The Night Watchman

I don't have a lot of profound thoughts today. I've been spending my time checking out a few websites that make me laugh like crazy, and everyone needs a little of that. Check them out for some laughs yourself!

CakeWrecks has pictures of professional cakes gone horribly, horribly wrong along with snarky commentary. Most are for all audiences, but there are a couple that would be PG-13, so keep that in mind.

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com was featured in Entertainment Weekly so I'm sure they are getting a ton of extra hits this week. That's how I discovered them, and oh my goodness, it's funny!

The video from today I found on CuteOverload.com. Mia and I watched it Sunday afternoon when she was in a bit of a funk, and it perked her right up. I've since watched it with Doogie, Jesse, and Molly and I laugh just as hard every time. And I mean, come on, who doesn't want to see a cat yodel?

The Night Watchman by Mark Mynheir is the first in the Ray Quinn series about a retired police officer who can't seem to get detective work out of his blood. Ray was crippled by an ambush that also murdered his partner/fiance eleven months ago. Now he's working as a night watchman at a condo that doesn't require any more of his skills than his ability to do countless Sudoku puzzles to while away the hours. When a pastor and a prostitute are found shot to death in one of the condos, Quinn starts poking into the murder/suicide verdict, but what he finds brings him full circle, back to the shooting that ended his career. Myrnheir has created a great cast of characters for a possibly long running series: curmudgeonly Ray, naive Crevis, and faithful Pam, and they each come with intriguing subplots. Ray is an easy character to like with his love of all things John Wayne and his refusal to let the bad guy get away. His injury creates vulnerability as well as making sure that he can't be a superman who can fight his way through every battle. Ray has to rely on his wits and allies far more than most private detectives, and that makes me want to come back to read more of his investigations soon.

I'm giving away a copy of this book to one lucky reader! All you need to do is send me an email before 10 pm on Thursday, May 28th. Good luck!