Remember Harry Potter? And author J.K. Rowling? Well, she writes under another name, too ... Robert Galbraith ... and what a difference! Intense, and gritty, with some interesting twists here and there, The Cuckoo's Calling is the first in the Cormoran Strike series. There's been a death that was determined to be suicide, but one person does not think so, and he hires Mr. Strike to prove it was murder.

Some years back now, I read Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library and loved it. Recently, I came across this: Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics ... how exciting is that?! Seems other young readers across the country think they could have done as well, or better, than the team that won that first challenge ... so ... Mr. Lemoncello comes up the Library Olympics so more teams can compete. Author Chris Grabenstein does a great job of combining good old library knowledge (Dewey Decimal Numbers) with modern age computer sleuthing, video games, 'state of the art' equipment (a hover ladder instead of the traditional wooden ladder). I'd like to think that tween readers would enjoy this book. :-)

Sherlock and Winston, the Corgi dogs, are back for another adventure in Case of the Ostentatious Otters, one of the Corgi Case Files books by J.M. Poole. It seems their reputation for solving crimes precedes them when they are on vacation in Monterey and they are asked to help with an old case. Naturally the dogs are willing to help! There is a sunken ship, missing coins, and a deadly (and very small) poisonous octopus. Loved the interaction with the otters in the title!

Reading Hermit With Dog