What I'm reading Wednesday...

Striking Range: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery

by Margaret Mizushima

I just finished this one.  This series is where I turn when I need an escape.  The characters are very likable.  The relationship between the sheriff deputy and her K-9 partner keeps me coming back. (Probably because Robo is SO well trained and well behaved, and Rudy...well...isn't.  I mean Rudy DOES know he has to sit in his bed until we finish our ice cream if he wants to lick the bowls.  And even though he repeatedly tries to inch closer to us before we are done, it only takes a look or a hand motion and he does an adorable little moonwalk backward to his bed.  But I digress.)  

This one is number seven of a series of nine (so far), and I eek them out, saving them for when I really need a break from a hard read (like The Alienist I finished just before this one) or life overwhelms me (like all the traveling we have been doing to be with, and help out with, Carey's mom as she is now on hospice).  This series takes me out into the mountains and fresh air on horseback.  I highly recommend the series.  They can be read as stand alone, but since the characters lives progress and relationships develop, I would recommend they be read in order.

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

Just started this one.  It is by the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry which I loved.