The Alternate Universe Weekly Link Round-Up

Way back in those good old days, doctors used to send patients with breathing problems out here for the clean, dry air. It's been a long time since they've done that. There's always something in bloom here in Phoenix. If you're riddled with allergies, it's not always the best place to visit-- especially when the wind blows like it did today. Most of my allergies are caused by things that do not grow in the desert, but on those days when the air is chockful of pollen, my nose decides not to differentiate. There was a period of time this morning when I thought I was about to sneeze myself into an alternate universe. Zounds!

Did I hide indoors? Of course not! I took a pill, got my camera, and Denis and I had a lovely, lovely afternoon at the Desert Botanical Garden where blooming swaths of the landscape looked like Impressionist paintings, and the air was filled with the chatter of visitors from all over the world. We also saw tons of wildlife, like Arizona's state bird, the cactus wren, who's busily picking bugs off a cactus in this photo. I took a lot more photographs, but those will be for another post sometime next week. In the mean time, I'd better mosey over and rustle up some links for you folks!

Bookish News & Other Interesting Tidbits

• In a "what was she thinking???" moment, author Lynn Shepherd says J.K. Rowling has had her turn and should stop writing. Yikes!
• From beyond the grave, Stieg Larsson names his suspect in the murder of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme.
• How did computers uncover J.K. Rowling's pseudonym?
• A fantastic astronomy photo of the day showing the aurora over New Zealand.
• Strategies for arranging the family bookcase-- for those of you who have only one. (I feel your pain.)
• For the first time, there are less than a thousand independent bookshops in the UK.
• Socorro Ramos will be 91 this year, and she still goes in everyday to run her bookstore.
• Speaking of J.K. Rowling once again, she's planning an entire series of crime novels to follow The Cuckoo's Calling.
• Amtrak has a plan to give free rides to writers.
• There is an amazing village in The Netherlands designed just for people with dementia.
• Want your money to do as much good as it possibly can? Don't donate it to fancy colleges.
• I think my husband's favorite film is The Sound of Music. This week, the last of the original Von Trapp Family Singers, Maria von Trapp, died at the age of 99 in Vermont.
• A short Youtube video called Ranting about Books that hits several of my own pet peeves.
• Whether you have one blog reader or ten or one hundred or... here's why you're a big deal.

Archaeology, Book Candy & Bits of the Bizarre

• With bits of wire and paperback books, here's a slideshow of an artist's homage to the book.
• 46 rooms starring IKEA's discontinued EXPEDIT shelves.
• Archaeologists recreate a Roman gladiator school in Austria.
• Fossils reveal the first evidence of mass marine die-offs.
• Could Wales' lost kingdom under the sea really have existed?
• The source of Stonehenge's bluestone rocks has been identified.
• A record-breaking meteorite crash on the moon sparks the brightest lunar explosion ever.
• A priceless dinosaur track near Moab, Utah, has been stolen.
• You can take a look at the Great Lakes from space and see how cold this winter has been. Brrrrrrrrrrr!
• Silver hoop earrings have been found among ancient treasure in a biblical city in Israel.
• 10 words in the mysterious Voynich Manuscript have been decoded.

I  ♥  Lists

• This is the ONE thing you must do in each U.S. state. (Arizona's is pretty darned obvious.)
• 14 compelling female characters who need their own spin-off novels.
• The 10 most dangerous (and safest) countries for driving.
• 30 book covers that need to be stopped.
• 25 things you had no idea there were words for.
• These 8 female characters deserve their own books.
• Great literary husbands.

That's it for this week. Don't forget to stop by next weekend when I'll have a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure!

After the Armistice Ball by Catriona McPherson

First Line: Lustre. That was what had been missing and was suddenly back.

The Armistice Ball brought it all back: the time before the War when people weren't burdened by the weight of so much sorrow, so much death, so much needless destruction. At the Armistice Ball, people could wear their best clothes, bring all their best jewelry out of the vaults, laugh and gossip and act as though they'd never had a care in the world.

