Naked in Death by J.D. Robb

Naked in Death - the first of the Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb thrillers set in 2058.  It reminds me of future-world Criminal Minds crossed with old-school Greek Billionaire Harlequin. The grisly crime bits are grislier than I like to read, but I’m curious enough about the world to read more. (There are like, FORTY books in the series and counting.)

The above is what I wrote right after reading this (in March) - I've yet to read any more books in this series, but other things have brought it to mind -  more on that in a minute.

Eve Dallas (our heroine) is a NYC police detective, but of course in 2058 that means something different than it does in 2013 - or for that matter 1995 when this book was written.  Like many fictional cops, she's tough but vulnerable, smart but not without her blind spots. (mainly she pushes herself too hard and fails to see how great she is so the rest of the characters have to remind her all the time which does get tiresome.) When we join her in this book, she's suffering from nightmares and what sounds like PTSD after a case that ended badly. Roarke is an Irish billionaire enigma who is supposed to be a suspect in the murder case Eve Dallas is investigating, but if you've ever read anything about any of these books (or seen a movie or read any other book, ever)  you know as soon as you clap your eyes on his single name that he is the love interest and is certainly not jetting around New York killing prostitutes, no matter the circumstantial evidence. (but it does give Eve something more to fret about - she digs him on a cellular level and he conveniently owns half of the city, but why do all these people getting murdered have connections to him? JESSICA FLETCHER SYNDROME.) He's high-handed and bossy, throwing his influence around -  if that's the kind of thing that bugs you be forewarned. (Eve's more than a match for him in all of these areas, so it doesn't bother me too much.)

Robb has built an interesting future world - it's clear she's got an idea from the very first book how the law works, how people get around in their flying cars (I honestly can't remember if there are flying cars or not, but let's say YES), politics, money, etc. The prose is not up to the level of the ideas, but the book is plotty I just sort of threw myself into the mystery and went along for the ride. As I said before, some of the crime parts were graphic and grisly which is not something I generally enjoy, but there's enough else there for me to return someday. I'm in no hurry.

THINGS I'VE THOUGHT ABOUT in the months since I read this:

• pseudonyms - was it well known when this first came out that this was a book by Nora Roberts, famous romance author? She's best known for her contemporary romances and this is quite a departure. Is this a similar style-distancing tactic as used more recently by J.K. Rowling/ Robert Galbraith, or was it more a matter (ala Stephen King/Richard Bachman) of being so prolific? Or some other thing? Marketing? Breaking into a new genre?

• There are nearly 40 of these books now - whatever she's doing, it's working for a lot of readers. Men as well as women? I don't know why not. There's certainly a romantic element, but the main channel of the book is CRIME. Violent crime. Crime in the future. Crimes against fashion, for sure.

I think this would appeal to readers of urban fantasy although there is no magic, no werewolves, no vampires or faeries - only future-tech police work, a vast fortune, many billionaire/cop smoldering glances, etc. (Also a fantasy, but one that doesn't depend on the full moon or a curse!) Also to people who like grisly serial killer style crime fiction and people who love long-running series  - if you start now, you're not going to run out of these books any time soon.

what I liked: the imaginative noir-ish world building
what I didn't like: serial killer, graphic crimes against women.

late in the day

I was thinking about what to title this blog post and wondering if maybe I should just number them or something (no) and then I thought about how it's late and I need to go to bed, and then I thought "it's late in the day" WHICH THEN reminded me of this song:



which made me happy because I haven't thought of it in a long while and I like it. I'm very susceptible to getting songs stuck in my head - how about you? It doesn't take much to make my brain radio switch on. Most of the time this is fun and fine but sometimes... sometimes it's terrible. (Why my brain retains any REO Speedwagon will forever be a mystery to me.)

In other news, something I've been thinking about a lot lately due to working in a library and being surrounded by books and people who read books (it's lovely) is that I need to improve my quick book description/assessment skills. It's often difficult for me to articulate what I do and don't like about a book in concrete terms. I think about them more in terms of a mood or vibe which is fine if I'm just thinking about them in my head or describing them to someone who knows what I mean when I say "remember that time at that place when we saw that thing? And how it was amazing/awful/hilarious? This book reminds me of that, but with ghosts"  - but sometimes people want to know WHY DID YOU LIKE IT? and I need to practice getting that out in 5 minutes or less. So I know I've been saying for a million years that I'm going to write about books more, but I really am going to write about books more.

But now that it's so late in the day (I had to say it again to counteract the specter of speedwagon), I'm just going to put on my pajamas and go to bed.

reading from both ends of september

taken on September 3 - the weather was still nice enough to sit outside under a tree and read and read and read. (my favorite!) On the left is the September book for my non-fiction book group, on the right Aimee Bender's new collection of stories.




taken today on September 30 - the weather has shifted so the reading has moved inside. (also my favorite!)  It's been raining A LOT lately - we're getting the  dissipated ends of a typhoon that's come all the way from Japan and it's been dumping down rain for days. Once again, the book on the left is for non-fiction book club and the book on the right is for meeeeee.

