Teaser Tuesday (14) Mr. Monk on the Couch by Lee Goldberg

I'm starting back up my Teaser Tuesdays (again! I know!) This week, I am reading Mr. Monk on the Couch by Lee Goldberg. I love the MONK show and Mr. Goldberg does an excellent job of capturing Monk's very essence on the page. 


It was shortly after eight the next morning when my phone rang. As soon as I heard it, I knew for certain that it was Captain Stottlemeyer and that someone was dead. I was right.

Sunrise in San Francisco almost always casts light on a corpse.

Book Review: Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold

Book Blurb:
Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is the thrilling first installment in a new young adult series of adventure mystery stories by Iain Reading. 

This first book of the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series introduces Kitty Hawk, an intrepid teenage pilot with her own De Havilland Beaver seaplane and a nose for mystery and intrigue. A cross between Amelia Earhart, Nancy Drew and Pippi Longstocking, Kitty is a quirky young heroine with boundless curiosity and a knack for getting herself into all kinds of precarious situations. 
 

After leaving her home in the western Canadian fishing village of Tofino to spend the summer in Alaska studying humpback whales, Kitty finds herself caught up in an unforgettable adventure involving stolen gold, devious criminals, ghostly shipwrecks, and bone-chilling curses. Kitty's adventure begins with the lingering mystery of a sunken ship called the Clara Nevada. As the plot continues to unfold, this spirited story will have readers anxiously following every twist and turn as they are swept along through the history of the Klondike Gold Rush to a suspenseful final climatic chase across the rugged terrain of Canada's Yukon.

 

Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is a perfect book to fire the imagination of readers of all ages. Filled with fascinating and highly Google-able locations and history this book will inspire anyone to learn and experience more for themselves. 

There are currently four books in the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series available for sale on Amazon:

Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold: http://www.amazon.com/Kitty-Flying-Detective-Agency-Series-ebook/dp/B00AGY6WWK/

Kitty Hawk and the Hunt for Hemingway's Ghost: http://www.amazon.com/Hemingways-Flying-Detective-Agency-Series-ebook/dp/B00F4A6WXA/

Kitty Hawk and the Icelandic Intrigue: http://www.amazon.com/Icelandic-Intrigue-Flying-Detective-Agency-ebook/dp/B00CGS8862/

Kitty Hawk and the Tragedy of the RMS Titanic: http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Titanic-Flying-Detective-Agency-ebook/dp/B00IIY8V1U

 

About Iain Reading

Iain Reading is passionate about Root Beer, music, and writing. He is Canadian, but currently resides in the Netherlands working for the United Nations. He has published 4 books in the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series. For more information, go to http://www.kittyhawkworld.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/kittyhawkworld

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7276101.Iain_Reading

 My Review:

A surprisingly fun but a bit tedious read. Kitty Hawk is an adventurous young lady whole is spending her summer in Alaska observing whale social behavior that she believes will be valuable to researchers and students alike. Just as her summer is coming to an end, she stumbles upon a mystery and an even greater adventure she thought would come out of her summer study.

What I liked:
I liked the character, Kitty Hawk, because she was intelligent, ambitious, brave, strong-willed and filled with curiosity. Kitty certainly knew how to get herself into trouble and how to get out of it, her and her "little voice" inside her head. The story is filled with historical facts and information about the Gold Rush era which makes it a fascinating read. I love she was a girl all about science and nature, she didn't get all love-struck and turn her summer into Edward-ville. I wish Walter the whale made a few more appearances throughout the book :) But I loved the various twists in the story :D

What I didn't like:

It was a tedious read. It took a long time to get to the actual 'adventure' and 'mystery' described in the book blurb. I feel like much of her summer adventure could have been summed up into a chapter or two (certainly did NOT need a chapter zero) at most before delving into the crust of the story which was about her getting herself kidnapped, forced to trek up a mountain, then have her plan hijacked to retake stolen property all the while getting educated about the history of the Yukon gold rush and other historical facts and legends. I was a little concerned about how quickly she became an endeared friend to the guys who kidnapped her and forced her into helping them.

 

But in all, I give Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold 3 stars because I really did like it.