Lena Duffy wore all her magnificent diamonds to the Armistice Ball; people certainly remembered them. But much later when the diamonds are once more taken out of the vault, this time to have copies made, they are found to be fake. Lena says the real diamonds had to have disappeared at the Esslemonts' ball, and the Esslemonts should be held responsible for restitution. Daisy Esslemont disagrees and asks her friend Dandy Gilver to conduct a discreet investigation. Dandy, who feels as though she's going to seed with her children away at school and her husband more concerned with his contractor, decides to do it. She knows everyone involved and has some questions of her own about those diamonds, but when one of the suspects dies, the stakes seem much higher than they did at the beginning. With the help of Cara Duffy's fiance, is Dandy going to be able to solve  her very first case?

I've heard some good things about Catriona McPherson's Dandy Gilver series over the years, and since I love Scotland and that period of time, I thought it was time to give the first book in the series a try. I've read many books about World War I and the years leading up to the conflict as well as its aftermath. The prologue of After the Armistice Ball immediately wove its spell and took me right to that time when the fighting was finished, and people were taking their first tentative steps in a brand-new world. I also fell in love with Dandy Gilver and her slightly arch, slightly sarcastic, sense of humor. Her husband is a paragon of predictability, and I had fun watching Dandy as she plotted how to take her little investigative tours with spouse Hugh being none the wiser.

The mystery of the diamonds and the murder is a true puzzler, and Dandy definitely needs the help of Alec Osborne, fiance of Cara Duffy. There are real diamonds, there are fake diamonds, there are false trails, and people aren't always whom they seem to be. I joined Dandy in confusion on more than one occasion. However, one thing about this book drove me up the wall and across the ceiling: how Dandy and Alec came to solve the crime. How? By endless talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. And when these two weren't rehashing everything for the millionth time, Dandy was think, think, think, think, thinking about it. This book told me that I need a bit more action in my mysteries, and it reminded me of something else.

As a rule, I don't read Golden Age mysteries because I don't enjoy them-- especially if the crime solver is a female. Most females of the era don't have unlimited travel privileges. They have a few opportunities to see, observe, and question, and then they must retire to their parlors to ponder everything over endless cups of tea. After the Armistice Ball is written in the style of one of these classic Golden Age mysteries. If you read them and enjoy them, you're going to love Dandy Gilver. Unfortunately, although I enjoy Dandy Gilver, Golden Age mysteries just are not my cup of Darjeeling.

After the Armistice Ball by Catriona McPherson

ISBN: 9781780334073

Constable & Robinson © 2006

eBook, 302 pages

Historical Mystery, #1 Dandy Gilver mystery

Rating: C+

Source: Purchased as an eBook from Amazon.

A Skeleton in the Family by Leigh Perry

First Line: If I'd ever had reason to consider the notion, I'd have been willing to bet that if I walked into a room that held a dead body, the body would have been the first thing I noticed.

Georgia Thackery has always looked like the black sheep of the family in comparison to her perfect sister, Deborah. An unwed mother and perennially untenured college professor, Georgia and her teenage daughter Madison have never been able to stay in any one place for very long; but a job offer at a local university means the two are moving into Georgia's parents' home while they are on sabbatical.

Moving into her parents' home seems like some sort of defeat, and it also adds further complications to Georgia's life. Now she must try to keep Madison from finding out that the Thackery family home has its very own skeleton. Oh no, not the looming threat of previous ancestors' past misdeeds; it's not that at all. For as long as Georgia can remember, Sid the skeleton has lived in the house. Sid is real: he walks, he talks, he tries to keep Georgia's dog from burying parts of him in the backyard, and he wants to find out how he died-- and he insists that Georgia helps him. What Sid doesn't realize is that he may be putting Georgia in danger.

I'm open to new premises in the paranormal mystery category, so I was more than willing to give Leigh Perry's first book in this series about college professor Georgia Thackery and her family skeleton a try. From the very first page, I immediately began to enjoy Perry's writing style and sense of humor. Georgia Thackery is the type of funny, smart, and caring character to whom I can warm up quickly. One of the things I also appreciated was the wealth of knowledge this character imparted about being an untenured college professor-- it's not the sort of career any teacher would choose for themselves, and I'm hoping that Georgia can change that part of her life quickly.

