboy PI by Clair Poulson

 Ken Jensen has just completed six years as military investigator and is eager to start the next part of his life.  He wants to ride broncs in the rodeo circuit, but he knows that isn't a great long-term career plan. When a local private investigator, Dallas Walsh, offers to hire him as an assistant, he jumps at the opportunity.  Dallas is trying to investigate some cattle rustlers but their case soon turns into a murder mystery when a body is found at one of the ranches. Ken befriends a local waitress, Kamry, who is the daughter of one of the victimized ranchers, and soon romance blooms between the two young people. But life is not all a bed of roses. Soon the rustlers become more bold and Ken and Kamry find themselves dodging bullets. 

I started to listen to a different book, but I found it too heavy and depressing, so I turned to Clair Poulson.  I can always find an available title by Poulson, and the stories are predictable and nonoffensive.  I have written about Poulson before.  His writing is totally B- level, especially the dialog, but I find it fun that the settings in his books are in my home state, and are places I recognize. I also like the systematic way that Poulson characters work through a case, checking out all the suspects, going to their homes and interviewing them, carefully gathering evidence and working with local law enforcement. These books are written with a male POV and the romances are really simplistic. There is never any real relationship conflict, and both characters grow to care for each other at the same time and rate. Of course, there is always a happy ending, despite the body count. (240 p. 2022) 

When Twilight Breaks by Sarah Sundin

Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent in Munich in 1938.  She becomes frustrated when her chauvinistic boss keeps heavily editing her articles, and giving her "softball" assignment.  During one of those assignments she meets Peter Lang, an American graduate student, teaching at the University of Munich and working on his dissertation in linguistics.  Peter is disillusioned by the depression in America, and sees the progress Germany has made since the end of WWI.  Evelyn is frustrated that he refuses to see the injustices perpetrated against the Jews until they hit too close to home. As violence escalates, they both realize that it is no longer safe for them in Germany, and decide to make a desperate escape. Evil forces pursue them, and they learn to rely on each other to make it through. 

This is the second book by Sundin that I have listened too, and it was also very good.  I think Sarah has earned her way onto my exclusive list of Clean Romance Writers. (congrats, Sarah!) I appreciated that in this book Sundin suggests why Germans would have been interested in Hitler and also how ex-patriot Americans could have been caught up in what was happening in Germany in the 30s on both sides of the issue.  I think she did a good job with the characters, especially Evelyn who had to struggle to get over her distrust of men due to abuses of past boyfriends. It was also fun to get a preview of Paul Aubrey who is the main love interest in the first Sundin book I read. I look forward to trying more Sundin books. (372 p. 2021)

Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke

 Hannah is embarrassed that she can't fit into the regency gown her mother bought her for her mother's book launch party. With the help and encouragement of her size-six sister, Hannah starts a crash diet and exercise program to try to lose 10 lbs. in 2 weeks. At the gym she encounters a workout instructor from her worst nightmares, the young and sexy Ronni Ward who seems to have had dalliances with every eligible bachelor in Lake Eden.  When Hannah finds the blond bombshell dead in the gym's jacuzzi, all Lake Eden's top detectives are taken off the case because of their "personal" involvement with the victim.  It is up to Hannah and her cadre of female helpers to find out who killed Ronni, in order to exonerate their dubiously faithful partners. 

I haven't listened to a Joanna Fluke novel is quite some time, and I enjoyed this one.  Yes, they are formulaic.  Yes, the story is formulaic, and Hannah's relationships with the two men of interest in her life are moving forward at glacial speeds, but the mystery plot is well enough crafted, and the characters of Lake Eden are, by this book eleven in the series, pleasantly familiar. I am not ready to go on a Hannah Swenson binge or anything, but listening to this book was a nice diversion during a busy week. (2009, 310 p.)

Snoop by Gordon Korman

Carter's parents are always telling him that he spends too much time looking at his phone or computer.  His screen addition leads to an accident and Carter is stuck at home for weeks with two broken legs.  During recovery, his parents take away his phone, but allow him to use his computer to join his classes via Zoom. He thinks he will go crazy until he discovers there is a website where he can watch live footage from the city's security cameras. Soon he caught up in the day to day drama he sees on the camera: a park mom with a bratty toddler, a couple of cafe owners playing tricks on each other in an underhanded feud and his school crush flirting with his arch enemy (ugh).  Then one day he sees something he can't easily believe, an endangered animal from another country running free in his small town.  He calls the police, and tries to talk to adults but no-one believes him.  How can a boy with two broken legs hope to stop a despicable crime ring if nobody listens to him?

I haven't read a Gordon Korman book is some time.  I have generally liked Korman's books, and this one is OK, but probably not my favorite.  It was a little too far fetched for me. Would a kid really get two broken legs the way he did? (I won't spoil by explaining more). Would a smuggling ring really be so inept that their animals kept getting out of their enclosures?  Would no one really not notice the smell from the building and not go to check it out?  I guess it is a fun story if you are willing to suspend belief, and I think a lot of kids would enjoy it, but it is not one I would recommend to my brightest students. (208 p. 2025)