Saturday Snapshot Visits the Deer Valley Rock Art Center

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. To participate, post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

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[Click any photo to view it full size in a new window.]

When you first see the Deer Valley Rock Art Center, it doesn't look very prepossessing. Local architect Will Bruder purposely designed it to blend into its landscape.

Deer Valley Rock Art Center Entrance

The Deer Valley Rock Art Center is a Phoenix Point of Pride, managed by the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. Its mission is to preserve and provide basic public access to the Hedgepeth Hills petroglyph site. With over 1500 petroglyphs, it's the largest collection in the Phoenix area. Not only is it a museum and a repository for the American Rock Art Research Association library, the "DVRAC" is also a wildlife preserve.

Denis and I visited at high noon, which isn't the best time of day to view petroglyphs-- especially when you're talking about sunlight as strong as it is here in the desert-- but we were eager to experience as much of it as possible.

We almost galloped through the interior....

A few of the exhibits at the DVRAC.

On the outside once again, we started out on the easy quarter-mile trail that led past the Neil Nelson Heritage Memorial Garden which showcases crops that Native Americans may have planted in this area hundreds (even thousands) of years ago, and a cactus garden and agave roasting pit.  Here's what we were eager to see....

Denis photographing a big pile of rocks.

Wow... we wanted to see a big pile of rocks! Exciting, huh? Actually, yes-- that big pile of rocks is pretty darned exciting. Back several millennia, molten rock bubbled up through fissures in the earth, When it cooled, it fractured into thousands of pieces of basalt. Native Americans, like the Hohokam who lived here in the Phoenix area, loved basalt. They used it to make grinding tools for their grain, and the "taggers" of the day discovered that if they pecked away at the dark varnish, it left much lighter marks just below the surface. Lo and behold-- artists were born!

A few of the over 1500 petroglyphs at the DVRAC.

As I mentioned before, high noon is not the optimal time to see or photograph petroglyphs, but Denis and I both discovered that, the longer we stood there, the more we saw. Our eyes had to get accustomed to the rocks and the sun. We definitely intend to go back at varying times of day!

Chuckwallah: If I can't see you, you do not exist!

You'd never dream you were in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States while you're walking along the trail at the DVRAC. The peace, the quiet, and the abundant wildlife tell you that you're out on the desert somewhere far, far away from urban sprawl. That immense pile of basalt was teeming with all sorts of squirrels, a male Gambel's Quail called for his mate (expertly keeping tall grass and tree branches between him and my camera), and a chuckwallah sunned itself on a rock as if we weren't even there.

Squirrel checking out the ancient grinding stones.

Denis and I loved how the place teemed with life-- lizards, quail, squirrels, hummingbirds zipping back and forth... these are only a few of the critters we saw while we were there. All too soon, it was time to head back through the museum and head for the parking lot.

Leaving the Deer Valley Rock Art Center.

Denis and I appreciated the shade for a few moments before leaving, that's for certain. If you're ever in the Phoenix area, this is one place you should definitely visit!

300 More Books to New Homes During This Weekly Link Round-Up

Nothing much going on this week but me working on converting a room into my craft room and making a list of the 300 books I'm going to release into the wild. This was the last section of books I hadn't gone through, so I'm not expecting any more purges any time soon. (Which is a good thing because I am a bit tired of moving piles of books from one place to another!)

Let's get to those links, shall we?

Bookish News & Other Interesting Stuff

• I am a big fan of commonplace books; I've had them for years. (If for nothing else, I can read through them and see how my handwriting has changed over the years.) The Internet version of commonplace books? Tumblr!
• Reused libraries rejuvenate communities.
• If you need to see some good news for a change, watch this short video on YouTube about a dog being rescued. Make sure you have a box of tissues on stand-by!
• Do you love popcorn as much as I do? Here's some poppin' good news from the chemists!
• If I won the Lottery, one of the things I'd buy is The Dictionary of American Regional English.

I ♥ Lists

• 10 awesome book inscriptions
• 20 musicians share the books they're currently reading
• Oprah shares 9 Mysteries Every Thinking Woman Should Read. (The list's not too bad, either.)
• 10 great odes to famous writers
• 12 great small press books recommended by literary insiders
• Unforgettable female characters written by women authors
• 10 things you might not know about soldier dogs

Book Candy

• Libraries of the rich and famous
• 15 writers' bedrooms

New to My Google Reader

• libbysbookblog
• The Indextrious Reader
• Reading on a Rainy Day
• Yarn~Knit~Read~Lit

Not many links this week due to the fact that I'm feeling the effects of spring (and of rearranging my nest). I hope the rest of you are feeling springlike, too. Don't forget to stop by next weekend when I'll have a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure!

The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen

Title: The Professionals
Author: Owen Laukkanen
ISBN: 9780399157899
Publisher:G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2012
Hardcover, 384 pages
Genre: Thriller
Rating: C+
Source: the publisher

First Line: Martin Warner checked his watch as the train slowed for Highland Park.

Recent University of Washington graduates Arthur Pender, Marie McAllister, Matt Sawyer, and Ben Stirzaker had no luck finding jobs after graduation in the lousy economy, so they decided to start their own business. Traveling back and forth across the country, they carefully target rich men, kidnap them, hold them for a relatively low ransom, get their money, and give the hostage back to his family. They estimate that in two more years, they'll have enough money stashed away to retire in the Maldives. 

