Police K-9 units at work

Citizen K-9 (K Team series #3) ~ by David Rosenfelt, 2022, mystery, 270 pages

The Paterson Police Department has created a cold case division, and they want to hire the private investigators known as the K Team to look into the crimes.  Corey Douglas and his K-9 partner, German shepherd Simon Garfunkel, recently retired from the force.  Plus, another K Team member, Laurie Collins, used to be a cop as well.

Their first cold case hits home for the K Team.  A decade ago, at Laurie's tenth high school reunion, two of their friends simply vanished.  At the time Laurie had just left the force, and Corey was in a different department, so they had no choice but to watch from the sidelines.  With no leads, the case went cold.

As the team starts to delve deeper into the events leading up to that night — reopening old wounds along the way — the pieces start to come together.  But someone wants to stop them from uncovering the truth behind the disappearance, by any means necessary.

Manhunt outside my window?

Four police cars, one of which was a K-9 unit, were right out my window Saturday night as it neared midnight.  Sirens had been screaming up and down the highway — where you can see a lit up billboard — but I have no idea what was going on.  The car on the Centennial Greenway sidewalk out my window arrived driving on that sidewalk, rather than on the street.  I still don't know who or what they were searching for, using not only the K-9 dog (in that middle car) but also a lighted drone overhead.  Who needs a television when I can have live drama just outside my window?  The only problem is that, without audio, I have no closure and no idea what happened.  For that, I need a book.  So I requested that K-9 book above from my library.  I think the storyline looks good, and I should receive the book in my next library delivery.

Risé Recommends ~ another couple of books

The Scent of Rain and Lightning ~ by Nancy Pickard, 2010, murder mystery (Kansas), 337 pages

One beautiful summer afternoon, Jody Linder receives shocking news:  The man convicted of murdering her father is being released from prison and returning to the small town of Rose, Kansas.  It has been 23 years since that stormy night when her father was shot and killed and her mother disappeared, presumed dead.  Neither the protective embrace of Jody’s three uncles nor the safe haven of her grandparents' ranch could erase the pain caused by Billy Crosby on that catastrophic night.

Now Billy Crosby is free, thanks to the efforts of his son, Collin, a lawyer who has spent most of his life trying to prove his father’s innocence.  Despite their long history of carefully avoiding each other in such an insular community, Jody and Collin find that they share an exclusive sense of loss.  As Jody revisits old wounds, startling truths emerge about her family’s tragic past.  But even through struggle and hardship, she still dares to hope for a better future — and maybe even love.

Never Come Back ~ by David Bell, 2013, psychological mystery, 448 pages

Leslie Hampton always cared for her troubled son Ronnie’s special needs and assumed that her daughter Elizabeth would take him in when the time came.  When Leslie dies unexpectedly, Elizabeth is consumed by grief.  Then police discover that Leslie was strangled, and they immediately suspect that one of Ronnie’s outbursts took a tragic turn. Elizabeth can’t believe that her brother is capable of murder, but who else could have had a motive to kill their quiet, retired mother?

More questions arise when a stranger is named in Leslie’s will:  a woman also named Elizabeth.  As the family’s secrets begin to unravel, a man from Leslie’s past who claims to have all the answers shows up, but those answers may put Elizabeth and those she loves most in mortal danger.

Risé Recommends

It's been awhile since I shared books that my friend Risé recommends, so here are two more from her list.  I have not read either of them, so I'll see if my library has copies.

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

hosts The Sunday Salon.

Lapcat Clawdia

I now have visual proof that Clawdia has become a lapcat.  She was happily sitting in my lap with her paws on the arm of the loveseat, and I was able to reach my camera and aim it at us.  The cushion behind my shoulder is indented where she likes to sleep during the day.

Another day, another book

The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much? ~ by Leslie Bennetts, 2007, women's studies, xxix + 350 pages

Women are constantly being told that it's simply too difficult to balance work and family, so if they don't really "have to" work, it's better for their families if they stay home.  Not only is this untrue, Leslie Bennetts says, but the arguments in favor of stay-at-home motherhood fail to consider the surprising benefits of work and the unexpected toll of giving it up.  It's time, she says, to get the message across — combining work and family really is the best choice for most women, and it's eminently doable.

Millions of working women provide ample proof that there are many different ways to have kids, maintain a challenging career, and have a richly rewarding life as a result.  Earning money and being successful not only make women feel great, but when women sacrifice their financial autonomy by quitting their jobs, they become vulnerable to divorce as well as the potential illness, death, or unemployment of their breadwinner husbands.  Further, they forfeit the intellectual, emotional, psychological, and even medical benefits of self-sufficiency.

The truth is that when women gamble on dependency, most eventually end up on the wrong side of the odds.  The author shares stories of women from a wide range of backgrounds — some triumphant, others heartbreaking.

Here's another book that turned up during my recent apartment move.  I found a bookmark in it, so I know I never finished reading it.  Time to start it over again.

Thoughts about a special person

1.  My daughter-in-law sent the family a text with good news ~ the latest tests confirm that she is cancer-free!  💖  Hurray!  💖

2.  Word of the Day ~ hur·ray = exclamation; used to express joy or approval.  Example:  💖  "Hurray!  She's cancer-free!"  💖

3.  I think I'll keep adding my thoughts off and on all day, today.  (That's a thought!)  Maybe I'll share various things I do.

4.  I may have company in the late afternoon, so I'll share that (if it happens).

5.  I keep finding books I never finished reading, so I'll write about one of them for tomorrow.  Hmm, which one is calling me now?  Tune in tomorrow to see.

6.  Yes, Lauree came to visit and brought her friend Laura.  Lauree took some photos of Clawdia and me, so I'll try to get one of them into a blog post later.

Unsend ~ quick!

How to unsend an email — HERE.  In my case, I needed to unsend or edit an email in Yahoo.  It's in the Reader's Digest article.  There's also a link there to Apple Support on how to unsend email with "Undo Send in Mail on iPhone" (which is what I have).

How to unsend a text message — HERE.  In the Messages app, you can unsend or edit recent messages, giving you the opportunity to fix a typo or pull back a message that you accidentally sent to the wrong person.  Your recipient sees that you unsent a message and your edit history.

My daughter unsent a text once, as I was reading it.  But it didn't occur to me to ask her how to do it myself.  Well, I'm learning now and hope that I can remember all this stuff.  Things keep changing.

Word of the Day

un·send / verb = use a facility in an email program to prevent (an email that has already been sent) from being received by the addressee.  Example:  "You can unsend emails if you catch your mistake fast enough."

Two tigers ~ from 2012 and 2015

I have these two tigers, but they are big and I need more space.  Jane gave me the first tiger, and I named it Hobbes (click on the name for details.)  She was hugging the tiger when she surprised me with it, HERE.  Donna gave me the red-nosed tiger, and I named it Winifred.  (Yeah, click on the name to see why she's named Winifred Tiger.)

Since I no longer have room for stuffed tigers, I'm giving them away.  Would you like to have one?  I know that people are less willing to share information these days, so I promise not to reveal names of the winners of this contest on the blog (unless you specifically give me permission).  To win a tiger, tell me which one you like best and why you'd like to have it.  The best story wins a tiger!

Email your story to me at —> emerging DOT paradigm AT yahoo DOT com