YouTube video - Beading, what else?

Odd Girl Out by Timothy Zahn

This series started with Night Train to Rigel and I've enjoyed all of the entries so far. This one started with our hero, Frank Compton, being greeted in his own apartment by a girl aiming one of his own guns at him. She wants his help but she's going about it all wrong. He's tired from a long journey and just wants to sleep. He throws her out and is awakened four hours later by the police because she's been killed with his gun. When he's bailed out, he's back in the race against the group mind known as the Modhri along with his sometime partner McMicking and Frank's gal pal Bayta. It's a long rail trip against the bad guys and it ends up pretty obvious that there's another book on the way.

Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews

Oh, how I love Donna Andrews mysteries. This one came at the right time and hit just the right note with me. A Holiday Parade - PC - no Christmas Parade, this Parade will include the Twelve Days of Christmas, A Christmas Carol, elephants for the Dwali aspect and camels for the Three Wise men. Meg Langslow has agreed to organize the annual parade to help her husband. His chairman of his college tenure committee was the person asking and Meg couldn't say no. The parade starts at her home and goes to the campus where Santa will distribute gifts to the children. Trouble is, Santa is killed and it looks as if one of the Six Geese was the one who did the deed. Meg has to save the parade, protect the children, find a new Santa and find the killer - all of this with a major snow storm and power outage.