But these best laid plans will go the way of all the rest. The four kidnap the wrong person, and they find themselves fighting for their lives-- caught between mobsters that will stop at nothing to kill them, and two law enforcement agents who will stop at nothing to put them behind bars. As the four fight to survive, they learn whom the true professionals really are.

This debut novel reads like a house afire. Laukkanen's sense of action and pacing are first rate, and his story follows close behind (although it has a bug or two).

The premise is intriguing, but not entirely believable. For example, two of the kidnappers obtained degrees in English literature and History-- and they expected to find jobs in a horrible economy? The character with a degree in Computer Sciences could easily have found a job, but is a more passive type who's willing to let someone else call the shots. Let's face it: these four are merely using the economy as an excuse; they all wanted to get rich fast so they wouldn't have to work.

The two law enforcement characters, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator Kirk Stevens and FBI agent Carla Windermere, are interesting, and I wanted to know more about them. Having two separate groups of characters on which to focus attention was undoubtedly meant to create tension and to make readers aware of the fact that the people on both sides are deserving of sympathy, but it didn't work in this instance. Many thrillers focus on the story and the action. Characters come further down the list of priorities; however, Laukkanen places equal importance on them, so the characterization has to work. Splitting focus between two sympathetic groups meant that none of the characters were as finely drawn as they could have been and my loyalty was with none of them.

With that said, Owen Laukkanen is a writer to watch. He's got a knack for action, pacing, story, and characters. Once he brings them all into finer focus, he'll have it made.

The Professionals at Amazon.

The Professionals at The Book Depository.

The Professionals at Your Favorite Indie Bookseller.

Button Holed by Kylie Logan

Title: Button Holed
Author: Kylie Logan (pseudonym of Casey Daniels)
ISBN: 9780425243763
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, 2011
Mass Market Paperback, 288 pages
Genre: Cozy, Amateur Sleuth, #1 Button Box mystery
Rating: C
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: Here's the thing about walking into your button shop at five in the morning and running smack into a hulk of a guy wearing a black ski mask: it tends to catch a girl a little off guard.

Josie Giancola has become one of the country's leading experts on buttons, and she is now the proud owner of the Button Box-- her very own shop in a Chicago brownstone. Josie's reputation has attracted the notice of one of the biggest stars in Hollywood because the diva wants one-of-a-kind buttons for her custom made wedding gown. When the Button Box is ransacked and the actress found murdered in the shop, Josie has to stop thinking buttons... and start concentrating on murder.

As many other readers probably did, I picked up Button Holed because of the promise of a bit of history on buttons, that indispensable item on our clothing that is taken for granted every single day. What I found was a workmanlike effort that sets up a new series nicely but in a curiously bland way.

The mystery is a good one and should keep the reader guessing. Josie even gets to take a trip to West Virginia following a button clue that provides a bit of information about handmade buttons that I enjoyed. Unfortunately the trip and the information supplied the only real color in the entire book.

Josie herself is an interesting character with an intriguing background, but the most she really has to do with buttons in this book is to pick them up and sort them every time her shop's ransacked. She also repeatedly tells us that men find women button fanatics boring. I suppose this is a bit of humor, but after the second or third time I read it, it became boring-- especially since Josie has an ex-husband and a handsome policeman paying attention to her. Please don't tell me men find you boring, Josie; actually put me in the middle of a scene where you're waxing poetic about Bakelite. Let me listen to every word, and let me watch your date wind up snoring softly, face down in a plate of linguine.

As for that ex-husband paying attention to her, I found this to be a weakness in the book. Josie's ex-husband is a gambler. His refusal to admit that he's addicted and the fact that he'll say or do anything to get his hands on more money to either gamble or pay off loan sharks is what destroyed their marriage. Throughout the book, he's popping out of the woodwork, scaring the pudding out of Josie, and trying to persuade her to give him money-- and she does. Perhaps this is meant to show that Josie's a good sport and is a vulnerable woman. I know many more women besides myself who are inclined to think this is stupidity-- a trait that I don't care to have in the main character of any book that I read.

When Josie parted with some of her hard-earned cash, I almost closed the book right then and there, determined not to finish it, but I did. There's good to be found in Button Holed. Although none of the characters caught fire in my mind and only one or two enjoyable taste buds were tingling as I turned the pages, it is a solid beginning to this series with the premise of button-themed murder. It will be interesting to see how it continues.

Button Holed at Amazon.

Button Holed at The Book Depository.

Button Holed at Your Favorite Indie Bookseller.

Scene of the Blog Featuring Jennifer of The Well Read Fish!

Once again I tracked a comment back to its source to find this week's featured book blogger. I have to admit that the name of Jennifer's blog-- The Well Read Fish-- immediately tickled my fancy, but as I began scrolling and reading through the posts, I quickly realized that there's a lot more to Jennifer's blog than a catchy name.

Just on the first page of her blog, you'll read posts about her love of travel books, her recommendation of Laura Lippman's writing (I'll second that recommendation), and a review of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks-- and that's just scratching the surface. If you've never paid a visit to Jennifer's labor of love, The Well Read Fish, I hope you take this opportunity to do so. Please don't be shy: say hello while you're there!

