This is part of the series of Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James novels. Rebecca Meredith is a rower. She is also a highly ranked detective for the Metropolitan Police. She is training for the next Olympics, to row in the women’s singles. She takes her scull out on the river one Friday night but does not return.

Her ex-husband, Freddie Atterton, is looking for her. When he can’t find her and her rowing coach Milo can’t locate her, the Search-And-Rescue team is called in. Tavie and her dog Tosh and Kieran and his dog Finn are called in to help. Kieran and Finn come upon Becca’s scull wrecked on the side of the river. It has only one oar and has been damaged. Kieran has a bad feeling about this. He and Finn keep searching. They eventually come across Becca’s body caught in some weeds along the river. Kieran is very upset. Kieran is experiencing PTSD, stemming from his experiences in Iraq. But he also has a secret. He was Becca Meredith’s lover.

Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James have gotten married. Gemma has taken leave and has been staying at home with Charlotte. But now it’s Duncan’s turn to take leave and Gemma will return to work in a few days. But first, Duncan has been assigned to investigate Becca Meredith’s murder.

It is discovered that Becca Meredith was raped by Assistant Police Commissioner Angus Craig and the rape was hushed up. Craig took early retirement. He lives nearby. In fact, Freddie Atterton was supposed to meet Craig on Monday morning but he never showed up for the meeting. Kincaid’s boss, Childs, thinks that Atterton is a perfect suspect, but Kincaid feels that Craig is a good suspect. Gemma tells Duncan that she had a run-in with Craig some years ago and only her mother’s presence and that of her baby drove him off. She and Melody begin investigating other instances of rape of police women by “unknown persons” in Project Sapphire.

Kieran’s home in the boat shed is fire bombed one night and he is lucky to get out alive. He and his dog Finn go to stay with Tavie at her cottage. Someone is trying to kill him. Someone knows he has seen something. Kieran tells Kincaid that he had seen someone in the area where Becca’s body was found. The police find footprints and fibers in the area, as well as Becca’s other oar.

Kincaid puts pressure on Angus Craig. He interviews him at his home and tells him he knows about the rape of Becca Meredith. He also tells him he knows about the purported rapes of other police women. Gemma finds evidence that Craig murdered a police woman that he raped. She also finds the woman who spoke to Becca Meredith the day she died. This woman had also been raped by Craig. Her husband is a good friend of Freddie Atterton. Then Angus Craig kills his wife and sets his home on fire. He then kills himself. Kincaid knows that Craig did not murder Becca Meredith because his alibi holds up. They must look elsewhere.

Gemma goes to visit Chris Abbot, the woman who visited Beccay she was killed. She finds that her husband has taken her gun. Gemma calls Duncan to let him know that Ross Abbot is dangerous. Kieran goes to Becca’s cottage. He looks at a photo of the Oxford rowing team and sees the man he saw in the woods watching Becca. Suddenly, the man comes into the cottage. Finn begins to growl. Finn recognizes him as the man who threw the fire bomb. He has a gun. Kincaid also arrives at the cottage, as does Freddie Atterton. Kieran says that Becca told him about Abbot. How Abbot had made a member of the Oxford rowing team sick so he could take his place, but they lost the race. Becca threatened to tell people about his deception. That’s why Abbot killed her, because he loved to row and couldn’t take the disgrace of being banned. Abbot fires the gun and hits the dog Finn in the shoulder, but it is a flesh wound.

Abbot is taken into custody. Kincaid wraps up the case in time for Gemma to return to work. In fact, she is offered a temporary promotion. And Duncan gets to stay home for a while.

This was a great mystery story. It was complicated, but you could follow it. The Angus Craig connection was interesting, but it turned out that it wasn’t the motive for murder, as much as Gemma wanted it to be. Who knew that someone’s obsession with rowing could cause a person to commit murder? This was not revealed until the very end of the book. A very good ending.

Photographers, show us GIFT.

I receive a Niagara University pin from 1971. It brings back many bittersweet memories for me. This is the pin that my boyfriend J gave to me when we were juniors at the university. We were steady boyfriend and girlfriend. We had been going out since the beginning of our sophomore year at school and were committed to each other. The pin meant that we were even more committed.

