A Dozen Deadly Roses

Finished March 20

A Dozen Deadly Roses by Kathy Bennett

This novel begins in Los Angeles, where Jade Bennett is a police officer. She is the single mother of a four-year-old boy, and is doing well in her job, now training rookie officers. When she's at work, her son stays with her father and his girlfriend. both recovering alcoholics. 

As the novel starts, Jade is getting florists boxes of dead roses hand-delivered to her. First at her home, then at her work, and even at her father's house. They are obviously a message and a threat, with the first delivery containing twelve roses and each subsequent one containing one less. It is obviously a countdown to the threat. She has told her superior officer, but the woman doesn't like Jade, and dismisses it as a joke and doesn't provide any police support or investigation to it. Jade realizes that she must deal with it herself and begins carrying her gun everywhere she goes. 

Five years ago when she started with the police, Mac Stryker was her training officer, but he was going through a difficult time after the violent death of his wife and child, and was drinking to numb himself. On one call, Jade used lethal force to a threat, and Mac was too drunk to be useful. He left the police. Now he's back after going through therapy, and Jade is assigned to be his training officer, something neither of them like. They manage to make a workable arrangement for their shifts together, but Mac becomes interested in her personally and notices the threat that she is facing. As they deal with a variety of cases, from the mundane to the dangerous, he becomes closer to not only her, but also to her family. The threat to her intensifies and extends to her family as well. 

The back stories of the characters was interesting, and the threat believable. There are emotions involved and the issue of trust arises as well. The characters have depth and the plot is a page turner. 

Maya's Notebook

Finished October 4
Maya's Notebook by Isabel Allende, read by Maria Cabezas

This novel goes back and forth between Maya's experience on a remote island of Chile, and the events of her life that led up to this time. It is a coming-of-age novel, but also a novel of sadness.
Maya led a happy life with her grandparents in San Francisco until the death of her grandfather starts her down a road into self-destruction.
Because of it moving back and forth in time, you already know that she survives this period of her life, and her time on the island allows her the time and space to reflect on that time and to learn from it. From rebellion, to drugs, to sexual abuse, to living on the street, to being involved with criminals, Maya's life sunk gradually from the middle class home in which she began. As she reflects on the decisions that took her to those depths, she also begins to see how those decisions affected other people in her life, and how the decisions she takes now also have an affect. She sees how people care for each other in this community and in her life overall, and begins to make more adult decisions that take others' interests into account.
I didn't like Maya and didn't feel a connection with her at all, something which tends to affect my enjoyment of a book.But this novel is very well-written and tells an interesting story.

The Disciple of Las Vegas

Finished March 21
The Disciple of Las Vegas by Ian Hamilton
This is the second book in the series featuring Ava Lee, the Toronto-based, Chinese-Canadian, martial arts expert, forensic accountant. The first was the Water Rat of Wanchai. Here we have Ava and her partner Uncle working for the richest man in the Philippines, Tommy Ordonoz.
The action takes Ava from the Philippines to Vancouver, San Francisco, London, and, of course, Las Vegas. Besides tracking down the largest money prize she's ever gone after, more than $50 million, Ava is also being targeted by a previous victim and there is a price on her head.
With fast moving action, some decidely unpleasant men on both sides of the financial situation, and some new friends, this book will keep you reading right until the end. I didn't go to bed until I finished it.