Book Reviews | Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

THE ZIG ZAG GIRL by Elly Griffiths

September 15, 2015

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The smell at the Brighton train station led the police to find the head and legs of a woman packed in two cases. Shortly thereafter, Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens receives the body’s torso in a package addressed to him, using his recent World War II rank of Captain.

The body reminds Edgar of an old magic trick called the “Zig Zag Girl” perfected by Max Mephisto. The men served together in a special unit called the “Magic Men,” and Mephisto is still performing on the circuit but sees that times are changing.

Stephens gets Mephisto to help him investigate, and the time period is classic mystery era, pre-cell phones, computers or DNA, when murders were solved by face-to-face investigation and brilliant deduction.

Another death attributed to a magic trick amps up the tension, especially as Edgar realizes the Magic Men are being targeted. The setting of the shabby, post-war beach town during the 1950’s adds another layer to the story. This is a clever, original plot and the quirky characters bring it all to life in this well written mystery. Classic mystery fans will find this an enjoyable read.

9/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE ZIG ZAG GIRL by Elly Griffiths. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (September 15, 2015). ISBN 978-0544527942. 336p.

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A NEW NAPA CUISINE by Christopher Kostow

September 13, 2015

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There are cookbooks that have great recipes that I can’t wait to try, and there are cookbooks that have the most gorgeous pictures. This is one of the latter. This is a beautiful coffee table book, from the cover, which is a sort of burlap-like fibrous material, to the stunning photos of the Napa Valley, the local artisans, the farms, and of course the food.

If you are not familiar, Chef Christopher Kostow is the critically acclaimed chef of The Restaurant at Meadowood. Located in the Napa Valley in St. Helena, California, Kostow is the third youngest chef to ever receive three Michelin stars (according to his author biography on Amazon.com.)

I don’t see any dinners at Meadowood in my future – Forbes reports the price fixe is $225 per person for a 10 course tasting menu, wine pairings an additional $225, or $500 for an 18-20 course Chef’s Tasting Menu, wine pairings who knows how much. But I can afford the cookbook, and it truly is a gift.

I don’t give up easily and I was bound and determined to find something to try. Most of the recipes contained ingredients that are not easily sourced here in southern Florida. Most were so complex that I would need a weekend to even attempt something. Then I had an idea.

There is a recipe for a spectacular Chocolate Cherry Tart that involves three recipes, for the Cherry Vinegar, Chocolate Shortbread, and Chocolate Tart Shells. The shortbread is ground to a fine crumb for this tart, but I had the thought that I could make that part of the recipe. So I made the Chocolate Shortbread and I kept the cookies whole. They were delicious.

But that is not why you should buy this cookbook. But if you collect cookbooks, like reading cookbooks, or just want a coffee table book with drool-worthy pictures, buy it. (Click on the picture of the cover at the top of this page and I’ll even earn a couple of cents.)

The book is divided into four sections; The Growers, The Artisans, The Wilds, and Materia Prima. Each section features recipes that highlight that aspect of the Restaurant at Meadowood, as well as lovely essays explaining each section, Chef Kostow’s philosophy and his passions and they way he expresses them through his food.

The growers, as you may suspect, are the local farmers and a fascinating look at modern family farming today. The Artisans include a local potter who makes the dishes for the restaurant; some recipes inspire the potter, and the potter inspires some recipes – a symbiotic relationship, if you will. The Wilds are all about foraging, something Chef Kostow originally resisted as too trendy or precious, but has added a new dimension to the restaurant. Materia Prima is the food grown locally, or as Chef Kostow puts it, “What can we do that no one else can do…owing to our place in the world that others cannot because they are not here.”

The photographs by Peden+Munk are worth the price of admission alone. Every recipe is photographed in simple yet spectacular fashion and printed on heavy, beautiful paper. It is truly a cookbook to be savored and treasured. Plus I just loved reading this book.

9/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

A NEW NAPA CUISINE by Christopher Kostow. Ten Speed Press; First Edition edition (October 14, 2014). ISBN 978-1607745945. 304p.

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THIS HEART OF MINE by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

September 11, 2015

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Chicago Stars Book 5

I don’t know why but I generally just don’t care for the covers of Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ books, and this one is no exception. But I was looking for a fast read and I love her books and somehow missed this one so I went for it. Turns out this was her first hardcover book, although now it is available in paperback and eBook, which is how I read it.