After the pin, we eventually became engaged during our senior year. J was my first real, serious boyfriend and I loved him with all my heart. J was from a city about 90 miles from my hometown. I visited him during the holidays and met his family. But our days at university were wrapped up in each other. I even went to some of his classes for him. He didn’t like going to his history classes so I went and took notes for him. I was in love so I did everything for him. We planned our wedding during senior year.

We were married the week after we graduated from university. The wedding was in my hometown. Then we went on our honeymoon to the Poconos. We drove down there and then drove back to his hometown. We lived with his parents and I found a job working for an insurance company and he worked at the city playgrounds until the fall when he taught school. In the fall, I found a job as a caseworker. But we still lived with his parents. Eventually we bought a little house down the street from them and were very happy for a while. We had a daughter and were happy. For a while.

For a while.

It all began with that little pin from Niagara University long ago. A symbol of commitment. We were committed. For a while.

For a while.

For an extra challenge, link your response to this prompt. 

Given a choice, I probably would NOT sip this potion. I value all my senses. I would not want any of them dulled. I already have a problem with my vision being poor (I wear glasses) and so I am aware that my vision is very precious to me. I value my hearing and my sense of smell, which is related to taste, and I also value my sensation of touch. They are all important.

Vision is very important. You need to be able to see clearly in this world. I love to read and value being able to see the words on the page. I love to be able to see the faces of my daughter and granddaughters. I love to see the beautiful trees and flowers. I love watching my puppies. I love being able to drive my car. I need vision to do these things.

Keen hearing is essential in my world. I like to listen to the news at night on the television. I need hearing when I drive the car. I love to hear the voices of my loved ones. I loved the barks and whimpers of my dogs. I need to hear the rulings of the judge in court. I need to listen to my CASA kids and my advocates. I need to be able to hear well.

My sense of smell and taste are important. They go hand-in-hand. Food doesn’t taste good if you can’t smell it, too. You need to smell and taste your food to have a good appetite. You need these to maintain a decent weight. I have trouble keeping a proper weight. So I need to have my sense of smell and taste sharp.

The sensation of touch is also important. I love to pet my dogs. They are so soft and furry. They feel so good. I would miss the feel of them. I love the feel of my sheets at night. I would miss them. I love the feel of clean hair and clean skin. Tactile sensation is important, too.

To have one of these senses heightened and the other dulled would be a tragedy. That’s why I would NOT sip the potion. I would not want my senses dulled. I want my senses as alive as they can be.

Romance author Eloisa James has written a memoir about the year her family lived in Paris. Her husband taught for a year at an Italian language school in Paris and she worked on her books. Her children, Luca and Anna, attended an Italian school in Paris.

The book is a series of brief remembrances by James, some of which appeared as Facebook status listings during her sojourn in Paris. She comments on her many visits to various restaurants in Paris with her husband and with friends, both French and American friends who come to visit while she is living in Paris. We live vicariously through James’s visits to these marvelous restaurants as she describes their gastronomic delights. I particularly loved her descriptions of desserts, always my favorite part of dinner. James also likes to cook and includes her favorite recipes for risotto, the way she learned to make it during her college studies, and the French recipes she learned while in Paris. She bought some French bakeware, things that are difficult to buy in the States. She tells about shopping trips to the various department stores in Paris, as well as to the smaller boutique shops, for kitchen ware as well as for clothing.

Much of her book involves the drama surrounding her children and their school. Anna has trouble with a girl named Domitilla in her class. There is terrible animosity but eventually the two become friends. Anna has much trouble with the French language in school, but seems to pick it up with no trouble when she goes to an after school day camp. Luca has problems with math and he and his father pour over calculus problems. While Luca speaks very good Italian, he is having trouble reasoning in that language and so is not doing well in that class.