If you're visiting from The Well Read Fish-- Welcome! If you'd like to see any of the photos in this post in a larger size (so you can read the book spines, for instance), just click on them, and they'll open in new windows. If you'd like to see the blogging spaces of previous participants, click on the Scene of the Blog tab at the very top of my header. There are two ways to search: by blog name or by location. Jennifer's ready to give us a tour, so let's not keep her waiting!

Jennifer's desk

I would love to say I sit at my desk diligently writing, but really, my desk is a mess (see photo) and I find myself curled up in bed, or on the couch with my cuddly cat. (I'm willing to bet that the majority of book bloggers have a feline companion. They just seem to go well together.) Aren't so many of us like that? We insist on having an office but then do most of our work on the couch or in bed in cozy clothes.

Much more comfortable than sitting at the desk!

A little about me as a reader: As a kid I was bullied all the time. I was a ragamuffin that didn't like to wear shoes, desperately wanted to be Japanese, and didn't brush my hair. As such, I was made fun of. . . a lot! I was the kid at recess in the steps reading a book. The kid in the car getting carsick because I insisted on reading every possible free moment. So retreating into books has always well needed escape. My parents and I would head to the local bookstore. My dad would go his way, my mom toward romances and I'd be off in my corner picking out the latest Christopher Pike or R.L. Stine. Today I continue these obsessive reading habits, though I'm a bit more socially able (just a bit!).

Some of Jennifer's books

Six years ago I wanted to start the Well Read Fish as a one spot literary meeting place - online book club, interviews with writers and readers, message boards, etc. When I finally got around to it blogs had taken off as the vehicle of choice. It started and I intend to always bring it back to this as a way of grouping books. What do I mean by that?

If I read a book that takes place during a massive rain storm in New York during the 1850s, the story might be a murder mystery but sometimes I am so taken by the setting (New York at the time of the Civil War) or an ambient element (a huge rain storm) that I often go in search of other books that provide the same setting or feeling. For example: When I read Erik Larson's Devil in the White City I became fascinated in the circus-like world of "way back when" and followed up with Carter Beats the Devil and Water for Elephants. Make sense? Do you do the same?

More of Jennifer's books guarded by a friend

The Well Read Fish blog has expanded to include other various literary pursuits, but I'll still try to bring it back to these groupings once in a while. I could talk about books all day so it's wonderful to meet others (virtually and otherwise) who share the reading passion.

Thanks for visiting this fish's fishbowl! Come back anytime and stay a while!

Chance, the cuddly, polydactyl cat

Jennifer, after putting this feature together for over three years, I think I can safely say that book bloggers are about evenly divided when it comes to cats and dogs... with a few like me who don't have any pets at all at the moment. Loving, furry creatures and reading just seem to be made for each other!

I would also imagine that many of us can empathize with being bullied or at least teased unmercifully as a child; I know I can. I got no peace because I had no father in an era where single mothers were almost unheard of where I lived. It also didn't help that I was head and shoulders taller than everyone else for years. And--of course-- having my nose stuck in a book didn't help much when it came to fitting in with my classmates. What's that old saying? That which does not kill us makes us stronger?

I've also been known to go off on tangents with my reading: a PBS drama can have me reading up on World War I, something else triggers my reading about hurricanes... and on and on and on!

What a wonderful thing reading is! Not just the act itself, but the fact that it can quench our thirst for knowledge, for self-awareness, and-- with the help of something called the Internet-- bring thousands of people together from around the world who are passionate about books. It was so much fun to see your blogging spaces, your books, and Chance. Thank you so very much for joining us!

Don't forget to stop by next Wednesday when I'll be featuring another book blogger from our worldwide community!

A Double Death on the Black Isle by A.D. Scott

Title: A Double Death on the Black Isle
Author: A.D. Scott
ISBN: 9781439154946
Publisher: Atria Books, 2011
Paperback, 384 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery, #2 Highland Gazette mystery
Rating: A+
Source: the publisher

First Line: Cycling across the suspension bridge over the wide, fast-flowing river Joanne Ross looked down-- no, no bodies.

The people living on the Black Isle in Scotland are oftentimes a contentious bunch. The Tinkers are trusted by no one, but their services are badly needed because so many Highlanders died a decade before in the Second World War. The fishermen there have nothing in common with the farmers, and the villages keep themselves apart from the town. When two deaths occur on the same day that involve the same families from the same estate, all the inhabitants of the Black Isle have theories as to what really happened.

Joanne Ross has been given the prize assignment of reporting on these murders, but she feels there may be a conflict of interest. After all, the woman at the very heart of both deaths is one of her closest friends. Joanne knows the story could be her big break, and as a woman-- and a single mother-- in the Highlands of the 1950s a good job like this is almost unheard of. As the staff of The Highland Gazette begin their investigations, secrets are uncovered that will change this remote corner of Scotland.

Author A.D. Scott has said that she is "a huge fan of writers who can transport you to a time and place where you feel you know a landscape intimately from the author’s description – even if it is a landscape completely foreign to you." This is exactly the type of book she writes. The staff of the newspaper are so well-drawn that one feels as though one's leaving a group of dear friends by the time the last page is turned. They also make working on a small town newspaper staff in the Highlands of that era come to life.