What I really need to talk about a bit is the elephant in the room: Sid the skeleton. How well did a talking, walking, joke-cracking skeleton (who has his own armoire in which to hide in case he's caught downstairs) really work in this book? For me, Sid was only an intermittent success. His dialogue and relationship with Georgia worked very well. These two have known each other for a long time, and it shows. Georgia genuinely wants to help Sid find out what happened. But whenever my mind's eye was drawn by choice of verbs and adverbs to the fact that there were fleshless footbones clacking across that hardwood floor, my inner movie screen jumped into a melange of 1930s black-and-white films with their herky-jerky special effects.

Most fans of paranormal cozy mysteries will probably take to Sid like he's a long-lost cousin, and there's a lot to like about him and this book. I enjoyed the author's writing style and sense of humor, as well as the mystery itself and the character of Georgia. Unfortunately, were I to stop by the Thackery home, I'd prefer that Sid stay in his armoire.

A Skeleton in the Family by Leigh Perry

ISBN:  9780425255841

Berkley Prime Crime © 2013

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #1 Family Skeleton mystery

Rating: B-

Source: Paperback Swap 

March 2014 New Mystery Releases!

The income tax refund is in the bank, I've been stitching up a storm, and I seem to be mostly back into my reading groove-- which is a very good thing. I'm not about to speak one syllable about the Phoenix weather for the past two months for fear many of you will start lobbing snowballs at me. Good heavens, what you folks in the Polar Icebox continue to have to put up with!

The only thing for it is to look through my pick of the new mysteries available in March in order to keep your reading supplies well stocked. Grab that book, that hot drink and that warm cozy afghan, and curl up with some good crime fiction. Nothing like a murder or two to take your mind off the snow levels!

I've grouped the books by release dates and have included all the information you'll need to find them at all your favorite book procurement sites. Book synopses are courtesy of Amazon. Happy Reading!

===  March 1  ===

Title: Double Fault

Author: Judith Cutler
#5 in the DCS Fran Harman police procedural series set in Kent, England

ISBN:  9780727883391

Publisher: Severn House Publishers

Hardcover, 224 pages

Synopsis: "When a child goes missing at the local tennis club on the day when several skeletons are unearthed on an Ashford building site, Fran Harman finds her caseload heavier than ever at a time when the force is cripplingly short-staffed and she has a less than supportive new Chief Constable to contend with.

Enjoying a game of tennis with his fellow Golden Oldies when the girl disappeared, Fran's partner Mark can't help blaming himself for not keeping a closer eye on her. Sucked into the kind of desperate police search he thought he'd left behind on retirement, Mark enlists the help of the Oldies to find young Livvie before it's too late.

Meanwhile, a further shocking discovery in the skeleton case suggests that a serial killer may be lurking rather closer than Fran would wish."

Title: Cold Mourning

Author: Brenda Chapman

#1 in the Stonechild and Rouleau police procedural series set in Canada

ISBN: 9781459708013

Publisher: Dundurn

Paperback, 392 pages

Synopsis: "It's a week before Christmas when wealthy businessman Tom Underwood disappears into thin air -- with more than enough people wanting him dead.

New police recruit Kala Stonechild, who has left her northern Ontario detachment to join a specialized Ottawa crime unit, is tasked with returning Underwood home in time for the holidays. Stonechild, who is from a First Nations reserve, is a lone wolf who is used to surviving on her wits. Her new boss, Detective Jacques Rouleau, has his hands full controlling her, his team, and an investigation that keeps threatening to go off track.

Old betrayals and complicated family relationships brutally collide when love turns to hate and murder stalks a family."

