The Wishing Game

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer (2023) 286 pages

Lucy Hart has fallen for Christopher, a little boy whose parents have died, but she doesn't have the financial resources to adopt him or to even foster him. She sells crafts she makes online, in addition to having a job as a kindergarten teaching assistant. She has been saving for 2 years, but still has only $2,000, not enough to move to a better apartment or to get a used car, both required by the foster agency.

One of the things that Lucy and Christopher do together is to read books by Jack Masterson, a famous author of a children's series, the Clock Island books. He hasn't published a new book for 6 years, but then he announces a contest for those who can solve a riddle. The only people who can solve this riddle are children who actually ran away from home and found Jack Masterson on Clock Island, off the coast of Maine. Lucy is one of the four former children who found Jack and his grumpy illustrator, Hugo Reese, this way.

The four adults qualify, and are invited to Clock Island to compete in a series of games and puzzles, often related to the stories from the author's previous books. The first one to get ten points earns a prize: the only copy of Jack's new book, which the winner can keep or sell to the highest bidder. If Lucy wins, then she can afford to adopt Christopher.

Once I got past Lucy's bleak past and iffy future, and the tragedy of Christopher, as well, the story grabbed me and I loved the way it played out.

Batman: Earth One and Batman '89

 Batman: Earth One, Volume 1 by Geoff Johns (2012) 142 pages and Batman '89 by Sam Hamm (2022) 152 pages

I've read a handful of Batman graphic novels on Hoopla recently. Let me recommend two. The first volume of Batman: Earth One with art by Gary Frank was very good. It takes place in an alternate world where certain characters and events are slightly different than in the regular Batman continuity. We see a bit more of Bruce's boyhood while his parents are still alive. And later when he is putting together his Batman costume/persona, I really appreciated that this version shows him as just a man. His body and his tech are less super. The police are under the thumb of organized crime. It is still a dark criminal world, but very grounded in reality.

Then a newer Batman graphic novel imagines that Tim Burton got to make a third Batman movie. Sam Hamm has a story credit on both of Burton's Batman movies. Joe Quinones illustrates the characters to look like Michael Keaton, Billy Dee Williams, and Michael Gough, etc. The story here provides a lot of things that I liked. We get to know Billy Dee Williams' version of Harvey Dent much more deeply. We witness his transformation into Two-Face. We are also introduced to a brand new character who becomes Batman's sidekick Robin. There were some panels where the action was not quite clear, but it was good to revisit this version of Gotham.

Hounded

Hounded by David Rosenfelt (2014) 313 pages

Defense attorney Andy Carpenter receives a call from a good friend of his who is a cop, to come to a crime scene and to be sure to bring his girlfriend Laurie. At the crime scene, they learn that an eight-year old boy named Ricky was upstairs in his house when his dad, Danny, was shot. The boy is now orphaned. They learn that Pete, the cop, had arrived just moments after the murder, after receiving a text, ostensibly from Danny, who was a friend of his. Now Pete is accused of the murder. He pleads for Andy and Laurie to care for Ricky and his Basset hound while they also investigate the murder and defend him in court.

When Pete and Andy hear that Danny had recently fingered Pete as a drug dealer, they don't believe that Danny did so willingly. Andy and Laurie get to work, along with their team, locating information to use in Pete's defense for the trial. What follows is one of the most engaging mysteries I've read, filled with humor and multiple surprises.

Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter Mystery series was not on my radar until now; this is the 12th book in a series that's grown to 18.