Both murders kept my interest throughout the book, and the fact that the second one had no firm resolution except in individual readers' minds made me smile. Not everything in life is tied up with a pretty bow at the end, and I do like that to happen occasionally in the books that I read.

Two characters shine especially brightly in A Double Death in the Great Glen: Joanne Ross, a woman who's lived in an abusive marriage for ten years before sending her husband packing. Not only does she have to contend with a man who enjoys using her as a punching bag, but she has to contend with society's and her family's opinions as she tries to begin a new and better life for herself and her daughters. She is an endearing-- and sometimes maddening-- character. Joanne refuses to behave the way that we readers would like, but she is slowly coming around to a true sense of her own worth and capabilities.

The second character is Joanne's friend, Patricia Ord Mackenzie. In turns charming, intimidating, manipulative and vulnerable, she always remains enigmatic-- and extremely intriguing. So much so in fact, that I wouldn't mind at all if she appeared again in a future book.

A.D. Scott immerses her readers in the lives of her characters and in the landscape and mindset of the Highlands of Scotland in the 1950s. There is so much to savor: mother-daughter relationships, family loyalty, intricately plotted murders.... If you have yet to savor a book written by this talented writer, I urge you to do so. Once you've finished one of her stories, it takes a while to return to the present day!

A Double Death on the Black Isle at Amazon.

A Double Death on the Black Isle at The Book Depository.

A Double Death on the Black Isle at Your Favorite Indie Bookseller.

The Day at the Beach Test

You Are Thoughtful

You need to know someone a long time before you open up. You are enigmatic and reserved. You are a visionary. You have big ideas for the future. You are inventive and easily inspired. You like to put your spin on things. You work best alone and at your own pace. You have a quiet and low key way about you.

The Day at the Beach Test

Scene of the Crime with Author A.D. Scott!

One of the best books I read last year was A Small Death in the Great Glen by A.D. Scott, so you know I've been wanting to interview her for Scene of the Crime. What I didn't anticipate was that it would take a little more effort to track this talented writer down.

A.D. Scott

A.D. Scott lives quite simply in a small fishing village in Vietnam. She's a bit off the grid-- she's not on Twitter, and she's not on Facebook. She does have a website, and she has a blog that hasn't been updated for a while, but track her down I did. What a delight she is-- and you'll be finding this out for yourself as you read the interview!

Deborah was born and raised in the area about which she writes, the Highlands of Scotland in the 1950s. A Small Death in the Great Glen was published when she was sixty-four, and she now has A Double Death on the Black Isle available for us to read. I just finished it, and you'll be able to read my review of it tomorrow.  Deborah's hard at work on the next books in the series, and I can't wait to read them. If you'd like to know more about the interesting life of this author, I recommend reading her bio section on her website.

Now let's get to that interview!


What was the very first book you remember reading and loving? What makes that book so special?

I started reading Enid Blyton as I suppose every child did in Britain at that time – loved the Famous Five. But the first real book was a school prize when I was nine. It was by Alan Burgess, the story of Gladys Aylward, The Small Woman, later made into a film ‘The Inn of the Sixth Happiness’.

The book was far too grow-up for me and I remember struggling with it whilst being absolutely enthralled by the setting of the story – China in the 1930s and I have been curious about Asia ever since.







Outside of your writing and all associated commitments, what do you like to do in your free time?

I ride a motorbike. I love getting out into the mountains along the Chinese border. I love riding around the little villages and through the rice paddies, stopping at tea stalls, just sitting with a glass of sugarcane juice with limes in it, chatting with the locals, taking time out to do very little. (I live in Vietnam.)


If I were to visit your hometown, where would you recommend that I go? (I like seeing and doing things that aren't in all the guide books.)

Rosemarkie North beach on the Black Isle

So difficult to choose – hire a bicycle and just catch ferries across the big river to the small islands – never mind where the boat is going, just let go and trust that wherever you land it will be interesting.








You have total control over casting a movie based on your life. Which actor would you cast as you?

Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren – absolutely wonderful actor. Plus she is good looking – always a help.


Who is your favorite recurring character in crime fiction? 

Now that is an impossible question – so many to choose from; Jackson Brodie in Kate Atkinson’s novels. The policewoman [Hazel Micallef] in Inger Ash Wolfe’s Canadian series. Inspector Vera Stanhope from Ann Cleeves. Joe Faraday from English writer Graham Hurley, and I am a passionate reader of Donna Leon so her Italian police inspector [Guido Brunetti] is definitely one of my heroes, and he sounds very dishy.  [Something tells me we share a lot of the same reading DNA because these are all some of my favorites, too!]


Name one book that you've read that you wish you had written. What is it about that book that made it come to mind?

I am a huge fan of writers who can transport you to a time and place where you feel you know a landscape intimately from the author’s description – even if it is landscape completely foreign to you.

My all time favourite in that area is A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside, published by Jonathon Cape.


How did you celebrate when you first heard you were to be published? What did you do the first time you saw one of your books on a shelf in a bookstore?

I did what I always do when I receive momentous news, I make a cup of tea. As I live quite remotely I receive all momentous information via email. As for seeing my books in a shop or library – I would love that. I’ve never seen my book in a shop, I’ve never met a reader I didn’t know, I’ve never met my editor or all those lovely people at Simon & Schuster, nor my agent in New York…oh dear, now I’m sounding totally reclusive – which I’m not, I’m just tucked away in a tiny fishing village that had no name, in a very basic cottage in the one street with no name, but a very nice river with lovely fishing boats at the bottom of my garden.


