An amazingly well crafted mystery about a detective in Rome, organized
crime, police corruption, and several murders. Commissioner Blume operates above all this in solving multiple crimes in spite of the odds. Fitzgerald develops the characters so well you feel you personally know them. His book is innovating and fresh, and since this is his first book about Commissioner Blume, I certainly hope he continues on with the series.
Book Talk: Book reviews authored by patrons from Westfield, Wisconsin
The Dogs of Rome by Conor Fitzgerald
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
I felt very sad when I finished this book. Not because the story is sad, but because the book was done. I wish it could have gone on and on. This is the first book of Beth Hoffman, and I truly hope she writes more books. CeeCee Honeycutt is a 12 year old child whose mother is killed and her traveling salesman father sends her from Ohio to Savannah, Georgia, to live with her Great-Aunt Tootie. The book is filled with what I would call down home parables. For instance, “When we’re born, the Good Lord gives each of us a Life Book---It’s not a book you can see or touch. It’s a book that’s held deep within your heart. It’s guarded by your spirit.” CeeCee is guided through a summer filled with change, new adventures, new friends, and self awareness by the wise counsel of Aunt Tootie, Aunt Tootie’s cook, Oletta, and Aunt Tootie’s neighbor, Thelma Rae Goodpepper.
-Mary Lou Schmidt
In a Pickle by Jerry Apps
This is another fantastic tale about central Wisconsin by Jerry Apps. I especially liked this book because we had a “pickle patch” when we moved to Marquette County. Jerry does a very good job in this book showing how big business and even the University of Wisconsin set about doing away with small family farms, and how it affected the lives of the people involved.
-Mary Lou Schmidt
The Travels of Increase Joseph by Jerry Apps
Jerry Apps has done it again. I don’t know very many authors who can bring history to life like Jerry does. His stories are fiction, but based on some facts, and the bonus is that they take place in Waushara, Marquette, Green Lake Counties and other areas around these counties. Increase is a traveling minister of a church of his creation, and leads his followers from the East to South Central Wisconsin. I absolutely love his books.
-Mary Lou Schmidt
