An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, by P.D. James

I haven't read a murder mystery in a while, and P.D. James was a good choice. Her novels are chock full of detail: she manages to capture characters in just a few vivid sentences and drives the action along so smoothly that you will find yourself hooked before you know it.

In London in the late 60's, Cordelia Gray suddenly finds herself the sole proprietor of Pryde’s Detective Agency. Desperate for money, she takes the first case offered to her, even though (as everyone seems compelled to remind her) detective work is an unsuitable job for a woman.

Cordelia is employed by a wealthy Cambridge scientist to find out why his son committed suicide. But as simple as the investigation seems, she quickly unearths a number of ugly secrets. Soon, it becomes clear that Cordelia is not dealing with a suicide, but a murder.

And Cordelia may be the killer’s next target.

The deserter's tale : the story of an ordinary soldier who walked away from the war in Iraq / Joshua Key ; as told to Lawrence Hill.

I have a good friend who is now stationed in Bagdad and he recently came home for a couple of well deserved weeks away from there, and while he was home we talked about what is going on over there. After he went back I read this book and it corroborated many of the things that he told me. This book is written by a young man who was a patriot and believed in his president, but after a couple months of taking part in house raids where they blew the doors off houses and went in and took all males over 5' tall out and sent them away to who knows where, searched for terrorists, weapons of mass destruction and other weapons while basically trashing the whole house and never finding anything except the usual automatic weapon for self defense, he started to ask himself questions and eventually came to the belief that the only terrorists he saw were himself and the other troops there. He vividly describes many horrifying experiences that he either took part in, or witnessed on a daily basis. After 7 months he was given 2 weeks leave to visit his wife and kids back home and he found that he just could not go back. The second half of the book is about going AWOL and finally getting safely into Canada. After reading this book I was a bit reluctant to believe it all, but remembering the things my friend had described and shortly thereafter watching a DVD in the library system called The Ground Truth, I believe. The book itself is an easy read, not extremely well written, however I highly recommend reading it as it may change your perspective on the realities of this "war". Check out the DVD too while you are at it!