I don't know if you've seen it, but I love Parnell Hall's video about book signings. What is the most unusual experience you've had at a book signing or author event?

See above – I don’t know what I’d do at a book signing but I know I’d be a nervous wreck.


What's the best thing about eBooks? What's the worst?

For me – isolated author – see above – eBooks are a huge blessing. My alternative is book shops in the nearest small town that stocks books sold lost left behind by tourists and backpackers – not a great selection.

However, when I travel I can only buy a limited number of real books (weight considerations) so I will only buy a book I can read and re-read. And yes, the experience is quite different.

I liken it to going to hear live music or downloading into my iPod. Not at all comparable experiences – but how many of us can get the real thing? And I love my iPod and my eBooks; I just don’t compare apples with oranges.

What’s the worst thing? eBooks don’t smell fresh, new, no one has read this yet, when you download them.


I’m on the final edit of book three and about to embark on book four in the Highland Gazette series, and I’m sending out wishes and dreams that I eventually get to America to meet some of readers and say thank you in person --  and hopefully walk into a bookstore and behave badly by telling everyone, "Hey, that’s mine-- I wrote that!"

On Sale Now!

Thank you so much for spending this time with us, Deborah. We appreciate the chance to get to know you a little better.

It would be wonderful if you could come here to America to see your books on the shelves and to meet some of your readers, and I have to admit that I would hope that trip includes a stop in Scottsdale, Arizona, at my favorite mystery bookshop, The Poisoned Pen. No one would be able to keep me away!

I also must thank you for the suggestion on where to stay when Denis and I stay in the Inverness area next year. I'm longing to get back to the Highlands.

May your book sales do nothing but increase!

A Monumental Saturday Snapshot

Saturday Snapshot is a meme hosted by Alyce on her blog, At Home With Books. Here are the ground rules:

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

A few years ago, as a birthday/anniversary gift, Denis treated me to three days up in Monument Valley-- complete with an all-day guided tour. The tour not only went through the parts that have become famous the world over, but also took us through Mystery Canyon, the part of Monument Valley that can only be seen if you're accompanied by a Navajo guide. Mystery Canyon is filled with ancient ruins and is every bit as glorious as Monument Valley itself. Click on any of the photos to view them in larger sizes.

One of the ancient ruins in Mystery Canyon

John Ford Point, Monument Valley

Male and female hogans, Monument Valley

I will never tire of Monument Valley!

A Gadabout Weekly Link Round-Up

I've been a bit of a gadabout this week, so there aren't a ton of links for me to share. Things like getting the washer repaired so Denis could go to work in clean uniforms, watching it rain and seeing a rainbow, having my latest pap smear to ensure that cancer hasn't decided to take up unwelcome residence again, and other things have kept me from sitting at the computer.

Denis and I spent part of the afternoon at the Deer Valley Rock Art Center in the northwest Valley today, and we had a blast. I've been searching up a storm for more information about the place, but to no avail. The Center protects over 1500 petroglyphs in the Hedgepeth Hills of the northwest Valley. Denis and I walked an easy, short trail, encountered lots of wildlife that didn't seem overly concerned about our presence, saw lots of petroglyphs-- and took plenty of photos. I'll tell you all about our visit there at a later date, but I will show you this short video about the Deer Valley Rock Art Center:





Now let's get to those links!


Bookish News & Other Interesting Stuff

• An interesting article in The New York Times about The Way We Read Now.
• The librarians at the Worcester Public Library maintain The Give and Take-- a bookshelf of free books in Union Station. People are encouraged to keep the books, return them, or replace them with other books.
• Those medieval scribes and copyists left notes in the margins of those illuminated manuscripts. Some of those notes are quite funny.
• A recent study proves that nature is to be found less and less within the pages of children's books. After the afternoon I just spent, I can't help believing that's a crime.
• For lovers of Craig Johnson's Sheriff Walt Longmire mysteries, you're probably awaiting the debut of A&E's series "Longmire" on June 3. Here's a promo clip on YouTube.
• I probably find this interesting because I'm still having fun with Pinterest. Pinterest is driving more blog traffic than Twitter.
• Here's a Spring in Literature quiz for you.

Book Candy

• I love this cartoon entitled "Better Bookshelves."
• The Ikushima Library in Japan is gorgeous!

New to My Google Reader

• Brona's Books
• Tales of the Marvelous
• Alive on the Shelves
• Chapter 1 - Take 1
• Desktop Retreat
• View from the Hillside
• The Blue Bookcase
• Tales of Whimsy

That's it for this week. Be sure to stop by next weekend when I'll have a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure!

Have Mercy on Us All by Fred Vargas

Title: Have Mercy on Us All
Author: Fred Vargas
ISBN: 1843431092
Translated by: David Bellos
Publisher: The Harvill Press, 2003
Paperback, 321 pages
Genre: Police Procedural, #3 Commissaire Adamsberg mystery
Rating: B+
Source: Purchased from Bookcloseouts.

