Some January reads

DC has had a weird winter so far. It's been unusually cold. We've only gotten small amounts of snow but the sidewalks are unusually icy. It does make getting around harder. It's been good staying-inside-and-reading weather. I was sad to read that Joan Hess passed away. I liked her Claire Malloy and Maggody series. I only recently finished her final version of Elizabeth Peters' The Painted Lady. I read Murder by Mocha by Cleo Coyne. It's part of a coffee house series. Too many subplots spoiled this book. The main mystery involved a mocha drink, a mysterious web diva, and the murder of one of the website's organizers. The solution goes back into the history of some of the women involved in the website. There's a subplot of corruption in the police department and another of a past love for Clare's ex-mother-in-law. And the mocha drink has a controlled substance in it. Too much. I also read Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull. He worked for Industrial Light and Magic and ran Pixar for many years. He writes about how to manage well, particularly creative people. There's lots of interesting stories about putting together the movies and all the creative people. The book starts slowly but gets better.