===  March 4  ===

Title: Spinning in Her Grave

Author: Molly MacRae

#3 in the Haunted Yarn Shop cozy series set in Tennessee

ISBN: 9780451240644

Publisher: Signet

Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages

Synopsis: "It’s time for Blue Plum’s annual historical festival, and everyone—including Kath and her spunky fiber and needlework group, TGIF—is getting in on the action. Expert spinners are being gathered, and a businessman has approached Kath about using the second-floor windows of her store for part of a reenactment. But the reenactment ends in real-life bloodshed when local baker Reva Louise Snapp is shot—with a bullet from a modern-day gun.

Kath has her theories about who wanted to end Reva Louise’s life. But there’s also talk of a sniper stalking Blue Plum, and Kath’s shop is suspected to be the murderer’s hideout. Now Kath, her TGIF pals, and the gloomy ghost, Geneva, must unravel the mystery quickly, or someone else might be left hanging by a thread...."

Title: Pearls and Poison

Author: Duffy Brown

#3 in the Consignment Shop cozy series set in Savannah, Georgia

ISBN: 9780425252482

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "It’s election time in Savannah, Georgia, and Judge Guillotine Gloria—aka Reagan Summerside’s mom—is neck and neck in the polls with Kip 'Scummy' Seymour.  But the already dirty campaign is about to get downright filthy—with one candidate getting buried six feet under…

With her strong opinions and knack for getting into trouble, Reagan is not an ideal volunteer for her mother’s alderman campaign. Plus, she’d rather be running her consignment shop, the Prissy Fox, and eating doughnuts with her dog, Bruce Willis. But when her mother’s opponent, Kip, is found poisoned and her mother is pegged as a suspect, Reagan nominates herself as lead murder investigator.

Reagan is intent on finding Kip’s killer and clearing her mother’s good name, but she soon finds herself on the bad side of Kip’s enemies-turned-suspects. This time, no amount of costumes and makeup can keep her inconspicuous and out of danger. Because the closer Reagan gets to the truth, the hotter things get…"

Title: Poisoned Ground

Author: Sandra Parshall

#6 in the Rachel Goddard series set in Virginia

ISBN:  9781464202247

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Hardcover, 250 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "When a powerful development company sets its sights on Mason Country, Virginia, as the location for a sprawling resort for the rich, the locals begin taking sides. Many residents see the resort as economic salvation for the small Blue Ridge Mountains community, while others fear the county will become financially dependent on a predatory company.

Few oppose the development more vocally than veterinarian Rachel Goddard. She sides with locals reluctant to sell their land and, in the process, complicates the life of her new husband, Sheriff Tom Bridger.

When a beloved couple is gunned down on the very farm they refused to sell, it seems supporters will stop at nothing to ensure the success of the resort. Now disagreement in the community has exploded into civil war with both sides lashing out. As the violence escalates, Rachel discovers the attacks are more sinister than they appear.

Can she bring the truth to light before her community tears itself apart?"

Title: City of Darkness and Light

Author: Rhys Bowen

#13 in the Molly Murphy historical mystery series set in 1905 Paris, France

ISBN: 9781250011664 

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Hardcover, 320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Molly and Daniel Sullivan are settling happily into the new routines of parenthood, but their domestic bliss is shattered the night a gang retaliates against Daniel for making a big arrest. Daniel wants his family safely out of New York City as soon as possible. In shock and grieving, but knowing she needs to protect their infant son Liam, Molly agrees to take him on the long journey to Paris to stay with her friends Sid and Gus, who are studying art in the City of Light.

But upon arriving in Paris, nothing goes as planned. Sid and Gus seem to have vanished into thin air, and Molly's search to figure out what happened to them will lead her through all levels of Parisian society, from extravagant salons to the dingy cafes where starving artists linger over coffee and loud philosophical debates. And when in the course of her search she stumbles across a dead body, Molly, on her own in a foreign country, starts to wonder if she and Liam might be in even more danger in Paris than they had been at home."