The family is also taken with several homeless people who live near their Métro stop. Several of them have dogs and Anna is concerned about the dogs. They bring the homeless people food and also bring food for the dogs.  We learn about the custom of giving lilies of the valley to women on May 1st in France. James gives us tours of many different museums that they visit.

We also learn about their dog, a very obese chihuahua named Milo, who is visiting James’s mother-in-law Marina in Florence, Italy. Milo is supposed to be on a diet but it isn’t really working, either because Marina isn’t adhering to the diet or Milo is too obese or something. But Milo comes with Marina at Christmastime for a visit to Paris and they have trouble finding a coat that will fit him, even when they buy a coat that will fit a bulldog.

James and her husband also go on some day trips around France and into Germany. She shares those trips with her readers with narratives in the book. She gives some lectures and her husband goes with her. As their year in Paris draws to a close, Anna and Luca attend tennis camp in Italy and in France.

At the end of their year in Paris, James returned to the States but not to suburban New Jersey. They decided to buy an apartment in New York City and resume city life, as they had lived the city life in Paris.

This was a sweet book. It was interesting to get an idea of how an author works as well as to get a look into her everyday life in The City Of Lights.

Photographers, show us HANDS.

I haven’t received any “surprising” helping hand. But I have received very many helping hands from my daughter whenever I have needed them and however often I have needed them. And she always pulls through and delivers. Maybe that’s the surprising thing. That she is ALWAYS there when I need her. My precious daughter.

I have moved twice since I moved to San Antonio. I lived for a brief time with my daughter at her house before i moved into an apartment in the north side of the city. She helped me move in there. She came over there and brought loads of stuff from her house to my new apartment and helped me move in. Then when I moved back over to the northwest side of town, she helped me pack up my apartment and get it ready to move. She also helped me unpack my stuff in my new town home. These are big jobs and I really valued her help. They are not fun jobs. But she willingly helped me. I love her for doing these things.

Another thing she has done for me on several occasions is to take me and stay with me when I have had a colonscopy.  I have had two of these since I have been back in San Antonio and I needed someone to take me to the procedure and wait with me while the procedure is done and bring me home because I’m groggy afterwards. I’ve also had oral surgery where I’ve been put under anaesthesia and I needed someone to bring me to the dentist and bring me home and she has willingly been my chauffeur to these procedures. I have no one else to take me to these procedures but she is always willing to do it. I know it takes time away from her job. I am extremely grateful to her for doing this for me.

My daughter is an amazing “helping hand” to me. It is surprising that she is always willing and able to help me. I am an extremely lucky woman to have such a remarkable helpful daughter who is always ready to help her mother with whatever needs to be done in her life. Thank you, Sabrina. I love you.

This story is about a love story that endures for fifty years. The story begins in Los Angeles in the present day, with a production assistant named Claire who is listening to the pitches of potential screenwriters for her boss, the producer Michael Deane, the seventy-something reality show producer. Claire is discouraged and thinking about leaving her job for a post at film museum run by the Church of Scientology and she is also having problems with her boyfriend. Along comes Shane Walker from the Northwest, to pitch his screenplay Donner!, about the ill-fated Donner party. But he is late and Claire has locks the studio and has left for the day. But she comes back to find Shane and a little Italian man, Pasquale Tursi, aged seventy, who is looking for Michael Deane. Shane can speak Italian and so becomes the “interpreter” for Tursi, and gets to pitch his screenplay, which Michael Deane loves. It is discovered that Mr. Tursi is looking for Dee Moray, an actress that he met in Italy 50 years ago. Michael Deane remembers the meetings well and hires a private detective to find her.

