Sharon Kahn has written a delightful book entitled Hold the Cream Cheese, Kill the Lox. It's the fourth in her series of "Ruby the Rabbi's Wife" mysteries.

Ruby is a delightful first-person narrator. She's actually the rabbi's widow, and I an sure tell you from having been a minister's wife for 17 years, this gal is a pistol! She seems glad to be out from under the ministry spouse mantle.

The mystery is a good one, enough to keep me interested throughout. While I wasn't 100% surprised at the "bad guy," it was still a good mystery and ended well.

I'll certainly be looking for more Ruby books in the future!

PS: I may be on a mystery kick, but I'm not reading ALL mysteries. Some good fiction reviews are forthcoming. Stay tuned!

If you are in any way interested in Julie Andrews, you'll enjoy this fascinating volume. HOME is her autobiography, from birth to Mary Poppins.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope that she writes the rest of her autobiography, because she is a fabulous writer, and has lived an interesting life.

For cozy mystery fans...Cleo Coyle has a new mystery out! French Pressed was released on Tuesday, April 1 (no foolin, I promise!). It's in bookstores now.

I began reading it and it's a good one! I love the "foodie" information that this one has, making it a bit different from the previous books in the series.

It's a fun read! Enjoy! And don't forget to grab a cup of coffee while you're reading.

For some reason I can't do embedded links anymore...so forgive the long links!

Here is a great reading challenge for spring!

http://callapidderdays.blogspot.com/2008/03/spring-reading-thing-2008-ready-set-go.html

Jodi Picoult's latest book, Change of Heart, is just wonderful. It's a study of capital punishment, religion, belief, miracles, and the Gospel.

I can't even tell you about how wonderful this book is, because to do so would be to cheapen it. I'd also end up breaking my cardinal rule, which is: Do not spoil the end of a novel for someone else.

All I can say is, I am glad I read it. I think you should, too.

I've begun the chunky read "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver. It's an interesting, intriguing, and multilayered novel set in the Congo.

I will have to write more when I've gotten further along; suffice it to say, it's going to be a while

Yes, in Sharon Dunn's world!

Sharon Dunn is the author of the latest Bargain Hunters Mystery, Death of a Six-Foot Teddy Bear. Ginger and the Bargain Hunters are back, after the first book, Death of a Garage Sale Newbie. It's about a year later, and Ginger and the gals are in Calamity, Nevada (a symbolic name if there ever was one!), so that Ginger's husband Earl can show off some of his inventions at a convention for inventors. When a man in a teddy bear costume turns up dead, the gals learn a lesson about trusting in God rather than in wealth as they try to solve the crime and clear their names.

This book was a fun read! I liked it much, much better than book 1, probably because the death was much more, well, deserved in this case. Just when it seemed nothing else could go wrong, well, it did. In spades.

And yet, and yet, I enjoyed this book. I would recommend it for anyone who loves a good mystery. Anytime the author surprises me, I'm pleased. I was surprised. I did not see the end coming. That should be a clue (pun intended!) that this is a good mystery!