#GonetoDust – Rosepoint Publishing

Apparently, the upper Midwest will follow the pattern of cold, winter-like weather with summer temps and warm weather and no chance to acclimate. Not sure the plants like that either, not knowing whether to slow or grow. The cool weather crops are loving it, of course. The flower bed is actually looking pretty good with weeds as high as flowers, and the fairy garden yielded enough tender sprouts that the rabbits and deer came out and mowed everything down. Both animals are cute—from afar—until you realize they are munching on freshly transplanted annuals. The ferns gave it up a long time ago.

Skip the next paragraph if you are following Punkin the Pom odyssey becoming a real dog. Apparently, she is beginning to sense there are things out there she might have been missing out on—walks being one of them. She’s doing pretty well with the CE. Not so sure about me walking her and tries more often than not to dart away from me, hitting the end of the line on her harness. Otherwise, still few treats, no toys, and no offers of companionship.

First, the CE and our daughter headed to California for a family reunion. I took the opportunity to do some heavy cleaning and projects easier done while the house was quiet (note all the audiobooks!) Then, the household turned upside down with the unexpected return of a family member and his puppy, a mini-Aussie/Jack Russell mix, who has way too much energy, appetite, and interest in all things food, treats, toys, and walks. She can’t get enough of any of those things…and Punkin is noticing.

May was a struggle, though we did read and review seventeen books, again leaning heavily on audiobooks and this time filling in where the CE missed a deadline or two.

As always, links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase or source information.

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano (audiobook)
Down to the Wire by David Rosenfelt (audiobook)
Dark Dive by Andrew Mayne (audiobook)
Dying of the Light by Joe Regenbogen
After Dusk by Lynda McDaniel
The Missing Piece by John Lescroart (CE review)
Triptych by Karin Slaughter (audiobook)
Murder Road by Simone St James (audiobook)
Desert Heat by J A Jance (audiobook)
Your Forgotten Sons by Anne Montgomery (CE and me)
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
Two of a Kind by Gail Meath
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
Gone to Dust by Matt Goldman (audiobook)
City of Secrets by P J Tracy (CE review)
Can’t We Be Friends by Denny S Bryce and Eliza Knight (audiobook)
Long Time Gone by Charlie Donlea (audiobook)

Favorite Book of the Month

The CE and I both read Your Forgotten Sons and loved it, touched us deeply, and will remain in memory.

Book of the Month for May—Your Forgotten Sons

My Reading Challenges page still is behind. I know it. Once again a vow to get to it when the chaos settles down. Right now, the Goodreads Challenge is four books behind schedule at 58 of 150.

Welcome to my new subscribers and I hope to get back to a schedule of visiting all of my followers soon!

Book Blurb:

Set in Minnesota, Gone to Dust is the debut private-eye murder mystery from Emmy Award-winning Seinfeld writer Matt Goldman.

A brutal crime. The ultimate cover-up. How do you solve a murder with no useable evidence?

Private detective Nils Shapiro is focused on forgetting his ex-wife and keeping warm during another Minneapolis winter when a former colleague, neighboring Edina Police Detective Anders Ellegaard, calls with the impossible.

Suburban divorcée Maggie Somerville was found murdered in her bedroom, her body covered with the dust from hundreds of emptied vacuum cleaner bags, all potential DNA evidence obscured by the calculating killer.

Digging into Maggie’s cell-phone records, Nils finds that the most frequently called number belongs to a mysterious young woman whose true identity could shatter the Somerville family – but could she be guilty of murder?

After the FBI demands that Nils drop the case, Nils and Ellegaard are forced to take their investigation underground, where the case grows as murky as the contents of the vacuum cleaner bags. Is this a strange case of domestic violence or something with far-reaching, sinister implications?

My Review:

Okay, yes. I was looking for an audiobook, a nice mystery, and the blurb sounded interesting. And of course, dropping the Emmy Award-winning Seinfeld writer’s name helped. (As it happens, however, that show was not one I watched.)

The setting is Minnesota in the winter and I was reading it in the upper Midwest before we slowly ground into spring, so thought I might identify. Only so far though. Minnesota is a whole nother winter.

I’m not sure what it was. Yes, you have to say covering a body in vacuum cleaner dust patiently gathered from hundreds of vacuum cleaner bags is unusual. Even Nils Shapiro, the “Scandinavian Jew” might have been considered an unusual character, certainly considering he still pined after his ex. (I often wondered why then she is an “ex.”)

Just not one that really grabbed me. Nils is a contradiction alright. He was trying for the police department when there was a change in the budget, so he managed to create a private detective agency. I guess he found a modicum of success as he is called by a police detective buddy to help him with his vacuum dust case.

For one, there are too many degrees of coincidence. Small town—okay—I get it. Everybody knows everybody or is a relative. There are red herrings, twists, and the plot involves Nils the man as much as the case. It isn’t too hard to figure out the perp. An easy read (or listen) and entertaining but it just didn’t have the tension sufficient for me to get excited.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Jewish Literature, Private Investigator Mysteries
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
ASIN: B074G4TM97
Listening Length: 7 hrs 24 mins
Narrator: MacLeod Andrews
Publication Date: August 15, 2017
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Gone to Dust [Amazon]

The Author: Matt Goldman is New York Times Best Selling author and Emmy Award-winning TV writer. He has been nominated for a Shamus Award and is a Nero Award Finalist. His TV credits include Seinfeld, Ellen, and The New Adventures of Old Christine.