There were other books in the middle of September, but I didn't take pictures of them so they'll have to wait.

pink and orange

(I've blogged this photo before but I love the colors so much I have to blog it again.)

things I picked up today

Horse chestnut casing



tomato that's been through some things

Unrelated: It's been one thing after the other this late summer, but I think that things are mellowing out and I should be able to write here more frequently. I want to - I've read SO MUCH good stuff and less good stuff lately and I want to talk about it all. All of it! Fair warning.

sharpie advice

from 2010


from last week

I sense the same hand at work, despite the varying message.  It's sort of a "two sides of the same coin" thing, don't you think? Or can you Chillax and Adventure Now at the same time? So many questions.

deep into summer

These are from Tuesday. I went walking the park, which is something I used to do all the time and for whatever reason quit doing. I've missed it! It was fun and helped becalm my BRAIN ANTS. I've had so many brain ants lately, I can't even tell you. Internal brain ant investigations are underway. It will be okay.



Typical Portland lawn by this point in the summer. I know it might look weird to people from other parts of the country, but our summers are usually dry and most don't water their lawn.  Every other season is WET, so we get plenty of green grass time. (exception: the neighbors water their front lawn, but they've got two little boys who run around all day long. There are sensible exceptions to brown grass predominance!)



I have probably taken 100 pictures of this tree. I still love it.

in list form

1. I have 9 different nail polishes on 6 fingers.

2. I'm reading The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling. I like it! She has such a gift for description and I'm enjoying the slow unspooling of the story.

3. Sewing, sewing, sewing. Not as fast as I'd like, but that's entirely my own doing.

4. Do you ever have one of those snakeskin moments where you just want to shed whatever stupid thing you've cloaked yourself in and start all over? ME TOO.  It's fine, though! Great, even. If you stop evolving what's the point?

5. I miss mixes - Leslie made me a Prince one (which is fantastic), but it just underlined how lacking in mixes my ears are! So I'm working on one. It is so ridiculous it makes me laugh whenever I think of it. HahaHA. I don't even care if I get caught laughing to myself is how much fun it is!! Do you still make mixes in this ipod age?

6. In the Questlove book (which is excellent) there is a section about roller skating with Prince and it is everything you would hope a memoir retelling of roller skating with Prince would be like. Read this book!

7. Speaking of books, I recently read a romance novel that was written in the 90s. Oh, man. That was a long time ago - the culture has changed dramatically and some things did not age well. It was hard to finish, but I did. I mean, it wasn't quite 45 year old Greek Billionaire who "romances" his 18 year old ward/secretary but it was written so long ago that OJ Simpson was a minor character as a sports guy. (!) (I'm just going to let "so long ago that OJ Simpson was a minor character" stand in for all the things that bothered me. It's enough.)

8. There was more, but now I am TIRED so I'm going to bed.

9. I love sleeping!! Not an inordinate amount or anything, but I'm an enthusiast. WOOOOOOO, sleep!

summer evenings with spiders and bats

This summer has been BUSY so far - so busy I haven't uploaded any new pictures mostly because I've barely taken any new pictures. (this one is from a few summers ago, but from about this general calendar time.)

Tonight after work I went outside to read because it's hot inside but conveniently breezy and still light enough outside. Hooray! In the non-hooray column, spider webs are almost impossible to see in the twilight hours. Spider season is in full tilt - they build webs EVERYWHERE, which I'm sure seems like the thing to do if you're a spider, but as spokesperson from humankind I'm not a fan of the ones hanging at face-height.

(TRUE STORY: The neighbors have caught me talking to the spiders more than once - "Spider, I thought we talked about this! This is a terrible place for a web, I'm going to break it every day!!"   The first time I was so embarrassed I went in the house via another door rather than go near the fence between us. Since then one of their kids got a drum set for his birthday - if I can deal with that, they can deal with a little exasperated spider talk.)

But on to the bats - once it was too dark to read but still a little light, I saw a bat! They're really cool, especially when they're in the air doing their bat thing. (which I hope is eating mosquitos.)

another sun day

I'm still getting used to my schedule and can never remember what day of the week it is. Last night, I was sure today would be Saturday BUT NO.

anyway - we're having a sunny but not too hot summer here in Portland and it is lovely.  Tomatoes are out of control (good way). The rest of the garden is out of control (less good way, but the bees don't mind).

In other news, my sister gave me a bunch of fancy sewing patterns for my birthday and the first one is coming together nicely. Excellent. (Mr. Burns hands.) I'm almost done with the tunic but I want to make a bunch of dresses because it's so easy to wear. Pockets!!! (although I'm probably going to take the pockets off the tunic because they hang down below where I want to hem it, which is not the look I'm after.)

I get feisty

I love Fiona and I love this video.

(and I love that she's singing with her sister! (Maude Maggart!) )

mermaids to australia

this month is zooming by.  Right now it is a FULL JULY MOON (thunder moon! or buck moon! or some other nature name that also sounds like a special edition Axe body spray for camping.)  It's right out my window so I went outside to look at it with the binoculars and it's so bright and beautiful - less like singing cheese and more like science when it's right in my eyeballs. RECOMMENDED if you have a view of the moon (full or not) and binoculars. and eyeballs.

