Mystery Writer Wins

Ronda Hinrichsen is not only the winner of this month's second contest; she is the author of a mystery novel called Missing. (I reviewed it on Meridian in February and it can be found on my web page entry for that month). Ronda, please send me your mailing address and a list of at least five LDS novels on your wish list. Contact me at bhansen22 at msn dot com.

I've been reading Whitney finalists to the exclusion of getting anything else done the past week. I wasn't going to attempt to read the Young Adult or Speculative books because I don't have many of them and I was so far down on the hold list at the library it didn't appear I'd get many, if any, of them in time, and I'm not into speculative fiction. Suddenly I got a note from the library informing me they had them all waiting for me and I decided to give reading them a try. (I've got one third of one big fat book to go). I can't attend the Gala this year (wedding and reception I need to attend) so I figure the least I can do is vote in every section. I won't give titles, but I enjoyed some of them more than I expected and found others . . . well . . . let's just say I'm glad I checked them out of the library instead of spending money to buy them.

I wanted to offer some of the Whitney finalists as prizes for the first half of April contest, but I loaned most of them out to other judges, gave some away already, and a few are in formats I'm not allowed to pass on. Anyway, I have these four: 1) All the Stars in Heaven by Michele Paige Holmes. In my opinion it's much better than her award winning first novel, Counting Stars. It's not just that it has an element of mystery/suspense, but it is much more polished. 2) Lemon Tart by Josie Kilpack, a culinary mystery and enjoyable read even if the main character is a pain in the neck, and it's a great lead in to her next two novels which keep getting better with each successive one, 3) Eyes Like Mine by Julie Wright, a slightly YA novel that wound up in General Fiction. Perhaps it's the geneology connection that makes it appealing to adults instead of just teens, and 4) The Rift by Todd Robert Petersen. The Rift isn't really a finalist, but it was a nominee and since it just won the AML award for best novel of the year, I decided to include it. Besides I liked it. I was going to offer Ronda Hinrichsen's excellent debut novel, but either one of my daughters or sisters borrowed it or I've already given it out as a prize. Anyway, here's the deal. Everyone who comments between now and Tax Day, April 15, will have his/her name put in the hat. If you're a follower and you comment too, I'll send you one of the above mentioned books and another book of your choice.