In a series of back-and-forth chapter flashbacks, between Italy and Seattle, and Idaho, we follow the history of Dee Moray the actress and Pasquale Tursi the Italian proprietor of a hotel on the rocky coast of Italy. Dee had come to his little out-of-the-way hotel when she became ill on the movie set of Cleopatra in Italy. The doctor told her she had stomach cancer, but in reality, she was pregnant with actor Richard Burton’s child. She stayed at Tursi’s hotel and was ill, but became friends with Tursi. They went to a little cave where there were paintings done by a German soldier during the war.  Dee read the chapter that the American Alvis Bender had written while he was at the hotel. Tursi was smitten with Dee Moray. He traveled to Rome to find out why Michael Deane did not come to take care of Dee. He brought back Richard Burton, who was drinking heavily and they took Dee to another hotel in another village. Burton and Deane told Dee that she wasn’t dying of cancer and tried to convince her to go to Switzerland for an abortion. She didn’t go, but returned to Tursi’s hotel in the little village. There she meets Alvis Bender who has returned to the hotel. Meanwhile. Tursi’s aunt Valeria had killed Tursi’s mother in a mercy killing. She was in pain and Valeria killed her so that Tursi could be with the American actress. Tursi’s girlfriend in Florence had given birth to their son and was raising him as her brother in her family in Florence. He is torn by this. He leaves the actress Dee Moray at his hotel in the village and goes to bury his mother. That is the last time Tursi sees Dee Moray. Tursi eventually goes to Florence and asks for his girlfriend’s hand in marriage and raises his son and has two daughters as well.

Dee Moray returns to the United States. She does not have the abortion but has the baby and names him Pasquale or Pat, after Tursi. She settles in Seattle. Alvis Bender comes to Seattle to look after a car dealership for his father and looks up Dee, now Debra Morgan. They marry and he raises Pat as his son. Debra studies Italian and teaches theater and Italian. She also acts in theater groups. Alvis is killed in an accident. Debra continues to teach and to act. Pat becomes a musician and becomes a drug addict and has a rough few years into his adulthood. Debra has cancer, and Pat’s girlfriend helps her through her treatments. Pat asks to come home after a bad patch in England and Scotland. His girlfriend Lydia writes a play about that time and Debra produces the play in her theater in Idaho.

The private detective locates Dee, now Debra, in Idaho. Claire, Share, Michael Deane, and Tursi all fly to Washington and then drive to Idaho to see Front Man, the play about Pat Bender in Debra Bender’s theater. Then they hope to see Debra Bender so that Pasquale Tursi can meet her again. They see the play and Michael Deane wants to buy the rights to the play and to Pat Bender’s life. Debra and Pat do not go to the after-party, so they find someone to take them to Debra’s home. Debra immediately recognizes Tursi. She decides to tell Pat the truth about who his father is. Michael Deane negotiates to secure the rights to the film version of the play. He then proceeds to change it beyond all recognition, which is fine with Pat. Pat is busy reviewing all of Richard Burton’s films. Shane gets money for his film pitch even though it will not be made into a film. Claire and her boyfriend reconcile.

And Debra and Pasquale return to Italy to rekindle their relationship. They are not sure how far it will go, but it is a start.

This is such a sweet love story. You can’t help but fall in love with the purity of the love that Pasquale feels for Dee. He only wants what is best for her. He tramps all over Italy to find Michael Deane who has abandoned her at Pasquale’s hotel when she was sick, and Pasquale knows this isn’t right. He seeks Deane out to find him and tell him that he needs to do right by her. He finds Richard Burton and leads him back to Dee, even knowing that he is a cad, but he is the father of her baby. And he stands by her through thick and thin. And fifty years later, Pasquale comes looking for her after the death of his wife. He still cares for the lovely American all these years later.

I enjoyed this book, even with all the hopping around from 1962 to present day to the 1970s and 1990s. It got a little confusing sometimes, but eventually I got used to it. It was easier to keep going from 1962 to the present than from the intervening years. But on the whole, I loved the book. I loved the love story of Pasquale and Debra.

Photographers, show us one of the five senses — bonus points for depicting a smell!

Once again, you will be subjected to a photo of one of my puppies. That is because my first sight, sound, smell, and sensation (apart from the sound of the alarm clock buzzer sounding in my ear, which really doesn’t count) this morning was my darling Japanese Chin, Ernie. Ernie was lying next to me on the bed this morning when I woke up, then proceeded to drag himself off the bed, down the three-step stairway, and onto the floor next to the bed to wait for me to get up.