First Line: When manie wormes breede of putrefaction of the earth: toade stooles and rotten herbes abound: The fruites and beastes of the earth are unsavoury: The wine becomes muddie: manie birds and beastes flye from that place....

In a small Parisian neighborhood the age-old tradition of the town crier still goes on. The self-appointed crier, Joss Le Guern, reads out the daily news, bits of gossip, the weather forecast, items for sale... and ominous messages in strange language that are paid for and placed in Le Guern's message box by an anonymous source-- messages that seem to warn of an impending plague.

Concerned, Le Guern brings the messages to the attention of Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg and his right-hand man, Adrien Danglard. When several apartment buildings have their doors painted with the ancient symbol to ward off plague, Adamsberg knows there is a connection. Then a flea-bitten corpse with plague-like symptoms is found, and the Commissaire is under pressure to solve the case and restore calm to a frightened city.

Once again Vargas has worked her magic. She's created a tiny neighborhood in Paris populated with wonderful characters and a true feeling of community. There is more to the plot than first meets the eye as well. At first seen as a straight-forward mystery involving the bubonic plague, Vargas slowly includes snippets of evidence and tiny clues that make the reader wonder if there's not something more to the plot. This is Vargas, so of course there's more to it than the plague!

Vargas is so skilled at plotting that I was convinced that Adamsberg was after the wrong villain. But-- like twisting the barrel of a kaleidoscope-- the facts kept shifting in and out of focus, regrouping themselves into different patterns, and I slowly began to realize what was going on.

As ever, Adamsberg is the master chef of the book. Yes, he has his men gather all the clues, follow the chain of evidence, turn everything over to the pathologists and other fact-finders, but he relies on his thought processes. All the evidence, all the interviews, all the random impressions are like the ingredients in a recipe. It's up to Adamsberg to put everything together and add the spice of his intuition to come up with a memorable dish. If you're in the mood for a savory meal, I heartily recommend a Commissaire Adamsberg book by Fred Vargas! If you're new to these books and are wondering whether you should start at the beginning of the series, it's really not necessary. Have Mercy on Us All stands alone quite well.

Have Mercy on Us All at Amazon.

Have Mercy on Us All at The Book Depository.

Have Mercy on Us All at Your Favorite Indie Bookseller.

 

In the Blood by Steve Robinson

Title: In the Blood, a Genealogical Crime Mystery
Author: Steve Robinson
ISBN: 9781908603944
Publisher: Feedaread, 2011
Paperback, 316 pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Rating: B+
Source: Purchased as an eBook through Barnes and Noble.

First Line:  Mawgan Hendry was dying.

Professional genealogist Jefferson Tayte has a rich client who insists on having the research on the family tree completed in time to give as a gift. The trouble is, the trail's gone cold in America and the only thing left to do is to fly to England to see if he can find the missing pieces. Although he hates to fly, Tayte boards a plane and soon finds himself in Cornwall, where it becomes obvious that someone has gone to great lengths to erase an entire family from recorded history. Determined to get the answers to his questions, Tayte doesn't realize that someone else is just as determined to ensure that this is one puzzle that is never solved.

I enjoyed this mystery even more than I thought I would. Jefferson Tayte is an engaging character who has more lives than a cat. When the villain isn't trying to conk him in the head or throw him out to drown in a lake, Tayte works at solving the mystery the way a genealogist should: through lots of research poring over old records and documents. (And that's nowhere near as boring as it sounds.)

The mystery surrounding the Fairborne family was excellent. By book's end I hadn't figured it out, although with my knowledge of Cornish history and of genealogy, I should have. The scenes dealing with the 18th and 19th century Fairborne family members that Tayte was trying to trace gave a rich texture to Robinson's story. The fast-paced, engrossing plot and the winning character of Tayte more than made up for any momentary hiccups in writing style. This is the first book by Steve Robinson, and I am definitely looking forward to reading more!

In the Blood at Amazon (Prime members can read it for free on Kindle.)

In the Blood at The Book Depository.

In the Blood at Your Favorite Indie Bookseller.

Scene of the Blog Featuring Cath of Constance Reader!

I think I found this week's featured book blogger by a comment she left on another blog. However I found her, I'm glad I did. Cath's blog, Constance Reader, is a gem. If you don't believe me, pay a visit and just scroll down through the posts....

Wonderful photos of being a parent, of books well-loved in childhood, beautiful endpapers, tips on collecting rare books, and-- of course-- book reviews of an eclectic and interesting mix of genres. I also happen to love the quote Cath has on her Twitter profile: "Making Dorothy Parker roll in her grave since 2009."

Haven't visited Constance Reader? Please take this opportunity to do so, and don't forget to say hello while you're there. I have a feeling you're going to enjoy Cath's blog as much as I do!

Are you visiting from Constance Reader? Welcome! If you'd like to see any of Cath's photos in larger sizes, just click on them, and they'll open in new windows. If you'd like to see the blogging spaces of other participants in this weekly feature, click on the Scene of the Blog tab at the very top of my header. You'll find two ways to search: by blog name or by location. Now let's have Cath start the tour!

Cath's vintage 1930s desk

I work at home, and so I have a dedicated work space, which I share with my 11-month-old daughter, Lulu. But I don't like to blog in the same place where I work. Blogging is fun for me, a stress-reliever, and so I like to have my own dedicated spot for it. That way, I'm not worried about deadlines and assignments, and I can just write.

