LIFT AND SEPARATE (Marilyn Simon Rothstein)

This is a new author for me and I would highly recommend her if you are looking for a fun way to spend an evening. Marcy Hammer is a wonderful heroine, relatable, practical, and real.  Devastated when her bra-baron husband, Harvey, leaves her for one of his fitting models after 33 years of marriage, her main goal is to get him back and restore their marriage and family.  When her mother is hospitalized, Harvey is there, apologetic and attentive, until he confesses that his affair has had unexpected consequences that Marcy considers.to be an insurmountable obstacle to continuing her life with him.

Marcy deals with her mother's illness, her children's mistakes, and her own life situation with grace and ingenuity.  She is someone that I would like to have as a friend.  I loved her compassion and her approach to life and the dilemmas that it throws at us. I'm looking forward to reading more by Ms. Rothstein.

KILLER TAKEOUT (Lucy Burdette)

Hayley Snow's newest assignment is to describe the food at various Key West take-out restaurants, but the island's annual Fantasy Fest and Zombie Bike Ride have brought an influx of tourists into town.  Hayley is stunned when one of the participants in the Zombie Bike Ride collapses at her feet and later dies.  Her friend Danielle, the Queen of Fantasy Fest, is one of the chief suspects since the deceased was seen arguing with her the night before.  A hurricane is bearing down on the island, Haley's mother is preparing for her wedding, and Hayley needs to find the killer before all Hell breaks loose on Key West.

This is the 7th in Burdette's Key West Food Critic series.  Try one.  I think you'll develop a taste for the series!

A FALL OF MARIGOLDS (Susan Meissner)

I would call this a pleasant book, sad but ending on a note of hope.  The story features 2 women, Clara Wood and Taryn Michaels, living 100 years apart in New York City.  Nurse Clara Wood has suffered the loss of the man she felt she was destined to love.  He died before her eyes in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911 and she has focused her attention since on nursing immigrants at Ellis Island.  In fact, she hasn't left the island in the months since she made the decision to work there out of guilt.  Edward would not have died if he hadn't planned to show her the 9th floor of the Triangle company  on the day of the fire.  She is moved by patient Andrew Gwinn, an immigrant tailor from Wales whose wife, Lily, died of scarlet fever on his ocean journey.  Lily was the owner of the scarf that figures prominently in the stories of both women, and Clara feels a strong sense of empathy for Andrew since she also suffers from grief over lost love.  When Andrew asks her to fetch a pattern book from his trunk, she accidentally comes across some devastating information about Andrew's marriage and struggles with whether to share it with him or destroy the evidence.

Taryn is a fabric expert living and working an New York, where she lost her husband on 9/11.  She witnessed the fall of the twin towers and she also feels great guilt over her husband's death.  She had discovered that she was pregnant and asked him to meet her at the restaurant at the top of the North Tower to share the happy news, but she was late due to an errand, picking up an antique scarf from a client.  If she hadn't asked Kent to meet her he may have survived, and if she had been on time they both would have died.  Now, in2011, their daughter, Kendal, is almost 10 years old and asking questions about her father's life and death.

I didn't love this novel, but I didn't hate it.  I think, for me, it was a little bit too emotional.  I did like the ending, though, which made the whole thing worthwhile.

THE WATER ROOM (Christopher Fowler)

I'm not really sure I would ever read another Christopher Fowler mystery, not because this wasn't fascinating (who knew there were so many rivers under London?), but because it was so complicated.  If you enjoy a mystery that is a bit (or a lot) off-center, this one could be for you.  It might be better to start with the first in the series, though.  Arthur Bryant and John May are the elderly detectives who head up the Peculiar Crimes Unit, a division of the London police.  Bryant is an elderly hoarder who doesn't seem overly concerned with appearances and May is a bit of a lady's man.  Their unit tackles the unusual and outlandish crimes that the regular police don't care to handle.  This one is set in a small subdivision where an elder woman is found dead in her living room, dressed as if ready to set off for a journey but with a mouthful of river water.  Other odd deaths ensue, eventually leading to a tour of London's underground rivers and a pretty satisfying denouement.  We read this for our Christie Capers "Detecting Duos" theme.