I enjoyed Second Glance by Jodi Picoult which is set in 2001 and partly in 1932 in Vermont. A developer wants to build on land which some believe is a Native American burial ground. Ross Wakeman is a paranormal investigator who wants to confirm whether or not the property is haunted. Ross finds a ghost, Lia who lived in the house 70 years ago. Ross falls in love with her and is convinced she was murdered there. He tells the police and Eli then recovers the files regarding this "cold case". There were a couple of suspects in the case. Eli eventually works out what happened on the night Lia died. It was a good story when the reader may need to suspend belief with some of the scenes. 31/2/5
I enjoyed Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves which is set on Shetland with DI Jimmy Perez investigating the murder of a woman after her house is hit by a landslide. If not for the landslide, it was unlikely the body would have been discovered for some time. Jimmy's senior officer Willow comes to the island to help with the investigation. There is a hint of romance here but Jimmy is still grieving the death of his fiancee Fran and he's now responsible for her daughter Cassie. There are a number of possible suspects as they find out why the mysterious woman was in the house. I found the story a bit slow but probably mirrors the pace of life on the island. 4/5
Yesterday I had a very enjoyable lunch with the ladies from the Crime Book Club. We meet from February to November each first Wednesday of the month at 1.00 pm at the Mount Ommaney Library, newcomers welcome. All you need is a love of the crime and mystery genre, throw in a good murder. We met at the Jindalee Hotel and had a delicious meal. The service was good and we enjoyed chattering away, finally leaving the hotel later in the afternoon. We had a "lucky dip" where we each brought a pre-loved book in good condition which we have enjoyed, but happy to part with. We were all pleased with our"new" book which we can read over the Christmas/New Year break. We'll look forward to doing it all again next year.
I enjoyed Quentins by Maeve Binchy which is a book that has sat unread on my shelf for more than 10 years. When I ran out of books to read (a crisis) I began reading it. The main character in the story is a restaurant called Quentins. There are a number of small stories and continuing threads which tell about the people associated with the restaurant. There is Quentin himself and how he established the restaurant, the people who run it, the woman who loved it from an early age who was conned by a wealthy married man, her parents and many many others. It is a lovely story. 4/5
We had a lovely get-together for Christmas lunch yesterday. Not all our ladies were able to come but we also were delighted to see a former member who travelled quite a way to join us. It was interesting to hear everyone's news and I told them about our recent holiday cruise around Australia. 
