The Sorcerer's Circle (Michael Siverling)

Another pleasant, if not outstanding, mystery from this author. A self-styled psychic man of mumbo-jumbo shows up at the detective agency saying that he has forseen his own murder, then turns up dead hours later - but nothing is what it appears to be. Once again the characters are less than convincing, bit the plot is interestingly convoluted and the settings and action fun.

The Sterling Inheritance (Michael Siverling)

This first novel is a cheerful, enjoyable murder mystery with some fun characters. The story centers around a burned body found outside a derelict theater that's being brought back to life, the family involved in the theater's past and present, and the detective agency investigating all of this. The mystery itself was interesting enough, though the plot was sometimes thin and the dialogue and characters sometimes a little too arch for realism. Still, I enjoyed it, and I already have the author's next book out of the library and will read it next.

The Three Weissmanns of Westport (Cathleen Schine)

Betty Weissmann's comfortable life in her CentralPark West condo is disrupted when her husband of 48 years decides to divorce her and, on the advice of lawyers, cuts off her credit cards and throws her out of the apartment. Her younger daughter is facing an enormous scandal, lawsuits, and bankruptcy at the same time, while the older daughter, though not in a crisis, has her own disappointments and feels responsible to take care of the other two. The three womenwinf up living in a tiny, dilapidated cottage in Westport as they try to put their lives back together. I was afraid this book would be too chick-lit and saccharine for me, but it wasn't. The problems the women dealt with, and their reactions, felt real. The characters, locations, and dialogue were fully drawn. The ending was satisfying without being a forced "happy ending." I enjoyed it quite a bit.