Man, I really miss Steve Irwin & Mr. Rogers.

They are some of the "famous" people whose deaths feel really personal, as if they were family. Each time I see mention of them, I burst into tears. There are other famous people whose death feel personal, but I grew up with these guys. Death really gets to me even if I barely knew the person, even if I didn't know them at all. I don't mean only for famous people. Anyone. I've been told it is because I have a big heart, but does my mental health "glitches" play a part in how death basically triggers me into a melt down, depressive state?

At a party in honor of the movie based on Nadine's book, The Icove Agenda (detailing the case in Origin), the actress playing Peabody is found floating in the pool. The suspects are almost legion, since K.T. Harris wasn't exactly known for her easy-going and sunny disposition. But who would actually kill the woman? And the PI she hired to spy on the man who spurned her for the actress playing Eve?


Somehow I just didn't feel this one. Maybe it was the fact it was predictable (I knew who the killer was before the one-third mark), maybe it was the fact the killer's motive (for everything that happened) was beyond iffy, or maybe it was the fact the story lacked the usual chemistry between the characters (even Roarke and Eve left me strangely cold).

It was a good, solid story, but the tempo was odd and it lacked that "special connection", the "oomph" I was expecting with the whole movie-thing involved.

Terrible collection, terribly produced. The only worthwhile story was The Gift of the Magi, but the stilted performance could only just barely be distinguished from the thunderingly loud background music – a problem that affected every story except Miracle on 34^th Street, which featured the only good reading performance (Carl Reiner). Unfortunately, it couldn’t overcome the terrible writing, because this is *not* the 1947 Valentine Davies story.

I could go on enumerating the flaws, but will direct you instead to this much better review.

Audiobook, borrowed from my public library via Overdrive.

I read this for The 16 Tasks of the Festive Season, Square 16: December 26th-31st - Hogmanay / New year’s eve / Watch night / St. Sylvester’s Day: a book where miracles of any sort are performed (the unexplainable - but good - kind).