3rd Degree(Women's Murder Club #3) by James Patterson and Andrew Gross

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

The Women's Murder Club returns in a shockingly suspenseful thriller. Plunging into a burning town house, Detective Lindsay Boxer discovers three dead bodies...and a mysterious message at the scene. When more corpses turn up, Lindsay asks her friends Claire Washburn of the medical examiner's office, Assistant D.A. Jill Bernhardt, and San Francisco Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas to help her find a murderer who vows to kill every three days. Even more terrifying, he has targeted one of the four friends. Which one will it be?

My thoughts:
I decided to listen to the next story in the series last week but was disappointed to find out the library doesn't have book four as a digital audio book.  While I enjoy these books they aren't what I usually pick up for reading so if I can't listen to it I may not get to it for a while.  Perhaps I will start listening out of order just based on what the library has available.

This book was a bit more suspenseful.  One of the four women is targeted and will not be back for the next book which shocked me.  You always think that the main characters will be safe, how will they continue on without them, but then authors do kill off main characters which sometimes upsets readers.  This time I was shocked and surprised, but not to the extent that I feel cheated or anything.  I am not as invested in these books as I am in some series.  Somehow Lindsey is always racing against the clock to find a killer who is somewhat unpredictable and has little regard for human life.  I do wonder if Patterson can keep this up for the eleven books it looks like are in this series or if the mysteries get less grisly with time. This time a group  is killing based on events from the past and how they feel the mainstream society is selling out to the detriment of the poor and oppressed in societies all around the world. 

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780446614832
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 1/28/2005
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition description: Reprint
• Pages: 368

2nd Chance(Women's Murder Club Series #2) by James Patterson (audio)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

2nd Chance reconvenes the Women's Murder Club, four friends (a detective, a reporter, an assistant district attorney, and a medical examiner) who used their networking skills, feminine intuition, and professional wiles to solve a baffling series of murders in 1st to Die. This time, the murders of two African Americans, a little girl and an old woman, bear all the signs of a serial killer for Lindsay Boxer, newly promoted to lieutenant of San Francisco's homicide squad. But there's an odd detail she finds even more disturbing: both victims were related to city cops. A symbol glimpsed at both murder scenes leads to a racist hate group, but the taunting killer strikes again and again, leaving deliberate clues and eluding the police ever more cleverly. In the meantime, each of the women has a personal stake at risk—and the killer knows who they are.

My thoughts:
I listened to book two last week and enjoyed the next installment of the Women's Murder Club.  I like how these strong women support one another both professionally and personally and how in this book they got to show more of their personal sides.  One is expecting a baby, one is starting to date,  and one is getting reacquainted with her father who has been absent from her life for twenty years.  I did not like that the murderer gets a bit more personal with them this time around and some of them become his targets.  It seems like they have found their suspect this time around, just as they did last time, and then again things start to not fit with the evidence.  This book picked up where the first one ended.  Lindsey has been promoted and Cindy is now writing the headlining stories for the newspaper.  They still meet for salads or drinks to go over facts from the latest case, each one bringing their own skills to the table.  It will be interesting to see where this series goes, how much we get to know each of these women and if they allow anyone else to join their group.  How might this group have differed if Lindsey's boyfriend had not been killed in the last book?  Would she still be as invested with her friends or would she be more involved in her romance?  How does having loved ones threatened change the case and make it harder to stay objective?  How many serial killers can come to San Fransisco or will they also solve cases elsewhere?

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780446612791
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 1/27/2003
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition description: Reprint
• Pages: 432

1st to Die by James Patterson (Women's Murder Club Series #1)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

1st to Die is a dazzlingly powerful new thriller by master suspense novelist, James Patterson, the #1 bestselling author of Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider.

Four women-four friends-share a determination to stop a killer who has been stalking newlyweds in San Francisco. Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.A., and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle.

But the usual procedures aren't bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women's Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving one another a hand.

The four women develop intense bonds as they pursue a killer whose crimes have stunned an entire city. Working together, they track down the most terrifying and unexpected killer they have ever encountered-before a shocking conclusion in which everything they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong. Full of the breathtaking drama and unforgettable emotions for which James Patterson is famous, 1st to Die is the start of a blazingly fast-paced and sensationally entertaining new series of crime thrillers.

My thoughts:
I had a copy of this book, but finally donated it as it didn't seem like I was ever going to get around to reading it.  Last week I listened to the audio book from the library while running and doing housework and I enjoyed it.  I liked this group of women who supported each other and were there for each other both professionally and privately.  They were all driven to succeed in their careers, but also valued their attachments to each other.

It starts with a prologue where Lindsey is considering killing herself, then jumps into the case and the events that brought her to that point.  Someone is killing couples on their wedding night or on their honeymoons and is taking their rings, nothing else is missing.  Lindsey is a detective, who taps into her friend Claire, the medical examiner, for clues to the killer.  They meet Cindy, a journalist who is in the right, or wrong pace, at the right time and then the DA joins their group.  Brainstorming together over lunch or drinks and putting the evidence together, they come up with suspects and likely candidates for the murderer.  The suspense in the book was good for keeping me going during my long run last week!

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780446610032
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 2/28/2002
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition description: Reprint
• Pages: 488

The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married—and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day—she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays.

But the wedding isn't Gaby's only surprise—she has one more gift for her children, and it could change all their lives forever. With deeply affecting characters and the emotional twists of a James Patterson thriller, The Christmas Wedding is a fresh look at family and the magic of the season.

My thoughts:

This is the first James Patterson I've read. I have others on my shelf, but somehow they haven't been picked up to be read yet. I found this one when I was looking for a digital audio book from my library. Many people think about reading Christmas book mainly in winter and especially during December, but I enjoy them all year round. Who can't use a little of that Christmas Magic at other times of the year too?

In this novel, Gaby is a widowed mother of four who teaches high school English and runs a farm. She and a group of volunteers hold a regular breakfast for those in need. Of the people who help her, three have proposed marriage and she has decided that she is ready to remarry after the death of her first husband three years ago. The catch is this, she isn't telling anyone, including the groom, who she will be marrying. She sends video messages out to her children telling them bits and pieces and that they are expected to be there.

Gaby's grown children are going through their own problems, Seth is trying to get a novel published while working as a receptionist, Claire and her husband Hank have reached a tough point in their relationship with each other and with their son's behavior, Lizzie's husband has a critical illness and Emily is being worked way too hard in her attempt to make partner at her law firm in New York. Each has been struggling on their own, but coming together makes it hard to keep some of these secrets.

Everyone is trying to finagle out of Gaby who she plans to marry. Will it be Jacob, the rabbi, Tom, her lifelong friend, or Martin, her husband's brother? I had it narrowed down to two of them, but wasn't sure until the wedding which one it would be.

I enjoyed my first Paterson novel so I have a feeling I will be reading more.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780316097390
• Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
• Publication date: 10/17/2011
• Pages: 288

Meet the Author

More by this Author

• 11th Hour (Women's Murder Club Series #11)
• I, Michael Bennett
• Along Came a Spider (Alex Cross Series #1)
• Guilty Wives
• Kill Alex Cross (Alex Cross Series #18)

James Patterson

James Patterson has had more New York Times bestsellers than any other writer, ever, according to Guinness World Records. Since his first novel won the Edgar Award in 1977, James Patterson's books have sold more than 210 million copies. He is the author of the Alex Cross novels, the most popular detective series of the past twenty-five years, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. Mr. Patterson also writes the bestselling Women's Murder Club novels, set in San Francisco, and the top-selling New York detective series of all time, featuring Detective Michael Bennett. He writes fulltime and lives in Florida with his family.