SUMMER READING

Many of us find summer is the perfect time to escape our day-to-day humdrum and immerse ourselves in books that help us escape to new places and different ways of looking at life.

Do you want to avoid the hassle of long flights but still still want to have exotic experience Explore India while you solve a mystery back home with scientist Sara Almquist in DIRTY HOLY WATER.

               https://www.amazon.com/dp/0960028587

In this psychological mystery, Sara is about to become engaged and leave for a vacation in India when a friend is murdered. She soon learns snake dances in India are no more bazaar than her friend's secrets. 

 

Are you tired of "superman-type" heroes in movies and ready for

adventure based on real people?  Read I SAW YOU IN BEIRUT.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/0960028544

In this international thriller, a mysterious source of data on the Iranian nuclear industry sends an email from Tabriz. "Help. Contact Almquist." As Sara Almquist is drawn into the plan to identify and rescue the agent, known only as F, from Iran, she is forced to remember and re-evaluate characters from her student days at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and from her career as a globe-trotting epidemiologist.

 

Maybe you'd like to learn more about Native American culture? Travel to Acoma Pueblo and other sites in New Mexico with A POUND OF FLESH, SORTA:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0960028560/

In this adventure story, a ticking package with the guts of animals is delivered to scientist Sara Almquist. The police think gang leaders are trying to prevent Sara from testifying at their upcoming trial. Sara thinks it might be a plea for help from a rancher in New Mexico after she learns the package is contaminated with the bacteria that causes the plague

 

Or maybe you want to take hard look at reality and look at the elderly 

who have made a van their home. Read Jessica Bruder's NOMADLAND. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393356310/ 

This nonfictional account of transient older adults who travel for work from the beet field of North Dakota to the campgrounds of California to the Amazon's CamperForce programs in Texas is an eye-opener. 

No matter your choices, it's time to start your summer reading.

WHAT'S ON YOUR BUCKET LIST?

When I visited India a couple years ago, I met several people who said seeing the Taj Mahal and visiting #India were items on their bucket list. Those two items were never was on my bucket list, but I admit the #Taj Mahal is breathtaking as it appears among the mists rising from the #Yamuna River at sunrise. 

Here's one reason why seeing the Taj Mahal wasn't on my bucket list. As the sun rises you also see the Yamuna River, one of the holy rivers of India, is polluted. In fact, some Indians have described it as an "open sewer." The #pollution of the Yamuna Rivers made me think. Experts say the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers are among the ten most polluted rivers in the  world, but then so is the Mississippi. Considering the importance of water for life itself, maybe more of us should include "doing at least one activity that reduces pollution" on our bucket list.

 

My other problem with the Taj Mahal are the crowds. Think of the crowds leaving the stadium of a Big Ten school after a football game. I saw the Taj Mahal during the Diwali (a Hindu festival) holidays with probably twenty thousand people. However, the groups of fifty to two hundred school children each at tourist sites were amazing. Each clump of children were identifiable by their clothes, particularly the girl's uniforms. For example, one group of several hundred girls wore leggings with long jumpers almost to their knees in shades of green. Although all the groups were noisy when they left their buses. They were quiet and organized and with the smallest in front and the tallest at the back of the group by the time they reached the entrance to the sites. The children reminded me that all of us should include on our bucket list at least one activity that improves the welfare and education of #children.

 

I usually think that the "native" song and dance performances that tourists are treated to are hokey. However, I thought the snake dance performed by tribal women in #Rajasthan was one of the most sensuous performance I'd ever seen. It made those seen in movies look like bump and grind routines. That also made think. The best parts of travel occur when you least expect them. Perhaps, the most important item on any one's bucket list should be "to learn to appreciate the arts and skills of others."

 

I suppose this blog is too preachy but it's my long-winded way of admitting that visiting India should be on more people's bucket list. I suspect that is not an achievable goal for most, especially with the pandemic. So, the alternative is: read a novel with scenes depicting modern India. You might consider DIRTY HOLY WATER.

 

Blurb for DIRTY HOLY WATER: Sara Almquist is about to become engaged and leave for a vacation in India when she becomes a suspect in the murder of a friend. It's unnerving for Sara because she's used to being a trusted forensic investigator with answers, not a nervous suspect. Surprisingly, Sara finds insights into her feelings and into the murder as she becomes immersed in Indian culture.

 

Paperback and ebook at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0960028587

Trick or Treat with Gifts of Books

 #Halloween is coming. Most of us have already gained weight during our distancing period for COVID. More candy and cookies is the last thing we need. Why not make your treats this year-BOOKS? They could be new or used.

Here are two books published in 2020 that might make great Halloween treats. Both are scary (at least a little bit) but in different ways.

The first is DIRTY HOLY WATER. Life is complicated for Sara Almquist in this #romantic #mystery and psychological thriller. She's about to become engaged and leave for a vacation in #India when she becomes the chief suspect in the murder of a friend. Only the friend and her family, well to put it politely, have a couple of dark secrets. Sara soon realizes the difference between a villain and a victim can be small - alarmingly small, especially in a dysfunctional family. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0960028587

The second is A POUND OF FLESH, SORTA. In this #thriller, Sara Almquist receives a mysterious box contaminated with the bacteria, which causes the plague. FBI agents consider it a threat from gang leaders because Sara is a key witness at an upcoming racketeering trial. As a #scientist, Sara thinks the packet might be an attempt to focus attention on a potential for plague in the Southwest. Soon all suspect the package is a clue needed to solve the suspicious death of one employee in a meat packing plant and the disappearance of another man maimed in an industrial accident. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0960028560

       P.S. Prairie dog die offs in the #Southwest really are caused by the plague and a few people in the Southwest die of the plague each year. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0960028560

OR MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST TREAT YOURSELF AND BUY BOTH

SHE DIDN'T KNOW HER PLACE

One of the most universal themes in literature is alienation. How much of personal isolation is due to making unpopular moral decisions, to being an outsider, and to being stubborn? This is the theme in She Didn't Know Her Place. 

In this mystery, Dana Richardson faces two dilemmas in her new job as VP of Research at State U. The Natural Resource Center, which reports to her, is alleged to be "doctoring" data to help industrial clients meet federal pollution standards. Her boss Guy Beloit, the president of the university, doesn’t care. Really no one, but Dana, cares. That's not true. Sally Stein cared and she died under mysterious circumstances, and others are too scared to talk. 

This mystery can be viewed on several levels. Dana's attempt to uncover and eliminate the scientific  and financial fraud in the Natural Resource Center is an example of a different type of police procedural. You'll be surprised how complex the laws governing research are and how they can be used to ensnare the villains. You'll also wonder how much of Dana's efforts are driven by inner demons and the fear of meeting the same fate as Sally Stein. Thus She Didn't Know Her Place is a bit of a psychological thriller. Then too Dana faces the problem of being a woman administrator in a predominantly male world - the academic scientific community is not kind to feminists.

Ultimately, themes are what make reading so satisfying. They make us think. 

Here's how to get She Didn't Know Her Place. The kindle and paperback versions are available at  Amazon: https://www.amzn.com/ dp/1979733112

GoodReads is doing a free giveaway of three signed copies of this mystery. Enter before December 22 at: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/267677-she-didn-t-know-her-place.