I trekked up to Poisoned Pen Bookstore last Saturday to see Louise Ure and Laurie King, two of my very favorite authors. Louise is touting her third book, Liars Anonymous. Her first two books, Forcing Amaryllis and The Fault Tree, were knock-’em-dead good. Thus far, all her novels have been stand-alones set in Tucson, and all feature really original protagonists. (The main character of The Fault Tree was a blind female auto mechanic!) Since I always suffer a lot with my plotting, I was really interested to hear Louise describe herself as a bad plotter. I would beg to differ. However, she did say that she gets one good idea per year, which is enough, since it apparently is a hell of an idea. I haven’t read Liars yet, but it sounds yummy. The protagonist is an On Star operator with a sketchy past who overhears a murder being committed when she contacts a driver to see if he needs help after an auto accident.
I’m happy to announce that Louise will be doing a guest blog entry for us at Type M 4 Murder next Sunday, May 17. The web address is www.typem4murder.blogspot.com, or just click on the link in the upper left corner of this page.
As for Laurie King, what can I say? She has another new Mary Russell book out, The Language of Bees. Mary Russell, for those of you who don’t know, is the infinitely younger wife of Sherlock Holmes, and their adventures occur after the Conan Doyle books end, in the early 20th Century, through the First World War and into the 1920s. They get to meet many fascinating historical figures – T.E. Lawrence and Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, among many. I love these books.
And now for the kidney stone review: Don is going in this Wednesday, May 13th, to have his tubes changed for a fresh pair. It’s about time, too. The old tubes and bags look like they’ve been through the mill, all patched up with duct tape at the top, where we’ve been pinning them to his shirt. (You really can use duct tape for everything!) Last night, one of his nephrostomy bags sprung a leak. This is the first time something like this has occurred, and had we not been told long ago that it might happen, we wouldn’t have had any idea that the bag can be popped off the tube and replaced. They look like they are permanently attached. Fortunately, we were more or less prepared, and after a Keystone Kops-like period of fumbling around and trying to figure out how to do it, we managed to get the old one off and a spare reattached.
When I was young and visualizing the course of my life, I never once saw myself standing over a bathtub and helping my husband replace his nephrostomy bags. One’s life is a continual stream of surprises.
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