A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Bachman

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Bachman-337 pages

I was not sure if I could warm up to Ove..he is such a curmudgeon.  It seems to take an extremely long time for the author to actually bring out why he is so despondent.  But then it turned into a feel good story.  Through many mishaps, yelling and finger pointing, a group of neighbors break through his crusty exterior and finally reach his heart.  I enjoyed it and look forward to Tom Hanks playing Ove.

The Man From The Train: Discovering America's Most Elusive Serial Killer by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James

The Man From The Train: Discovering America's Most Elusive Serial Killer by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James - 466 pages

Bill James, the famed baseball statistician, started researching the horrific murder cases in the early 1900s where entire families living near railroad tracks were being axe murdered across the country at an alarming rate.  He hired his daughter Rachel to help him with the research and together they discovered the true depth of depravities committed by "The Man from the Train" over a decade and a half.  Using modern methods and in depth investigative research the authors even believe they identified the killer a hundred years after the fact.  The case they lay out is very compelling and I for one believe they have found the culprit. 

Side note - it's kind of startling to the modern reader how common it was for axes to just be laying around in the early 1900s for wandering killers to find and use.   

MSCHMITT--- Railroad Hank by Lisa Moser 40

 MSCHMITT--- Railroad Hank by Lisa Moser 40

Railroad Hank is headed up the mountain to see Granny Bett because he heard she has the blues. On his way up the mountain he meets a slew of charachters who offer him suggestions to help Granny Bett cheer up. Railroad Hank seems to misunderstand everything that everyone suggests and instead of hauling, apples, fish, and milk in his train he ends up taking cows, trees, and a pond!

Robert B. Parkers Ironhorse by Robert Knott

Robert B. Parker's Ironhorse  Robert Knott  pgs. 374

"For years, Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch have ridden roughshod over rabble-rousers and gun hands in troubled towns like Appaloosa, Resolution, and Brimstone.  Now, newly appointed as Territorial Marshalls, they find themselves traveling by train through the Indian Territories.  Their first marshaling duty starts out as a simple mission to escort Mexican prisoners to the border, but when the Governor of Texas, his wife and daughters climb aboard with their bodyguards and $500,000 in tow, their journey suddenly becomes a lot more complicated." From Amazon.com

 This is another great Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch story! Robert Knott has got the dialogue of these two cowboys down pat. Great story, awesome shoot-'em-up scenes, mean bad guys, kidnapping beautiful women for ransom, all the things that you need in a wonderful  western story.