ROUTE: Mooresville, NC to Clayton, IN: 592 miles (576 loaded + 16 deadhead)
Tuesday March 24th, this shipper was a short distance away from the previous consignee. I arrived at the shipper at 4:45pm and left at 6:00pm. This load was heavy and I needed to scale it and the weight of the truck came to 71,620lbs and the axles were also compliant to DOT Regulations. The maximum allowed is 80,000lbs and the back two axles cannot weigh more than 34,000lbs. I drove another five hours and shut it down for the night at 12:30am. I stopped to fuel along the way.
Wednesday March 25th, I could not start my day before 10:30am because the DOT Regulation ten-hour mandatory break. I still required another six hour drive and by the time I would arrive at the consignee it would be difficult to get another assignment that day due to the hour. The consignee is a 24/7 facility that I’ve been to many times before so I was in no hurry to start my day and I was tired. The ten-hour rule is the minimum but not the designated break. I started my day at 12:30pm, did the mandatory pre-trip check of the truck and left the truck stop at 1:00pm. I drove the six hours and arrived at the consignee at 7:00pm. There’s a truck stop down the street from the consignee and shut it down for the night at 8:00pm.
As it turned out the books I listened to on this trip had very similar plots. Not chosen for that reason I’m impulsive on my selections or what is available at the library.
BOOK REVIEW (1): Secret Remains by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush (2020), FICTION – RATING (***)
This is the second book in the series and though it did have some elements of suspense it was not as captivating as the first one.
Emily Hartford, the daughter of the recently deceased town coroner is back at her temporary duties as the coroner. Though this time around her personal life is more of center stage. She finds having to choose among three suitors: her ex-fiancee, the town’s sherif who was her high school sweetheart and a Michigan University professor that is brought in as a forensic anthropologist. She’s also deciding about her future career. Whether to return to Chicago to finish her medical residency, become the town doctor and coroner or accept a job offer at the University of Michigan. Additionally, the plot is complicated by secrets her father held from Emily.
While preparing the land for a new development human remains are discovered. It is tied to a missing high school girl case dating back twelve years and the town’s sheriff becomes the principal suspect as he was the last person to see her alive. Emily needs to solve the case quickly in order to save her friend. The next most probable suspect is no where to be found. He also has many secrets as do the family members of the missing girl.
The plot is convoluted and the resolution is highly unlikely. There’s too much focus on Emily and not as much as the murder mystery.
BOOK REVIEW (2): All My Bones by P.J. Nelson (2025), FICTION – RATING (*****)
Entertaining light hearted murder mystery with Southern charm. The second book in the series and better than the first one that was very good.
Madeline “Maddy” Brimley inherited the Old Juniper bookstore from her Aunt Rose. She’s a retired actress with a knack for solving crimes, as was the case in the first book. The Reverend Gloria Coleman, the Episcopalian priest that lives next door and her good friend find human bones in the front yard of her bookstore. The bones are identified as belonging to one of the two wealthy elderly sisters in the quaint little town. Gloria is arrested as the prime suspect for the murder. Maddy needs to solve the murder quickly in order to save Gloria.
There’s a slew of secondary characters that play a pivotal role including a romance between Maddy and David Madison, her landscaper that is surprisingly very versed in other subjects.