The Chicago Stars are a fictional football team owned by Phoebe Calebow and run by her husband Dan. Phoebe inherited the team from her father and the rest of his 15 million dollar estate went to her younger sister Molly. After going on a shopping spree, Molly decided she didn’t like the life of the idle rich and gave away all her money, turning her hand to writing children’s books to make her living.

Molly is barely making ends meet but she’s happy until her publisher informs her they want some changes in her latest book due to political pressure. She decides to go off to the family cabin to console herself but is surprised to find Chicago Stars quarterback Kevin Tucker already there. Molly’s had a crush on him for a while and does something rather shocking, then has to live with the consequences. Molly is pregnant and Tucker, the son of a minister, does the obligatory thing and marries her.

Things don’t turn out as she planned but then what would the fun be in that. Kevin and Molly have a lot of ups and downs as they work towards an annulment and then a divorce, except that there has to be a happy ending and there is.

Phillips’ trademark humor is here as are her hot sex scenes, including some with a (gasp!) middle aged couple. I loved these characters and couldn’t help rooting for all of them. This is another charmer from the queen of contemporary romance. Now I have to go back and see if I missed any other books in this series!

9/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THIS HEART OF MINE by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Avon (February 5, 2002). ISBN 978-0380808083. 420p.

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MAKE ME by Lee Child

September 8, 2015

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Jack Reacher, Book 20

When I review a new Jack Reacher book, it often feels like I will run out of superlatives or lapse into another review that sounds much like the one before it. But really, it’s not my fault if Child keeps pumping out series books that get better every time – especially considering that he started out with a winner. A lot of series get stale or repetitive but somehow Child manages to not only keep things fresh, but bring fresh perspectives to a character that readers feel they already know so well.

Make Me is a bit darker than the previous books, but that darkness is offset by a romance. Yes, you read that correctly. Now read on.

As is his wont, Reacher is riding the rails, but gets off in a small Oklahoma town called Mother’s Rest because he is simply curious about the name. A woman sees him and scurries over, then realizes he is not the man she is seeking. Tom Cruise aside, his sheer size makes him easily discernible from most mortal men so that also arouses his curiosity.

But his curiosity is not to be slaked. While he asks around town for the meaning of the name, no one will tell him. Mother’s Rest is a tiny town miles from anything but wheat fields, and it just feels wrong to Reacher that no one seems to know.

The woman, Michelle Chang, is a bit more forthcoming. She is a private investigator who can’t find her partner. Reacher decides to help her look, and that leads them both into danger as well as into research into the Deep Web. Their search takes them to Illinois, Arizona and California, and their mutual attraction leads to the usual, only this time, with longer lasting results.

This is a dark and twisty story as only Lee Child can tell it, and I stayed up late into the night to finish it. Another winner from the master.

9/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

MAKE ME by Lee Child. Delacorte Press (September 8, 2015). ISBN 978-0804178778. 416p.

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THE BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR, ed. by Ellen Datlow

September 5, 2015

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Volume 7

Once again Ellen Datlow has culled through the past year’s mass of horror shorts and novellas to put together a collection of some of the best highlights for genre fans.

Datlow not only has great taste, but with these “best of” anthologies she’s essentially offering readers a snapshot of the year’s releases. The chosen tales are narrowed down from multi-author anthologies, single author collections, magazines, online publications, and any other place that might have featured horror shorts for the previous year. What’s more, Datlow also takes the time to list additional readings of note including shorts that didn’t quite make the cut (because there are such a plethora to have to choose from), genre novels, award winners, etc from the calendar year.

This year’s twenty-two tale selection runs the gamut of horror with tales inspired by Lovecraft (Brian Evenson’s “Past Reno” and Livia Llewellyn’s “Allochton” were both originally part of the Letters to Lovecraft anthology edited by Jesse Bullington), a sin eater (Genevieve Valentine’s “A Dweller in Amenty”), vengeance from beyond the grave (Laird Barron’s “The Worms Crawl In”), and of course a couple of tales of the apocalypse as well, just to mention a few.

Some of my own favorites this time around include Garth Nix’s “Shay Corsham Worsted” and Keris McDonald’s “The Coat Off His Back,” both of which center around some quite historic criminals, the abovementioned “Past Reno,” and Angela Slatter’s revenge tale “Winter Children.”