Close-up of Cath's desk

My in-laws inherited the antique, 1930s desk that stands in our bedroom from a neighbor, and it had a second life as a sideboard in their dining room for many years. When they decided to get rid of it, I begged to have it. I loved the desk's history, its burnished wood, and the deep, wide, heavy drawers, which I immediately filled with scarves and hair clips and makeup. I spend a moment every morning sitting there, getting ready for the day, and I always run my fingers over the bright worn spots on the scrollwork.  For a while I thought about refinishing the desk, but decided I liked that you could tell it had been well used over the years.

A comfy bed in which to read....

In the afternoons, the desk becomes my blogging spot. The light is perfect at this time of day, and with my door open, I can listen for Lulu as she naps. I have everything I need to blog: my computer, books that I'm in the middle of reviewing or that I'm giving away, my camera and all its accessories. My comfy, cozy bed is right there in case I need to stretch out and review a passage a few times to get my thoughts straight. No matter how tired I am at the end of the day, I always try to take a minute to clear the desktop, to keep it as neat and clean and inviting as possible so that it remains a simple haven in the middle of my hectic, double-duty life. 

The secret exhibitionist?

I guess I'm a secret exhibitionist, because I really enjoyed the chance to share my blogging space with you all! Thanks, Cathy, for the opportunity to be a part of your wonderful blog. 

The pleasure's all mine, Cath! We're all very glad that you shared your space with us-- especially that lovely old desk. I don't think I'd refinish it either. Just think of the loving hands that have smoothed those scrolls over the years! I'm also looking forward to seeing your thoughts about Mr. Churchill's Secretary because I'll be reading that book soon. (Get used to it-- we love to read all the participants' book spines!)

Don't forget to stop by next Wednesday when I'll be featuring another book blogger from our worldwide community!

The 2011 Independent Literary Award Winners Have Been Announced!

I just had to announce this here, since I had some say in one of the winners!

Being on the Mystery panel-- especially for the first year that the genre was included in the awards was a very special and enlightening experience. Everyone on the panel with me was great!

If you're in the mood for some excellent reading, here's the list of the winners and the runners-up:

2011 Indie Lit Award Winners

Biography/Memoir

Winner: Little Princes by Conor Grennan
Runner-Up: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

GLBTQ

Winner: Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender by Nick Krieger
Runner-Up: Huntress by Malinda Lo

Fiction

Winner: Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
Runner-Up: Dance Lessons by Aine Greaney

Mystery

Winner: A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny
Runner-Up: Fun and Games by Duane Swierczynski

Non-Fiction

Winner:  Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckhoff
Runner-Up: Berlin 1961 by Frederick Kempe

Poetry

Winner: Catalina by Laurie Soriano
Runner-Up: What Looks Like an Elephant by Edward Nudelman

Speculative Fiction

Winner: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Runner-Up: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Aztec City of Spies by Simon Levack

Title: Aztec City of Spies
Author: Simon Levack
ISBN: 9781416502548
Publisher: Pocket Books, 2007
Mass Market Paperback, 335 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery, #3 Aztec Mystery featuring the slave Yaotl
Rating: A-
Source: Purchased from The Book Depository.

First Line: In my first few days in the slave-dealers' warehouse, I sought to escape my tormentors.


By the time the slave Yaotl no longer tries to escape those tormenting him, he finds himself up for sale. Expecting to be purchased by someone representing his former owner, Chief Minister, Lord Feathered-in-Black, Yaotl is stunned to see that there are two different groups bidding for him. Perhaps he's not slated for sacrifice after all.


Fortune smiles on him, and he is purchased by a former lover, Lily, who has plans of her own. They go to Tetzcoco-- the "second city" of the Aztec Empire, renowned for its poets, artists, and legendary kings. It's also a city torn apart by unrest and filled with spies because there are rival claimants to the throne. Lily's plans go awry after the discovery of a blood-soaked corpse and her arrest for murder. The clock is ticking; Lily's trial will be held in a matter of a very few days. It's up to Yaotl to find the evidence that will prove Lily's innocence-- if only he can evade the lethal traps that are all around him.


Levack's series is one that I wish more people would read. Yes, it does have marks against it in the popularity of book sales: (1) Not only is it an historical mystery, it is set in the last days of the Aztec Empire-- a culture about as far removed from our technology-driven age as possible. (2) It was a violent age, since the Aztecs did believe in human sacrifice. (3) The Aztecs had their own calendar, which is very different from our own. (4) The Aztec language, Nahuatl, dances trippingly over few of our modern tongues. That's a lot of marks against this series, isn't it? Yet, Levack makes the culture accessible for everyone. There are maps, a simple explanation of the Aztec calendar, and a short note about Nahuatl (which he uses very sparingly). They can be referred to as little or as often as needed. 


But really all that's needed is for the reader's mental roadblocks to be removed. So many crime fiction fans love solving mysteries in other countries and in other time periods, and that's exactly what this is-- armchair crime solving at its best. Levack sets his scenes so clearly that I feel as though I'm walking the streets with Yaotl-- and Yaotl is a marvelously drawn character. He is a former priest, so he's familiar with all the various classes of people who inhabit the Aztec world. He's a slave, and although there are strict laws about how slaves must be treated, he still has to be devious enough to avoid getting himself in danger. That very deviousness of his leads to quite a bit of humor. Life is serious in Yaotl's world: war, a rigid class system, religious sacrifice... all the more reason for people to find reasons to laugh. In Aztec City of Spies, Levack even gets to poke some fun at his former occupation, since lawyers and a murder trial are involved.


