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As usual, I've tempted you with the readers' choices for summer reading. Now, I get to unveil my picks.

I've been on a series binge, reading one series of books after another, and I really think I've saved the best one for this summer. It's James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series. Patterson has teamed up with another author for each of these seven thrillers but the series reads like it's been written seamlessly.

One word of caution: If you plan to read these books at the beach, put on plenty of sunscreen before you open the book. Otherwise you'll spend hours devouring these short but enticing chapters and end up fried to a crisp.

Yes, they are that good. I read three in a week.

The first in the series "First to Die," introduces us to the girls who make up this exclusive club of crime solvers. Protagonist Lindsay Boxer, a San Francisco homicide inspector, is the perfect heroine. Full of flaws, yet brilliant. You're literally hooked by the first page. In "First to Die," Boxer teams up with a lawyer, a reporter and the city's medical examiner to solve a mind-boggling crime. A serial killer has targeted newlyweds and he's gruesomely creative. Patterson incorporates his trademark surprise endings into this series so don't get too confident that you've solved the mystery. The ending will inevitably astonish you.

Before you get the first book in this series, go ahead and put the second one in your suitcase. You will not want to wait for a trip to the local bookstore to continue the crime solving. "Second Chance" focuses on the murders of families of San Francisco police.

A sense of urgency takes over this book as the killer strikes in rapid succession. And the now infamous Women's Murder Club has to work overtime to solve this crime.

"Third Degree" capitalizes on our fears of terrorism as an elite and erudite group strikes apparently random victims. A complex trail to follow but a group that is remarkably familiar in today's terror climate.

In "Fourth of July" our protagonist Lindsay Boxer finds herself in trouble. Although we know her friends will come to the rescue, the book is jam-packed with tension. This book has been hailed as the best in the series - I'm reading furiously to confirm that claim.

"The Fifth Horseman" shifts the club's focus to medical murders and if you're concerned that this series may become stale after five installments, fear not. Patterson keeps us on the edge just as he has done with his Alex Cross novels.

In "Sixth Target" Patterson teases us as one of the Women's Murder Club is once again the target of a killer (yes, it happened earlier but you'll have to read your way to that story line). And finally in "Seventh Heaven," the Women's Murder Club members have to solve what else but a political murder. This new offering is perfect for an election year.

Not only are the characters in this seven-book series intriguing, the San Francisco setting is appealing to those of us who have visited - and enjoyed - that city. I guarantee you'll be entertained.

To shift gears to a totally different genre, I have to recommend the book "We Band of Angels" by Elizabeth M. Norman. This nonfiction book tells the true story of military nurses who were imprisoned by the Japanese in the Philippines' Bataan Peninsula during World War II.

Norman extensively researched these nurses by poring over their diaries and their letters and then in personal interviews. She artfully assimilates this vast amount of information and spins it into a compelling story of courage. It's a page-turner like few other nonfiction books.

In case you are not familiar with this piece of history - and I was not - this group of World War II military nurses found themselves under attack by the Japanese the day after the infamous raid on Pearl Harbor. The nurses, along with soldiers and U.S. and Philippine civilians, are held captive by the Japanese for several years yet they manage to overcome the worst of war conditions and transform jungles and prisons into hospitals and stay true to their mission of nursing.

Their courage, their commitment to caring for the wounded even while wounded themselves and their survival (all of them lived through the ordeal) is staggering and uplifting. It's a piece of our nation's history that needs to be remembered and honored. This book is also a tribute to the noble profession of nursing and is a must for your reading list.

Happy reading!

Contact Cathy Weaver at cweavernr@gmail.com or at 883-4422, Ext. 243.