June 2016 column

Maybe I have been doing to much bird watching lately. It seems like a soap opra playing out as I watch a pair of robins nurturing their two babies. They nested in an evergreen just off my front porch, and probably same pair from last year. The babies have been out of the nest for over a week but still follow the parents around begging to be fed. Yesterday a hawk hit the tree where Mom was feeding a young one, and took off with a bird in its talons. I assumed it was baby bird, but this morning I see both of them in the lawn again with Momma. I must be getting old when I find so much intertainment in watching birds pull worms out of the ground. Oh, then this morning another bird hit my picture window and didn't survive. Don't know what kind it was. Must be tough being a bird.

Neosho Farmers Market is doing very well. 15 Vendors each week so far and more to come as produce matures. Such a wide variety of things to buy. I bought a box of snap peas and ate several while I was weaving. Also took home some cinnamon rolls. I have heard some say that things are too expensive at a farmers market. Well let me tell you, these people put in many hours of hard work to get these fresh vegetables to that table. The bakers are up in wee hours baking so everything is fresh. Did I mention that all the food vendors are certified now in our market. They took time to attend classes in food handling and this all adds up to bringing the best produce to the market. So yes, it may cost more that what you get from Walmart, which has been shipped across the country and stored in boxes and sold in such bulk so that they make a few cents on a pkg. So please support these hard working folks who live in our community and are doing what they love.

I love to find an author that I have never read and find that their books have been on my shop shelf for years and I just "discovered" them. Harlen Coben is my feature author this month. He is like Evanovich on Testosterone! I am on my fourth book and really have a hard time putting them down. He did a series of books with Myron Bolitar as the main character. Myron is a sports agent and so much more. There is a lot of sports talk in his books, but not so much as to put you off if you don't really care about sports. He was a big time basketball player in his prime when an injury took it all away. He recovered, went to law school, worked for the FBI for awhile, then opened his Sports agency. He has a colorful group of associates and you just have to love them all. His best pal is a wealthy whimpy looking guy named Win, who reminds you of Bruce Wayne with his Batman, (Myron). Both guys are masters in martial arts and seem to always trying to save the good guy. The Bolitar books are so outragious with their the dry humor, yet the mystery line just keeps you hooked, and you never see the ending till it hits you.

Deal Breaker

by Harlan Coben

This was the first novel featuring Myron Bolitar, a 30 something single guy, still living in his parents basement, but leading a very successful life, with a gorgeous girlfriend, a growing sports agency and a tendency to try to save the innocent. Mryon has just landed a a deal with Christian Steele, a rookie quarterback, when Christian gets a phone call from his assumed-to-be-dead fiance. Then the mob gets involved and try to stop Myron from snooping. So is she dead or not? The plot is always believable and his associates make for very interesting reading. The book has romance, intrigue, murder, and enough humor to keep you guessing till the end.

Drop Shot

by Harlan Coben

This book deals with Myron's work with tennis players. There is of course murder, this time of a young female tennis champ who's career has been on major slide.. Another young black player who is on his way to the top has enough connections to the case to make Mryon worry and he is the agent for Duanne. Always wanting to correct wrongs Myron gets it sorted out and Win as usual adds the spice.

Promise Me

by Harlan Coben

This book was the eight book in the Bolitar series, so Myron has matured some and has a new love interest. He over hears two teen age daughters of some friends of his talking about riding with someone who was drunk. On the spur of the moment he talkes to them and makes them promise him that they will call him no matter what time to give them a ride if they are ever in that situation and he will take them home with no questions asked or any reporting to parents. He only wants them to be safe. Later one of the girls does call him but wants dropped at a girlfriends house and then she disappears. This is one of the better books Coben has done with this charactor as there is still the dry humor but the action and mystery is more believable. There is much less sports as Myron has taken up being an agent to movie stars and his colorful associate has taken over the sports part. When he gets on one of his “unofficial” cases he is like a bulldog. A great story with a big surprise ending.