I did get out of bed, go into the bathroom, clean myself up, take my medicines, and come back to read the Qur’an for about 15 minutes before it is time to take Ernie for a walk. In the meantime, Ernie stays at his post next to the bed where I have to step over him on my way back to the bed where I sit and read. Ernie rests and breathes quietly. Sometimes he sighs gently . I can smell his little doggy smell. He has doggy breath. He needs to get his teeth cleaned.

When it’s time for prayers, I put my Kindle Fire™ away, gather it and my phone, and tell Ernie it’s time to go. We head out toward the prayer room loft at the top of the stairs. Ernie plops himself on the landing and I go into the prayer room loft to pray. Ernie waits patiently. When I’ve finished, I say to Ernie, “Okay, Ernie. Let’s go.” Ernie gets up and hops down the stairs.

I go into the kitchen and put out the dry dog food and water for the day. I prepare my fiber drink and take my anti-anxiety supplements. Then it’s time for Ernie to go out for his walk. We go out for about 15 minutes. Ernie loves his walk.

When we come back, it’s time to spring Ralphy from his crate. Ralphy has been in his crate all night so he doesn’t destroy the house during the night. So now it’s time for Ralphy to go for his walk. I take Ralphy out for about 15 minutes. Ralphy loves his walk, too. He loves to sniff at every rock and stick he sees. He is such a goof.

When I bring Ralphy back, my two big boys get a doggy cookie each. These are little “bones” that are filled with marrow treats. They love these little “bones.” Now they are set of the day. They are ready for a nap, and I am ready to check my email on the computer and deal with my postcards on Postcrossing. That’s what I do first thing in the morning while the boys are napping. They are worn out from their walks.

So my first sight, smell, sensation, sound, are the dogs. More specifically, it’s Ernie who greets me first thing in the morning when I wake. First thing in the morning, every morning. It never fails. I love waking up to Ernie. What a wonderful little furry alarm clock!

Dave Robicheaux’s daughter Alafair is involved with Kermit Abelard, of the rich landowning Abelard family headed by Timothy Abelard. Dave is not thrilled about the relationship. He thinks Kermit is shallow and self-serving.

Dave is drawn into an investigation of the deaths of some young women in the area. These young women have been tortured, it seems, and then their bodies were dumped. One was a runaway, and one was a scholarship student. He suspects that Kermit Abelard and his friend, ex-convict Robert Weingart, are somehow involved. He also suspects that Carolyn Blanchet, wife of Lambert Blanchet, is somehow involved in these murders. The murder of the scholarship student has to do with environmental issues, he knows.

Robicheaux’s friend Clete Purcell is under investigation for the murder of Herb Stanga, a pimp, but he has been set up by a sheriff’s deputy, a friend of Carolyn’s. Clete has been showing up just in time to save Robicheaux from certain death in several instances. Alafair breaks up with Kermit. Timothy Abelard is found murdered in his home. Carolyn’s husband Lambert Blanchet is also dead. Is a suicide or a murder?

Alafair is kidnapped by Kermit and Weingart. They take her to an old slave’s quarters and then to her home, where they also capture Dave and his wife Molly. They plan to torch the house. But Molly gets scissors and cuts her bonds and Dave’s. Dave is shot, but Clete is outside and kills the men outside the house. He manages to get in the house and frightens Kermit and Weingart away, but Clete is shot, too.

This was a very confusing book. I’m still not sure what really happened at the end. Did Clete die? I don’t know. I assume Dave survived, because he’s in the next book. What happened to Kermit and Weingart? Lord only knows. They escaped in the boat, I think. There was such a lot of ancillary stuff going on throughout the book, but I don’t know if the mystery of what actually happened to the girls every really was resolved or why Dave was attacked. As I said, this was a very confusing book. I liked it, but the outcome was not very satisfying.

When I decide to tackle something big, I go all the way. What would I attempt if I were guaranteed not to fail? I would get married again. Yes, it would be for the third time. The third times the charm, right? Isn’t that the way the saying goes? Anyway, if I was guaranteed not to fail, I would get married again. I would fall in love with a wonderful man and get married.

