Spring is here!
Autumn may be my favorite time of year, but spring is a very close second. After the dark, cold days of winter it’s always refreshing to see the flowers blooming and the trees leafing out. Even the rainy days seem warmer and brighter. The longer days also bring a renewed vigor, making me want to get outside and get some hiking or yardwork in. Spring also means it’s that much closer to outdoor reading weather, when I can relax in the shade of my big maple tree with a large glass of iced tea and a good book….soon!
The Week in Books
Practice to Deceive by Ann Rule — 3 out of 5 stars
Ann Rule is considered the queen of true crime writing, and I have been a fan of hers since I was a teenager. Her “True Crime Files” collection (seventeen volumes in total I believe) are addictive, and her earlier full-length investigative books like Green River, Running Red and The Stranger Beside Me are true crime classics. Sadly, her last couple of full-length books just don’t reach the same level of excellence of her earlier works. Practice to Deceive would have been perfect in shorter form, but either money or publishers called for more so Rule put in a lot of unnecessary filler to create a 336 page book that focuses more on random background stories about people unrelated to the crime than the crime itself. If you haven’t read any of Rule’s books, I suggest picking up anything written before 2009.
Stay safe and Happy Reading!