Now that you know what's up with the moon out my window, here's the latest on work and mermaids

WORK: good! I've had 2 full weeks of my schedule now plus a partial week and I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of it. I'm faster than I was, which feels better because I was sloooooow before. Being familiar with the branch and the staff has been a huge boon, but it also led me to think I should know what I was doing immediately. This is ridiculous and I would never hold another human to it, but I did it to myself anyway. So frustrating until I caught on.  (no surprise to anyone but me: I did not, and in many cases still do not know what I am doing! But I'm finding out, which has been rewarding.)

MERMAIDS: I sent 3 mermaids sailing across the sea (in an airplane) to Australia today. I am a very neglectful etsy shopkeeper, so it's always a surprise to me when I get an order from Idaho, let alone an order from Australia. My shop has been like a long, slow internet course in keeping an etsy shop. (Lesson 1: have mermaids available at all times because they are popular.)  Every order brings new knowledge and I can tweak things in a better direction - this time I realized that my international shipping prices were not updated on every item, so my Australian friend got a good deal on shipping which I certainly do not begrudge her.

Now it's late and I have to go to bed before my eyeballs turn into miniature cheese thunder moons.

sexy high speed car chase crimes (for the greater good)

(I was just trawling around my own photostream and found this picture from the Grand Coulee Dam, not that you can tell it's from there.)

WORK: Despite working at this location for a long time as a sub, I've found that being a permanent employee is very different - I have to pay attention in a whole new way. (I say after noticing a my-fault mistake on a paycheck.) I'm sure I'll get used to things soon enough. Right? Right???

TV:  Orphan Black!!!! Is anyone watching this? I'm not quite done with it so don't tell me the end but I can hardly stand it, it's so good. (and suspenseful.)

BOOKS: just finished Neil Gaiman's latest and am still mulling it over. It's easily read in one sitting which I think is the right way to read it, but it's not easily condensed to a single thought bubble so I am STILL THINKING. (it was good, though.)

I think just three categories tonight. Until next time, please enjoy this new Franz Ferdinand video. I saw it this morning and fell down the Franz Ferdinand youtube rabbit hole shortly thereafter. Despite this song being called Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action their songs make me want to commit sexy high speed car chase crimes. INTERNATIONAL SEXY HIGH SPEED CAR CHASE CRIMES! Okay, this one makes me want to commit sexy high speed SCIENCE CRIMES (robin hood/ greater good variety). Like, Franz Ferdinand and I will get this bee problem sorted out!




Who gives a damn about the profits of Tesco? 


I've never seen most of these videos before today and this is NOT what I have in mind when I hear the song, but it does fit the bratty persona of the character in the song.



This is the "band version" of the video for this song, which is lo-fi silliness but preferable to the weird official version.

but not too bold

I finished my non-fiction book  - Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary - and it was very good! The beginning sped by for me, but once it started getting hot and the book entered the nation-state era, I found it harder to pay full attention. (I blame the heat, not the writing. It's a very accessibly history and I fully recommend it!)

but what to read next...

Fortunately, my two weeks ago self acted immediately on a Kelly Link tweet and put Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi on hold at the library.  My three days ago self picked it up and my lunchtime today self started reading it. PLEASING! I'm not very far, but I'm glad to see that she has written more.

Here's a little glimpse of an epistolary section. I do like how Mary Foxe is direct and to the point.

july july july ONE

JULY is nuts already, people. Or maybe I'm just hot and tired. (probably just hot and tired.)

The first week of July (this week!) is when I start my new library job. Woo Hoo! Friday Saturday this week before I settle into my regular Thursday Friday Saturday schedule. I love that my days are grouped together to I can still work on-call or just have 4 days off.

I have erased 50 different beginnings to this next part.

Maybe I'll just bullet it.

• everyone has been lovely. LOVELY. Encouraging and happy for me and all that jazz. The Best. 
• I'm eager to just start doing my job and stop talking about how long it's been, etc. Time to move forward. It's a weird time, that's for sure. 
• Lots of other transitions, which makes me uneasy. Not like seasick, but like when the possibility of being seasick first enters the mind. Not because of anything specific, but just because it (work)  was good before and now it will necessarily change which I know is a constant in the universe, and so on, but I am up to my eyeballs in change and I just sort of want to lie down for a while. It will be good again!  Or remain good. Whatever. You can't step in the same river twice, etc. (sigh. I am hot and tired and DRAMATIC.) 
• I've been getting very little sleep, which has caused me to say things that I immediately wish unsaid. Note to self: develop time machine. 
• Note to others: the words Time Machine remind me of a preview I saw before The Heat - it's for a Richard Curtis (I think...) movie called About Time and it looked charming and slightly messed up. (it is cheating to go back in time over and over to perfect a moment, correct? does it matter? am I overly concerned with fairness right now? Maybe. )
• Will I ever finish the non-fiction book I'm reading and catch up on my reading challenge? YES. It will happen, so help me. 

ION, This song kept going through my head today for no good reason: