2 Novels

Finished March 19
I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes by Jaclyn Moriarty
This fascinating look at a family and its "secret" is set in Sydney, Australia. The Zing family is a busy one. Marbie has just moved in with her boyfriend, Vernon, and his younger sister, Listen. She is worried that everything is so wonderful that something must go wrong.Fancy, a writer of erotic fiction, lives with her husband Radcliffe and their exuberant seven-year old, Cassie. Fancy writes a lot of notes to Cassie's teacher, often unnecessarily.The family meets every Friday night at the home of Marbie and Fancy's parents. The meeting about the family secret takes place in the backyard shed. Cassie is too young to participate, and Listen stays in the house watching movies with her.The point of view switches around between Marbie, Fancy, Listen, and Cath Taylor, Cassie's teacher. Much is going on: affairs, spells, projects, many of which we only partially understand. Then there is Fancy's Canadian neighbor. All of it adds up to confusion and self-realization.A good one.

Finished March 18
A Stain on the Silence by Andrew Taylor
This psychological thriller is typical of Andrew Taylor. James receives a call from his past one day. Lily Murthington, the stepmother of his best friend as a teenage, whom he had an affair with at the age of seventeen wants him to call. She is dying and wants him to look after her daughter, Kate, who she says is also his daughter.There is much more to his past relationship with the Murthingtons, with his friend Carlo, his sister Felicity, their father Hugh, and Lily than he is prepared to deal with. He agrees unhappily to help Kate, who believes that she is under suspicion for the murder of her boyfriend, whom she says Carlo has killed. As James becomes more deeply involved, and discovers lies, deceits, and as his wife becomes suspicious of events, things get more and more complicated. In the end, you are not really sure what happens to the characters. No happy endings.