Julie Bishop’s life has fallen apart.  Her husband’s sneaky dealings becoming public, then his sudden death, have left Julie torn apart and bankrupt.  When a stranger arrives at her doorstep and offers her a job taking care of his mother who is thought to be dead, and offers Julie an escape from her worries and the public, Julie agrees.  What does she have to lose?

When Julie arrives at the beautiful mansion on Lake Superior she can not began to believe her luck.  House maids prepare all the meals and make her whatever she wishes, she has her own private room, a beautiful in-house library, and as it turns out, the lady she is looking after, Mrs. Sinclair, was once a famous author and a delight to keep company with.

Yet things, sadly are not all as they appear.  For one, there is a photo of a woman who looks shockingly like Julie.  And there are strange sighting, glimpses really of movement, and a lot of hush-hush when Julie tries to address what she is seeing to Mrs. Sinclair’s son.  Then there is the phone call… an impossible phone call from someone Julie knows for certain is dead.

What exactly has Julie signed up for?

Wendy Webb writes crazy good spooky reads from Minnesota.  The Vanishing is just the type of book you want to curl up with on a cool dark evening.  I absolutely enjoyed this book with its gorgeous but eerie settings.  There is also something about tying books and authors within stories that fully grabs on to me.  Throw in a few ghosts, a good-looking guy, and you have yourself the makings of something awesome.

This is not my first experience with Wendy Webb.  I enjoyed The Fate Of Mercy Alban a couple of years back.  I listened to this one on audio and narrator Xe Sands had just the right smooth tones to add a bonus level to this experience.

• Listening Length: 8 hours and 41 minutes
• Program Type: Audiobook
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Version: Unabridged
• Publisher: Tantor Audio
• Audible.com Release Date: April 8, 2014

In the mid 60’s in a small town in Washington a group of teenagers have too much time on their hands. Between the friendships and the cars, and the hang out at the Samoa Drive In; home of one of the worlds best burgers; this memoir covers short tales of a group of friends from their high school years to just beyond graduation.

With stories from a mission to teach an uncoordinated friend how to drive, parents stalking their teenager while he is on a date, flipping burgers with the fish guy, meeting famous people, saying good-bye to a beloved pet, a group hunting trip with Janelle trying to be one of the guys, broken down cars and more… you are bound to get a thrill of cruising back to the 60’s!

I was not really sure what I had signed up for when I decided I would listen to this book.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that while this was not my era, it was my father’s.  The stories of a simpler time when people hung out with each other instead of their phones, and took time to frequent a favorite restaurant and take a lot of pride in their cars.  I certainly could imagine the cool burger hang out and even almost smell the food cooking… amazing burgers and delicious fries.

I imagine this book would be enjoyed by those who grew up in the era of cars and burger joint hang outs, but also to those of us who connect through our relatives.  The book almost made me wish I had been a teenager in these simpler times.

Jeff Steitzer made an excellent narrator of this book as he retells author Greg Palmer’s recollections of being a teenager flipping burgers and dealing with the trials of the 60’s.

• Audible Audio Edition
• Listening Length: 8 hours and 39 minutes
• Program Type: Audiobook
• Version: Unabridged
• Publisher: Bennett and Hastings Publishing
• Audible.com Release Date: May 19, 2014