Northern Noise

So I've been reading these Women's Murder Club books.  They're quick, easy, go down like a smooth bourbon.  In the past two weeks, I've read 9 of them.  So what I realized last night is that I might need to go cold turkey. See, yesterday I had to call a plumber to the house.  He got here, was friendly, we chatted.  And, I realized at 2:00 this morning that I not only told him my husband was out of town, he knew one of the dogs' name.  What if he was a killer and I gave him information to make me the next target?  In the books, it's the normal seeming people with no motive you have to watch out for.  So I got out of bed, checked the locks on the doors (not that they do any good against real murderers), and made sure the shotgun was loaded. This isn't the first time the books might have gotten to me.  I find myself checking out cars that happen to pull out of a lot as I do.  And I perk up more when the dog barks at the wind.  Or barks at what seems like it

For years I was an English teacher.  That meant that in my spare time, I read "literature."  I checked out new books that I might be able to teach, tried to keep up with new works by the erudite set, read books about books that I was teaching, or re-read books that I was teaching.  In the summer, I ventured into cheap fiction, such as Charlaine Harris's "Southern Vampire" series. But even that was justifiable.  Since they based the series True Blood on those books, I told myself I was just keeping up with popular culture. Now that I'm three years out of the classroom (which sounds crazy to me when I write it, and kind of sad as well) I have embraced the fact that no one gives a hoot what I read.  Thus, I've embraced escapist fiction. Right now it's the Women's Murder Clu b series by James Patterson, and next I think it will be Jesse Stone books by Robert Parker.  Read a great novel called The Weird Sisters that, other than a reference to Mac