Title: Murder in Pigalle

Author: Cara Black

#14 in the Aimée Leduc private investigator series set in France

ISBN: 9781616952846

Publisher: Soho Crime

Hardcover, 320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "June, 1998: Paris's sticky summer heat is even more oppressive than usual as rowdy French football fans riot in anticipation of the World Cup. Private Investigator Aimée Leduc has been trying to slow down her hectic lifestyle—she's five months pregnant and has the baby's well-being to think about now. But then disaster strikes close to home. A serial rapist has been terrorizing Paris's Pigalle neighborhood, following teenage girls home and attacking them in their own houses. It is sad and frightening but has nothing to do with Aimée—until Zazie, the 13-year-old daughter of the proprietor of Aimée's favorite café, disappears. The police aren't mobilizing quickly enough, and when Zazie's desperate parents approach Aimée for help, she knows she couldn't say no even if she wanted to."

Title: The Disappeared

Author: Kristina Ohlsson

#3 in the Fredrika Bergman investigative analyst series set in Sweden

ISBN:  9781476734002

Publisher: Atria Books

Hardcover, 416 pages

Synopsis: "A young woman on her way to a party vanishes without a trace. Two years later, with all hope lost, her body turns up. Mercilessly dismembered, it has deteriorated considerably in its lonely burial spot on the edge of a forest. The forensic team is able to identify the body as that of Rebecca Tolle, a student at the nearby university.

Investigative analyst Fredrika Bergman and her team are assigned to solve the case and question those who may be responsible for Rebecca’s brutal death. Soon, more bodies are found, in the same area. But the killer is still at large.

Fredrika discovers that when Rebecca died, she was researching a person with a dark past- one that Rebecca seems to have uncovered. Fredrika is deeply invested in the already heart-wrenching case, but when her lover’s name comes up as a possible suspect, it might be too much for her to bear.

Did Rebcecca get too close to evil- prompting evil to react?"

===  March 11  ===

Title: Stone Cold

Author: C.J. Box

#14 in the game warden Joe Pickett series set in the Bog Horn Mountains of Wyoming

ISBN: 9780399160769

Publisher: Putnam

Hardcover, 384 pages

Synopsis: "Everything about the man is a mystery: the massive ranch in the remote Black Hills of Wyoming that nobody ever visits, the women who live with him, the secret philanthropies, the private airstrip, the sudden disappearances. And especially the persistent rumors that the man’s wealth comes from killing people.

Joe Pickett, still officially a game warden but now mostly a troubleshooter for the governor, is assigned to find out what the truth is, but he discovers a lot more than he’d bargained for. There are two other men living up at that ranch. One is a stone-cold killer who takes an instant dislike to Joe. The other is new—but Joe knows him all too well. The first man doesn’t frighten Joe. The second is another story entirely." 

Title: The Outcast Dead

Author: Elly Griffiths

#6 in the forensic archaeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway series set in England

ISBN: 9780547792774

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Hardcover, 384 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway uncovers the bones of a Victorian murderess while a baby snatcher threatens modern-day Norfolk in this exciting new entry in a beloved series.

Every year a ceremony is held at Norwich Castle for the bodies in the paupers’ graves: the Service for the Outcast Dead. Ruth has a particular interest in this year’s proceedings. Her recent dig at Norwich Castle turned up the body of the notorious Mother Hook, who was hanged in 1867 for the murder of five children. Now Ruth is the reluctant star of the TV series Women Who Kill, working alongside the program’s alluring history expert, Professor Frank Barker.

DCI Harry Nelson is immersed in the case of three children found dead in their home. He is sure that the mother is responsible. Then another child is abducted and a kidnapper dubbed the Childminder claims responsibility. Are there two murderers afoot, or is the Childminder behind all the deaths? The team must race to find out—and the stakes couldn’t be any higher when another child goes missing."

===  March 18  ===

Title: Hotel Brasil

Author: Frei Betto

Debut crime novel set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

ISBN: 9781908524270

Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press

Paperback, 288 pages

Synopsis: "The setting for this witty and insightful debut crime novel is a Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, family hotel. Rio is the perfect backdrop with its history of military dictatorship, drug wars, child gangs, and violent policing tactics.

The decapitated body of a hotel resident is found. The eyes have been removed from the head, casually left on the floor of the room. The victim's eerie, frozen Mona Lisa smile seems to indicate that the murderer had been received as a friend.

