Set in picturesque Lake Tahoe, this series starter does an excellent job of bringing the beauty of the region to life. Rylie finds herself out of her permanent job due to a wildfire and in the middle of a mystery by the second day of her summer temp job as the caretaker at Whitaker Cottages.
I love to write. And so does Lark O. Jensen.
Well, okay, that’s still me. I’ve taken my first pseudonym for my new Alaska Untamed mystery series. The first book, Bear Witness, is a May 2022 release.
Spy literature and movies are chock-full of gadgets for the agents. Real-life agencies have another gimmick up their trench coat sleeves: trained animals.
We all know that Reedley College is the gem of the Valley when it comes to programs for everyone from students right out of high school to grandmothers who want to hone their ceramics skills. Students choose the beautiful, rural setting of Reedley College to get a start on their bachelor’s degrees, to learn highly technical and sought after job skills such as welding or diesel mechanics, to learn how to maintain and fly planes, and to increase their knowledge base in order to make a career change.
It’s not unusual for zookeeper Theodora Bentley to see the Pacific Ocean otters wielding an assortment of tools to crack open the shellfish they adore. Even seeing her favorite otter Maureen hauling around a cellphone doesn’t raise Theo’s eyebrows, as the mischievous furry swimmers have a habit of stealing and hoarding their favorite shell-cracking devices.
KRL will be interviewing several local authors over the next several months and this week we are interviewing children's book author Jean Chaffee, who is the wife of the late Dr. Paul Chaffee who was the Fresno Chaffee Zoo vet for 30 years and the zoo director for 25 years. The zoo was named in honor of him at his time of passing. Her books are based on fun, true stories about beloved zoo animals located at the Chaffee Zoo.
We have a bunch of mysteries from Penguin & Kensington authors this week for your July reading fun, with crafts, food, animals & more-Gone with the Wool: Yarn Retreat Mystery by Betty Hechtman, Dressed to Kilt: Scottish Highlands series by Hannah Reed, Final Fondue: A Five-Ingredient Mystery by Maya Corrigan, Take the Monkey and Run: A Call of the Wilde Mystery by Laura Morrigan, and Toasting Up Trouble: A Dinner Club Mystery by Linda Wiken. Details at the end of this post on how to win a copies of all 5 books, and a link to purchase them.
“Look! It’s a rhino! And it’s REAL!” This statement didn’t come out of the mouth of a seven-year old. It was my reaction to seeing this magnificent creature, one of many awesome animals residing at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. There’s no CGI here, folks.
As a zookeeper for the Gunn Zoo in Gunn Landing, California, Theodore "Teddy" Bentley knows better than to resist the orders of the zoo's imperious owner, Isola. However, even Teddy is alarmed to find herself booked on the next day's flight out to Iceland to spend a week there preparing the transfer of a polar bear cub back from the Reykjavik Zoo.
Lony Ruhmann is one of those rare people who decided to nurse an adopted pup with distemper back from the brink. Lony’s first dog, Juve, was that pup. Many people would have given up in the face of such a deadly disease, but Lony chose not to do that. Instead, he spoke, read and sang to Juve, sending reassurance that no one was going to give up on him. “Seventy-five percent of puppies diagnosed with distemper do not survive”, says Lony. “Juve did.”
