The Literate Kitty

Imagine, just for a second, what your life would be like, without your friends? They’re such a huge part of those “formative years”... but not so much, I think, a throughway.   For instance, there are friends you have when you’re a little kid—the ones you play with at recess, or hang out with after school. Everything is easy and fun, and any arguments tend to be trivial (and sorted quickly).   Then the tweens and teens happen, and suddenly you’re a mass of raging hormones, explosive bursts of anger, and buckets of drama-llama angst.  Those earlier friends, from simpler times, may— or may not —still be in the mix, because the stakes have gotten much higher, with massive secrets and heartfelt desires to be shared... and kept close. You have your besties... but if just one confidence is broken, any bestie can be relegated to no-man’s land, in a millisecond.   High school is the last stop on the whole friend-making journey for a lot of people. Sure, other very casua...

Every big city in America has its share of serious crime... but in a sprawling megalopolis like Los Angeles,  there’s your run-of-the-mill crime, and then there’s your okay-that-went-crazy-really-effing-fast crime.   In the latest entry in P. J. Tracy’s Detective Margaret Nolan series,  City of Secrets , Maggie—along with her stalwart partner, Al Crawford—are definitely ankle-boots-and-loafers-deep in the latter.     After arriving on the scene of what—at first glance—almost certainly appears to be  “just” another fatal car-jacking, Maggie and Al soon realize that the dead guy in the fancy car was actually the owner of a premium pet-food company worth millions... which he just so happened to be in the process of selling, for a huge profit. And  that  immediately puts a whole different spin on things.    Sure, in the part of town where things went down—one of those areas someone super-wealthy only goes with the idea of scoring s...

Cozy mysteries have never really been my thing, in either book or TV show. They’re usually too cutesy, too predictable, too convenient, and too... well, basically cheerful (for me).   But plenty of other people clearly love them, and that’s cool. ( Hey, there’s more than enough room in the pond for everyone’s tastes, which is as it should be .)   Every now and then, though, something “cozy” grabs my attention, and I give it a try... like I did last week, with  Mrs. Sidhu Investigates  (streaming on Acorn TV, which is easy to get through Amazon).   And, just like those blue moons, once in a great while I’m pleasantly surprised and delighted... as I was with  Mrs. Sidhu .     A middle-aged catering chef—who, for much of the season, seems to be capably running a one-woman operation ( from prepping and cooking, to delivering and serving the food! )—in the smallish city of Slough, England, doesn’t seem like the obvious choice of heroine for, ...