Book 146: Scorpia

Scorpia by Anthony Horowitz, the fifth installment in the Alex Rider series, begins with Alex hunting for an organization named Scorpia for which his father had once worked.  Alexx manages to find Julia Rothman, one of the organization's leaders, and is shown footage of his father being shot in a London bridge in a double cross at a prisoner exchange.  In anger, Alex begins training to work with Scorpia, but his first assignment is to kill Mrs. Jones.  Meanwhile Scorpia is planning to murder thousands of British school children in an operation known as Invisible Sword.  Once Alex realizes the truth about Scorpia he agrees to help knowing that this time of he fails he will die along with all the other children.

Nice background into Alex's family mixed with plenty of action.  This one was definitely a little more far fetched but still entertaining.  4 stars

Book 145: Trail of Dead

Olson's Trail of Dead picks up a few months after the ending of the first book in the Scarlett Bernard series.  Scarlett returns to Los Angeles after spending some time with another null in New York trying to learn more about her powers.  Detective Jesse Cruz is waiting for her at the airport to take her directly to a crime scene for her analysis.  It turns out that Olivia, Scarlett's crazy mentor turned vampire, is putting her plan in motion killing two witches and a human couple with the same first names as Scarlett's parents to draw their attention.  Scarlett and Jesse work together to try to figure out Olivia's plan and stop her.  4 stars.

Book 144: Swamp Sniper

Swamp Sniper by Deleon is the third hilarious installment in the Miss Fortune mystery series.  After a near brush with death, Fortune tries to keep out of trouble by trying to assist Ida Belle with her run for mayor.  When Ida's competition turns up poisoned and the same poison is found in a bottle of "cough syrup" given to him by Ida, the trio resorts to their usual antics to insure that Ida Belle is cleared.  It doesn't take long to figure that the list of people with reason to kill Tom is quite lengthy.  The hard part will be narrowing the field down to the correct culprit before Deputy Carter is forced to arrest Ida.  5 stars.

Book 143: The Last Olympian

The Last Olympian by Riordan is the final installment in the Percy Jackson series.  Poseidon is entrenched in his palace battling Oceanus.  Hades is refusing to help and has both Demeter and Persephone with him.  With the exception of Hestia, the rest of the Olympic gods are unsuccessfully trying to stop Typhon.  That leaves only the demigods, the hunters, and a few allies to defend Olympus when Kronos launches his final attack.  Great ending to a fantastic series. 5 stars.

Book 142: The Anatomist's Wife

After the death of her husband, Lady Kiera Darby has fled the vicious gossip of London to reside with her sister's family in Scotland and paint.  Sixteen months later at her sister hosts a weekend party and one of the guests turn up dead.  Keira agrees to her brother-in-law 's request that she examine the body and assist Gage with the investigation.  Kiera knows that because of the sketch work of cadavers that her deceased husband forced her to make for his anatomy book and the vicious rumors that were made after his death if she does not find the killer she will be the prime suspect when the inquisitor arrives if the true murderer has not been found.

The Anatomist's Wife by Hunter is the first book in the Lady Darby mystery series.  4 stars.

Book 141: Lethal Bayou Beauty

Lethal Bayou Beauty by Deleon is the second installment in the Miss Fortune mystery series.  Fortune's cover is in jeopardy when a former beauty queen returns to town, and she is expected to assist with a children's beauty pageant for the town's festival.  When the former beauty queen turns up dead after the two have a public disagreement, Fortune finds herself as the chief suspect.  With the help of Gertie and Ida Belle, she begins investigating the murder with hilarious results.  5 stars.

Book 140: Wonder Woman: Warbringer

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo begins with a teenage Diana struggling to find her place in the island of the Amazon's knowing that everyone but her has earned their right to live there.  While running a foot race, Diana sees a ship explode just beyond the barrier and feels compelled to swim out and help.  She rescues another teenage girl named Ali's and hides her in a cave.  When Alia's presence causes a series of unnatural events in the island, Diana seeks the advice of the Oracle.  She learns that Alia is a Warbringer, a child of Nemesis, who can plunge the world untoward simply by living to her next birthday.  The only way to save the island, the world, and Alia's life is to get her to a spring in Greece at the gravesite of Helen of Troy. 

A entertaining tale with plenty of twists and turns.  I thought Bardugo did an excellent job of keeping the character of Diana in line with the image created by the comics and subsequent television and movie ones.  The setting, however, does not fit chronologically with the dc comics universe; and while the modern-day tale is well done, I wish it had meshed better with the overall timeline.  4 stars