Levack's plotting is meticulous and really showed me what dangerous times these were for the people who lived them. Rival claimants for a throne... and the endless rumors of a strange hairy-faced, pale-skinned people who sailed across the Divine Sea to land on their shores. The Spanish have landed, but the Aztec have no idea how quickly time is running out for them. All Yaotl and the people he cares for can do is to try to survive one day at a time.


If you enjoy historical mysteries that feature a fascinating culture, excellent plotting, and a marvelous sleuth, I urge you to pick up one of Simon Levack's Aztec mysteries. Seeing an occasional word in Nahuatl is no different from stumbling over Scandinavian street names-- trust me, I know this first hand. Visit Levack's website where you'll find sample chapters of his books. See for yourself!

Aztec City of Spies at Amazon.

Aztec City of Spies at The Book Depository.

Aztec City of Spies at Better World Books.

What Should You Cross the World to See?

You Should Go See the Taj Mahal

You have a fun personality, and you find it easy to get energized about almost anything. When people meet you, they tend to remember you for a long time. You create a lasting impression. You are open to the world, and that's part of what makes you unforgettable. You are free-spirited. You try to keep things flexible because you're always picking a new path. You value adaptability.

What Should You Cross the World to See?

Scene of the Crime with Author Simon Levack!

Perhaps if a few more readers were interested in history, this week's featured author would see a well-deserved jump in his book sales. Simon Levack may have trained as a solicitor (that's "lawyer" to us Americans), but he's written an excellent historical mystery series set in sixteenth-century Mexico when Montezuma is the ruler of the Aztec Empire... and the conquistadors have landed on the coast. This is the perfect setting for the wily slave, Yaotl, to teach us about the world in which he lives while he's solving his latest crime. Levack's books are a skillful blend of setting, culture, characterization, humor and complex plotting-- and I recommend them highly!

Simon Levack

Here are some links so you can learn more about the author and his books:

Simon Levack's website

Simon Levack on Facebook

Simon Levack's books

I really hope that you take the time to visit Simon's website. I enjoyed reading about what inspired him to write his books, what it's like writing about the Aztecs, and how to pronounce Aztec names. He does an incredible job in bringing the Aztecs and their culture to life!

Time for the interview!

What was the very first book you remember reading and loving? What makes that book so special?

Biggles Flies North by Captain W.E. Johns. I was given it as a Christmas present at the age of, I should think, around seven. It would seem terribly dated now but I loved the bleak setting and the straight-from-the-shoulder heroics. It gave me a taste for adventure stories set in exotic and unfamiliar environments which I've never really lost although these days I like a bit more moral ambiguity about my characters.

Outside of your writing and all associated commitments, what do you like to do in your free time?

I play the piano rather badly. I only took it up seriously three or four years ago and it has been a steep learning curve, but I love music and it relaxes me and gives me a sense of achievement at the same time.

If I were to visit your hometown, where would you recommend that I go? (I like seeing and doing things that aren't in all the guide books.)

Sittingbourne in the 1930s

There's nothing much to recommend about my hometown, which is a nondescript place called Sittingbourne. Chaucer's pilgrims may have passed through here but that was a very long time ago! I'd recommend you skip the town itself and tour the villages and countryside around it.

You have total control over casting a movie based on your life. Which actor would you cast as you?

Gary Oldman

After seeing his performance in the movie of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", Gary Oldman.

Who is your favorite recurring character in crime fiction?

Philip Marlowe. Not for the wisecracks so much as for his ability to see the world as it really is.

Name one book that you've read that you wish you had written. What is it about that book that made it come to mind?

It probably wouldn't be a detective story. The book that comes to mind right now is Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve - or any of the other Hungry Cities books. I wish I had half his ability to make an imagined world believable, and the moral courage to put his characters through the ringer the way he does.

How did you celebrate when you first heard you were to be published? What did you do the first time you saw one of your books on a shelf in a bookstore?

I took my wife out to dinner, twice. Oddly I can't remember the first time I saw one of my books in a bookstore but I probably offered to sign it.

I don't know if you've seen it, but I love Parnell Hall's video about book signings. What is the most unusual experience you've had at a book signing or author event?

The oddest experience I've had at an author event, and certainly the most uncomfortable, was finding myself on a panel moderated by someone who clearly didn't like my books and took great care to make sure everyone in the audience knew it. I'm afraid it rather put me off doing that sort of event again.

What's the best thing about eBooks? What's the worst?

The best thing is their portability. I can carry a thousand or more books around on my Kindle and slip it in my coat pocket. The worst thing is that many ebooks are appallingly badly formatted, but that will change as ebooks take over from print as the predominant medium - as I don't doubt they will.

Available Now!

Thank you for letting us get to know you a bit better, Simon. May your book sales do nothing but increase!

I hope everyone stops by tomorrow to read my review of the third book in Simon Levack's Aztec Mysteries series, City of Spies!