A DARKER DOMAIN by Val McDermid may actually make my top ten list this year, it's that good, IMO. It's the investigation into two cold cases from the 80's in Scotland. One, is the disappearance of a man who everyone thought had gone scabbing during a miner's strike. The other is new evidence in the kidnapping of a wealthy man's daughter and grandson. The jumping around in time of the narrative took a little getting used to but the purpose was, I believe, to show rather than tell what had happened in the scenes from the 80s. I liked it a lot.
Now I'm reading another 14-day book from the library, BRIGHT FUTURES by Stuart Kaminsky. This is the sixth of six featuring Lew Fonesca, a depressive process server in Sarasota, Florida. Here's a description:
A local curmudgeon who has been campaigning to end state-sponsored school funding is brutally killed. A recent graduate of a public high school for the gifted is arrested for the crime and turns to Lew for help. A semi-retired and much beloved singer of children's songs is being anonymously pushed to leave Sarasota, threatened with exposure as a sexual predator. It is up to Lew to uncover the blackmailer and determine whether there is any truth to the accusation.
The author's website can be found at http://www.stuartkaminsky.com/filecabinet.html. This will be a quick read I think because the author usually writes in a straight forward manner using mostly Ango-Saxon English much like Hemingway. It's all a balancing act, this reading gig: fluffy, police procedural, something lighter, then something darker.
Otherwise today, I've downloaded a trial version of a database management program and plan to learn the ins and outs of it through the provided tutorials. I'm learning Filemaker Pro rather than MS Access because it seemed, after my research, to be the better product. In fact, if I were still with the Symphony, I would recommend this one over the nonprofit-specific and very expensive contact management software out there. But I'm not, so they can continue to suffer and I don't mind at all.
I received in the mail today the invite for the Museum's Art Auction. Last year, of course, I was working it so I didn't really get enjoy the ambiance of the thing. This year, I may convince myself to go (even though it's expensive -- it's their fundraiser so no wonder) just to start schmoozing again. I'm not interested in buying any art; I didn't like much last year and thought it wasn't worth the prices (again, even though it is a fundraiser and being a nonprofit professional, I understand these concepts). Also this year, the event is only on one night rather than two which makes a lot more sense. Oy, what a pain that was last year! Maybe I'll go to more of these things in general.
Today's Blog/Website of the Day is brought to you because it's Friday ... Nights and Weekends can be found conveniently at http://www.nightsandweekends.com/. This website features reviews of movies, books, music and board games. Go on, do something fun -- it's Friday!
Bah, I'm checking out prompts for journaling and they all seem silly today and I can't think of anything interesting to write about. I'll be walking Tug in a few minutes and then I'll get back to the computer. I've got some 4MA digests to read as well as the training. Work, work work.
Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster
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