Now. Why haven’t I tried it yet. I’m still reeling from my last divorce about eleven years ago. I have not gotten over it. My second marriage lasted ten years. It was not a happy marriage. I was cowered by my husband. I was intimidated by him. He was constantly lecturing me. He was twelve years my senior. He treated me like I was a child. He was retired and I worked very hard at my job. I had to travel a lot. He resented that. He was extremely jealous and suspicious. He was politically conservative and I am rather liberal. We did not see eye-to-eye. In essence, he threw me out. He destroyed my self-esteem. It’s been difficult for me to gain back my self-esteem, my self-confidence since my divorce. I haven’t really wanted to be in a relationship. I didn’t have the energy.

I have been seeing my therapist trying to get over the trauma of the break-up. It has been a very long, trying struggle. As I said, my psyche has really been damaged. My self-image was destroyed by my husband. This divorce was far worse than my first divorce. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the cumulative effect. Whatever. It was worse. Maybe it was the fact that I also had to declare bankruptcy at this point. These two things led me to have very low self-worth and believe that no one would care for me.

But I’m beginning to come out of this terrible period. If I were to meet someone now, I think I could have a relationship. I would like to find a man with whom I could have a good relationship and marry. Especially if it could be guaranteed that this marriage would last and would not fail. I’d jump on that in a New York minute.

Photographers, share an image that says MEMORY.

I normally don’t go to garage sales. I have enough junk of my own at home. I don’t need to bring home any more junk to supplement the junk I already have. But today, I decided to stop at a garage sale. As I was pawing through the junk in this particular garage, I stumbled across something that caught my attention and drew me back. Far back many years to my youth. It was a medal on a blue ribbon.

I used to have this very same medal on the very same blue ribbon. It was the medal of the Society of Mary. It was a Miraculous Medal on a light blue ribbon. In my high school, this was a very important society. This society helped with all things pertaining to the chapel. There were two levels in the Society. The novices had a medal on a light green ribbon. The full members wore a medal on a light blue ribbon. It is the medal on the light blue ribbon that I found.

The Society of Mary was important to the religious life of our school.  We were the caretakers of the school chapel. We cleaned the chapel in our school and arranged the flowers. We set out the vestments for the priest to say Mass in the morning. They had to be laid out in a particular order. We were responsible for doing this. The correct color vestments had to be set out, of course, according to the particular saint’s feast day. The under-vestments had to be clean and pressed. We were responsible for washing and ironing the vestments, too.

We were also in charge of the chapel in the sister’s home, the convent. We had to lay out the vestments for the priest in their chapel and keep their chapel neat and clean. We arranged the flowers for their chapel as well. Their chapel was also our responsibility.

Although at that time the Catholic Church did not allow for girls to be altar servers, we girls in the Society of Mary acted as altar servers to the priest at morning Mass. I guess the Vatican didn’t know about that. We also set out the communion things at both our school chapel and the sister’s chapel. After Mass, we washed and put away the communion things and put away the priest’s vestments. We tidied up the chapels after the services and made everything nice and neat.

We also organized prayer services in the chapel for various reasons. We would type up the different services on the mimeograph machine and distribute the copies to the girls who came to the services. Some were penance services, some were thanksgiving services, some were services of petition. Some were praise services. Each May we would hold a service honoring Mary as Queen of the May. We would crown the statue of Mary with a beautiful crown of flowers. The president of the Society of Mary would crown the statue as everyone sang hymns.

The girls from the Society of Mary also marched in the parades that the city held and that the school marched in. The Society would march together as a subset of the school wearing our medals. The big parade was May Day, on May 1. Everyone would march and pray the Rosary on the walk down the parade route. The younger girls wearing their green ribbons would march in front and the older girls wearing their blue ribbons would march behind them.

It was an honor to be in the Society of Mary. You had to be of good character and have recommendations from the sisters and the priests at the school. I remember fondly performing my duties in the Society of Mary. I was conscientious and loved taking care of the chapels. I wore my medal as a badge of honor. It was lovely seeing this medal again.