Here’s the full table of contents:

The Atlas of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud

Winter Children by Angela Slatter

A Dweller in Amenty by Genevieve Valentine

Outside Heavenly by Rio Youers

Shay Corsham Worsted by Garth Nix

Allochton by Livia Llewllyn

Chapter Six by Stephen Graham Jones

This is Not for You by Gemma Files

Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No. 8) by Caitlin R. Kiernan

The Culvert by Dale Bailey

Past Reno by Brian Evenson

The Coat off His Back by Keris McDonald

The Worms Crawl In by Laird Barron

The Dog’s Home by Alison Littlewood

Tread Upon the Brittle Shell by Rhoads Brazos

Persistence of Vision by Orrin Grey

It Flows From the Mouth by Robert Shearman

Wingless Beasts by Lucy Taylor

Departures by Carole Johnstone

Ymir by John Langan

Plink by Kurt Dinan

Nigredo by Cody Goodfellow

9/15 Becky LeJeune

THE BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR 7, ed. by Ellen Datlow. Night Shade Books (August 18, 2015). ISBN 978-1597808293. 368p.

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ABANDON by Blake Crouch

September 4, 2015

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Blake Crouch is noted for his many suspenseful novels and most recently Wayward Pines, which was made into a successful television series. Abandon is the name of a small midwestern town that saw its entire population suddenly disappear on Christmas day, 1893. No trace was ever found of any of these people and their houses were found with food on the tables, personal belonging in place, no messages left and no answers to what had happened.

A history professor in present times hires two guides and enlists the aid of his estranged journalist daughter to try and find out what did happen to the people of Abandon. They travel to the town and begin attempting to find answers.

Crouch sets up a scenario in which events are described back and forth between 1893 and the present day search. The reader is introduced to the two sets of characters, their motivations and finally what happened by rapidly changing the scene from one group to the other. The differences between the professor and his daughter, Abigail, are part and parcel of the novel with a logical making up between the two as the search goes on.

The book is suspenseful, but not otherworldly as was Wayward Pines. The plot development and the method of using both sets of events, 1893 and the present day, keeps the reader glued to the book and anxiously awaiting the next steps in both periods. Very well done.

9/15 Paul Lane

ABANDON by Blake Crouch. Thomas & Mercer; Reissue edition (September 1, 2015). ISBN: 978-1503946194. 529p.

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CHASING JUSTICE by H. Terrell Griffin

September 3, 2015

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Matt Royal is a retired attorney and self proclaimed beach bum, enjoying his comfortable life on Longboat Key off the west coast of Florida, except he comes out of retirement for each book – and this is the ninth – of the series.

This time the police chief’s wife, Abby Lester, is accused of murder. The best way to keep Abby out of jail would be to find the real killer, so Royal hires an investigator to help out. The evidence is shaky at best; a wine glass found bedside with Abbey’s fingerprints on it, and a series of emails, supposedly signed by Abby, sent to the victim, including one on his last day on earth threatening to kill him, except the emails weren’t sent from her computer, and her fingerprints are nowhere else in the apartment.

Royal’s detective girlfriend is working on a different murder case, but you don’t have to be a detective to realize these two murders are related somehow. Royal stumbles through the case, leaping over every hurdle thrown his way until the foregone conclusion. A comfortable, if not exciting read for legal thriller fans.

9/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

CHASING JUSTICE by H. Terrell Griffin. Oceanview Publishing (September 1, 2015). ISBN 978-1608091416. 384p.

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THE UNYIELDING FUTURE by Brian O’Grady

September 2, 2015

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Brian O’Grady brings his readers into a world that introduces the concept of forces that act as Yang and Yin in the course of human events. They can prevent massacres, on the other hand arrange for murders and guide the actions of humans. These are not just abstract entities, but humans, long lived, 2 thousand year old humans that can interact with normal people if they so wish.

O’Grady puts a doctor and his family into the paths of two of these entities when they are part of a major accident and a seemingly old man arrives on the scene. In spite of what appears to be advanced age and consequent weakness this individual saves many lives and appears normal once the deed is accomplished.

The novel is both perplexing and enticing. What is the motivation of these people since there is more than one. Are they truly the Yang and Yin of our world representing opposite reactions to events, or they are part of the same following similar patterns and drives. The answers are not so clear but do cause thinking that might admit that such forces exist and influence events. A compelling read and certainly stimulating a desire to read more of Brian O’Grady’s books.

9/15 Paul Lane

THE UNYIELDING FUTURE by Brian O’Grady. Story Plant, The (September 8, 2015). ISBN: 978-1611882162. 350p.

