Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions is the first in a new series about Auntie Poldi, a German widow who moves to Sicily to live near her sisters-in-law. Very opinionated, she soon finds herself embroiled in the disappearance of her employee Valentino Candela. She enlists the grudging assistance of a local police detective to help her search for Valentino.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Auntie Poldi is a fun character. The descriptions of Sicily and its food added to my pleasure of the book. This is a great book for anyone who enjoys mysteries set in international locations, similar to the Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri and Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti books. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.

This is a lovely book abut a woman who discovers, during a time of tragedy and sorrow, who she really is and the extent of her inner strength. Set in Maine after WWII, Grace Holland is left alone with her small children following a natural disaster. She must figure out a way to survive and, in doing so, she begins to really live and feel alive. I enjoyed this book immensely, although found the ending a little too pat. But Grace is an interesting character and enjoyable to get to know over the course of the book.

I think there might have been an interesting story in Before the War by Fay Weldon, but the manner in which it was told was distracting. The author interrupts the narrative frequently to speak to the reader, and the tone used to during these interruptions is often very snarky. The narrative skips back and forth between different time periods and, especially in the first quarter of the book, makes it difficult to follow along. Additionally, the author reveals a major plot development very early in the book, which for me was a disappointment. Finally, in my opinion, there was an overly heavy emphasis on the physical looks of the characters. All of these factors combined to create a serious hindrance to my enjoyment of the book.

Lady Cop Makes Trouble is a fun, light mystery set in 1915 New Jersey. Based on a true story, Constance Kopp is one of the first female police officers in a time when women didn't have the vote and career options were very limited. In this, the second book in the series, her position is in jeopardy and she spends her time trying to track down a criminal. It's a quick, enjoyable read and it is not necessary to have read the first book in the series.

I generally enjoy stories with a Native American setting and because of this I wanted to like Maud's Line, but unfortunately did not. The story, especially the beginning, read like an early draft to me, not yet fully flushed out. At one point I even wondered if it was a children's book, given the sparsity of details and the lack of writing complexity. I never developed strong feelings for any of the characters, good or bad. I also must confess to hating the ending, to the point that I almost threw the book across the room when I finished it, both because it seemed too pat an ending and because Maud did something that was totally contradictory to advice she had recently been given from her family.

As someone who is not a reader of the blog, Three Many Cooks, I did not know what to expect from this book. I found it to be an easy, enjoyable read. Because it is a series of essays written by Pam Anderson and her two daughters, it is a good book to pick up when you have only a little time to read. It is not the type of book however that you'd want to devour in one reading.

Each essay/chapter ends with a recipe. A number of them sound enticing and I marked a few to try. Unfortunately I have not had a chance to test any yet.
Overall, if you enjoy reading books about cooking and/or with recipes, Three Many Blogs is worth picking up.