This Bird Has Flown

 Fiction by Susanna Hoffs

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book caught my eye with the author's name (Susanna Hoffs was the songwriter/singer for the Bangles) and the pretty cover (see below).

The story is about Jane Start, a one-hit-wonder singer who is still trying desperately to get that second hit after ten years. She takes an opportunity to fly to England and get out of her parents' basement, where she's been living. While she's there, she may find love, or even finally jump-start her career...

It was an okay book but I didn't love it.

Here's the cover of the edition that I read, which as you can see is similar, but not the same as the one above. I like this one much better.

https://www.goodreads.com

The Violin Conspiracy

 Fiction by Brendan Slocumb

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this book, professional violinist Ray McMillan is leaving a New York hotel after a short stay with his girlfriend. They separate in the lobby and each get into a taxi; each one is headed back to their respective states. But it isn't until Ray gets all the way back home to his apartment in North Carolina that he opens his violin case to practice. Then he discovers that instead of the violin in the case, there is a single shoe and a ransom note.

When I first read this, I though that it was his girlfriend who was kidnapped. But actually, it was his violin being held for ransom.

This makes more sense when you find out that the violin is incredibly valuable and insured for ten million dollars.

This was a really good book with a surprise ending.

Also I liked the cover art on the library copy I read better than the one above, which is apparently the paperback version.

https://www.amazon.com

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

Fiction by Mitch Albom.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a nice story, following a young man who makes it big in late-fifties-style rock-n-roll and then loses it all. Will he make a comeback?


I also read recently by this author: The First Phone Call From Heaven, The Time Keeper

Playing With Fire

Fiction by Tess Gerristen.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Tess Gerristen is known for her "Rizzoli and Isles" series of books, but this is not one of those, and that's why I picked it to read. (I've mentioned before the trouble I have with serial mysteries, click here to read that if you're interested.)

The story in Playing with Fire centers around a piece of violin music (which the author apparently actually composed as a companion to the novel, although I haven't listened to it). The mysterious music is a link with the past and seems to threaten the protagonist's ordered life.

It's an exciting thriller, and a short read.