Welcome to another edition of The Sunday Salon…

Despite knowing that I probably shouldn’t be, this week I’ve actually been switching between two books. My intention is to finish both because both seem to be quite good so far.

The first is, of course, Stephen King’s Duma Key. So far, I’ve been learning about Edgar Freemantle’s back story. You see, he was in a debilitating accident on a construction site which left him without an arm, a seriously maimed leg, and plenty of mental (and memory) issues.

After his wife left him, and his mental health specialist told him it was time for a change, he finds himself renting a house in Duma Key, FL and that’s where he takes up painting (one of his previous pastimes).

The way the story is unfolding, I know something eerie and good is going to go down. Edgar seems like a tough cookie. Although he’s a difficult to like kind of guy superficially, you almost want to have sympathy for him, but you wonder what kind of guy he was before the accident. It’s difficult to tell, but it definitely seems as though he had one of those personalities you had to get used to.

The other book, which I’ve only started yesterday, is Defending Angels by Mary Stanton. When I received the book not too long ago, I really couldn’t resist. I’d been trying to hold off because I’ve already read a few interlude books, and I already had my TBR list mapped out, but I finally broke. The ghostly aspect is what cinched it for me.

I’m going into chapter four now and I can tell this is going to be an interesting read. There was one little hang up I had, but it was immediately addressed on the next page, so this book has some surprises in store.

So far, the book opens up with a young lawyer named Brianna Winston-Beaufort looking to rent some property while the law office bequeathed to her by her uncle is being renovated. The space she’s looking at, however, is located on a murderer’s cemetery—not an ideal location to bring clients.

There was a haunting quality about that opening chapter which I believe is due to the leaser of the estate, a mysterious old woman who knew a little too much about Bree, but was able to pass it off as good observation skills (everything except the knowing that Bree would end up with a dog by that day’s end).

At this point, I can tell this is going to be a breezy read and I certainly do hope the book continues to deliver.