Lisa Scottoline does it again

I've just finished reading Lisa Scottoline's newest book, Most Wanted. I highly recommend it.

Scottoline is one of my favorite authors. I love her Rosato & Associates series, but her other, stand-alone books, are excellent.

It took me a few chapters to really get into the story. I'm not a mother. While, when I was much younger, I imagined having children, I decided at age 29 1/2 to remain child free. I know many women who wanted children and agonized over becoming pregnant. However, it's not a situation with which I can identify. I try not to be judgmental, but sometimes women with fertility issues can sound somewhat whiney.

The beginning of this book reminded me of Jodi Picoult's Sing You Home that features a music therapist who is about 6 or 7 months pregnant and then miscarries. She is desperate to have a child and is consumed with trying to get pregnant again as soon as possible. Again, it took me several chapters to get past my lack of identification with the character and into the story - which turned out to be great.

So back to Lisa. This plot is a real thriller. The pregnancy begins to share top billing with several other issues: Who is the sperm donor? Is he a serial killer? Is that sort of pathology inherited? The twists and turns of this story are myriad (not unlike her other books) and my feelings about the young man in jail went back and forth as the story unfolded.

I like to take breaks from mysteries and read to become educated as well as entertained. A book recommended to me by a friend did just that: Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America's Most Famous Residence. I've never visited the White House though I've been to Washington D.C. several times. Harry Truman was the President when I was born, but I have no recollection of him in office. (I do remember Ike and Mamie.) I was a history major in college and I'm very interested in 20th century American history. I read biographies of political figures and this book fits right in that category. It is about Harry Truman and his family as much as the house he lived in.

I've just begun reading First Women: the Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies by Kate Anderson Brower. Since I've read a lot of this information in other sources, I'm finding it a little repetitious. It's also a little too gossipy and rambly for my taste. However, I'll see it through to the end (being a somewhat OCD-ish person) and perhaps it will get better.

Waiting for me on the top of the "To Be Read" pile on my bed table is a book by J.A. Jance - another of my favorite authors. Something to look forward to.