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TRULY MADLY PIZZA by Suzanne Lenzer

August 30, 2015

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My long time, regular readers know that we are pizza aficionados at my house. My husband built a wood burning pizza oven in my backyard. We go on vacation and plan out which pizza places we are going to visit.

It’s not just us, either. Pizza has gone beyond your local mom and pop stop and way beyond the chains. I am proud to say that it has been years since I’ve eaten any pizza from a chain restaurant, I just can’t do it. I’d rather go hungry. In a nutshell, we are serious pizza lovers.

And we are not alone. According to Sam Sifton, food editor of the New York Times, “Those who track the business say pizza is a $40 billion industry in the United States, in no small part because 97 percent of us eat the stuff, most of us regularly, to the tune of 2.1 slices a sitting.”

So why make it yourself? Well, would you believe it is quicker than ordering delivery? Cheaper and healthier? And way more delicious? Trust me, I wouldn’t lie to you.

Lenzer has come up with an easy, fool proof pizza dough recipe that is so simple, you can make pizza for dinner any night you want, even after a long day of work, in less time than some other chef’s famous thirty minute meals.

The secret is to make the crust on the weekend, or whenever you have a little time – and I mean little, it takes 30 minutes from start to finish, including pulling the ingredients out of your pantry, throwing them in the food processor, letting the dough rest while you clean up the food processor and put away the ingredients. Then you wrap the dough in plastic, and throw it in the freezer. The day you want to make pizza for dinner, take the dough out of the freezer and put it in the fridge in the morning while your coffee is brewing. This is sheer genius! And best of all, it makes a delicious, crispy yet still chewy around the edges pizza.

The rest of the cookbook is full of drool worthy photographs from photographer Christopher Testani, who obviously loves his job. There are tons of pizza recipes with really interesting combinations, like Shredded Chicken with Sweet Corn and Cherry Tomatoes; Prosciutto, Roasted Asparagus and Fresh Peas with Parmesan; Caramelized Onion and Pancetta with Parmesan; Curried Cauliflower with Tomatoes & Cilantro; Ramps with Poached Eggs and Pecorino. The combinations are incredibly creative and seemingly endless.

Keep a variety of cheeses on hand ready to go. Use fresh tomatoes instead of sauce. But the trick here is this: for a family friendly, quick pizza dinner, use your leftovers! Leftover cooked veggies, the last few slices of salami or ham, that handful of spinach you never got to, all make for wonderful toppings for pizza.

Kudos to Lenzer for basically recreating the wheel here. By making pizza so simple, so fast and so easy, there are no excuses for not making it yourself. Go forth and make pizza!

8/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

TRULY MADLY PIZZA by Suzanne Lenzer. Rodale Books (April 7, 2015). ISBN 978-1623362188. 240p.

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THE UNINVITED by Cat Winters

August 29, 2015

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Ivy has only just recovered from the flu, but when she hears that her father and brother have murdered a local German shop owner she knows she can’t stay in their house one moment longer. Ivy has always seen spirits – they’re harbingers of bad things to come – and the last thing she can take is seeing the ghost of the man her father murdered.

When she arrives in town, though, she finds that Buchanan has been hit hard by the war and Spanish flu. The hospital is bursting at the seams and turning away patients with the wrong background or address. Fear is a predominant feeling amongst the locals – fear of being called out for being unpatriotic, fear of getting sick, fear of losing one more loved one… Ivy knows that fear makes men like the one her father murdered prime targets but she still feels a responsibility to the dead man’s brother and is desperate to make amends. At the same time, Ivy is certain something awful is about to come to pass. Why else would she be seeing her dead brother at every turn?

Cat Winters makes her adult debut with The Uninvited. It’s historical fiction set in an imagined town that’s pretty wonderfully representative of the era: the undertone of sadness and dread and the overwhelming anxiety of the town certainly feels true to the time.

Imagine watching your brothers, classmates, and sometimes even fathers going off to fight a war against an enemy overseas. Imagine being told that your neighbors could be collaborating with that enemy. And now imagine that a truly deadly and virulent sickness is making its way through your town as well. This is Ivy’s reality and her only relief comes from music and a love that’s pretty much forbidden.

There’s more than a hint of the supernatural to this tale – Ivy does see ghosts, after all – but The Uninvited is somewhat less of a ghost story than I’d initially expected. It’s more a story about human nature and the terrible effects of war. The combination makes for an eerie and emotional read.

8/15 Becky LeJeune

THE UNINVITED by Cat Winters. William Morrow Paperbacks (August 11, 2015). ISBN 978-0062347336. 368p.

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