Marilyn's Musings

To begin with, I’d like to say that this is the most unusual story I’ve read in a long time. It is unusual in many ways. Told completely from the view point of Jodi, a young woman who reveals her inner soul while narrating what happened to her in her past and what is going on now. Set mostly in Tahoe, the descriptions of the lake and surrounding areas are fantastic, though also honest in what people have done to make changes that aren’t so wonderful. It’s a story of a young woman and those she loves from her high school sweetheart to one of her teachers, and an old friend. It also shows how drugs, gambling and Christianity affect her life and those she loves, and the choices she makes. Told in an intimate, straight from the soul manner, the reader is able to follow along with Jodi as she reveals her thoughts and feelings as she makes decisions that greatly affect the way her life is going. The author did a fantastic job of getting inside Jodi’s head to te...

What a fun cozy mystery, though don’t expect all the usual elements of a cozy because this one has much more going for it. Elsie “Beanie” MacBean is a writer and the owner of a basset hound named Crusher. A huge machine that Beanie has dubbed “The Masticator” rips through 100 year old Jeffrey Pines in the area where she has a cabin in South Lake Tahoe. Seeing what developers are doing to the surroundings, brings pain to her  Native American roots.This is only the beginning of Beanie’s problems.  While taking Cruiser, her basset hound and her daughter’s basset, Calamity, on a walk through the woods, they come upon a corpse wrapped around the base of a tree. An arrow is sticking out of his neck. Beanie calls the local sheriff and the investigation begins. Interesting characters, some of whom may or may not be suspects, cross Beanie’s and the dogs’ paths. When someone shoots an arrow into Beanie’s back door, an obvious threat, she heightens her investigation. So...