According to the police, the victim was stabbed in the heart and died before the decapitation. As the investigation continues, with few leads or clues worth pursuing, other hotel clients are found dead; all decapitated, usually with the head found delicately balanced on their knees.

This classical crime novel provides an opportunity for Frei Betto (a Dominican friar, once a political prisoner, a union activist, and then an adviser to President Lula da Silva) to describe Brazilian society, especially those left at its edge, like Rio's favela children, abused, hunted-down, but also addicted to drugs and violent crime.

The book tells the fascinating back stories of the hotel residents, suspects, and eventual victims, such as the maid who dreams of making it in television soaps, and the female pimp who has survived incestuous rape, while being faithful to a suspenseful intrigue that could have been thought up by Ruth Rendell."

Title: Murder at Cape Three Points
Author: Kwei Quartey 
#3 in the Darko Dawson police procedural series set in Ghana
ISBN: 9781616953898
Publisher: Soho Crime
Hardcover, 336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "At Cape Three Points on the beautiful Ghanaian coast, a canoe washes up at an oil rig site. The two bodies in the canoe—who turn out to be a prominent, wealthy, middle-aged married couple—have obviously been murdered; the way Mr. Smith-Aidoo has been gruesomely decapitated suggests the killer was trying to send a specific message—but what, and to whom, is a mystery. The Smith-Aidoos, pillars in their community, are mourned by everyone, but especially by their niece Sapphire, a successful pediatric surgeon in Ghana's capital, Accra. She is not happy that months have passed since the murder and the rural police have made no headway.

When the Ghanaian federal police finally agree to get involved, Detective Inspector Darko Dawson of the Accra police force is sent out to Cape Three Points to investigate. Pretty as the coast is, he is not happy to be sent away from his wife and two sons, the younger of whom is recovering from a heart operation. And the more he learns about the case, the more convoluted and dangerous it becomes. Three Points has long been inhabited by tribal villages of subsistence fishers, but real estate entrepreneurs and wealthy oil companies have been trying to bribe the tribes to move out. Dawson roots out a host of motives for murder, ranging from personal vendettas to corporate conspiracies."

===  March 25  ===

Title: The Dead Don't Dance

Author: John Enright

#3 in the Apelu Soifua "Jungle Beat" police procedural series set in American Samoa

ISBN:  9781612185026

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Paperback, 252 pages

Synopsis: "Rumored to hold more spirits than people, the remote tropical paradise To’aga frightens many Samoan locals—but not Detective Apelu Soifua. Reeling from the loss of his young daughter, Apelu retreats to the haunted island for a self-imposed exile. He spends his days drinking, trying to ignore the ghosts in his head, and receives few visitors other than a shamanistic recluse and a pair of dedicated marine biologists conducting research.

But after a crew of surveyors arrives, Apelu makes a disturbing discovery: foreign investors plan to build a resort hotel on the coast, a project sure to destroy the To’aga coral reef and shatter the island’s peaceful way of life. When tensions rise and someone—or something—commits a gruesome murder, Apelu must force himself out of retirement to solve the case. Can the heartbroken detective navigate both modern and mystical forces to find the killer and appease the angry spirits of To’aga, in this third book of the Jungle Beat Mystery series?"


Whew! There's some mighty fine reading ahead of us in March! Which books did you add to your wish list? Inquiring minds want to know!

The Resistance Man by Martin Walker

First Line: It was shortly after dawn on a day in late spring that carried all the promise of summer to come.

There won't be many walks in the French countryside for the village of St. Denis's Chief of Police, Bruno Courrèges. Not in the near future anyway. The area has been hit with a series of expert burglaries. The effects of a recently deceased veteran of the Resistance contain documents that may link him to an infamous train robbery. An antiques dealer is brutally murdered, and an academic ready to publish a book about France's nuclear weapons program has her home ransacked. With outside agencies more than willing to "lend a hand," Bruno needs all his skill and all his knowledge of the area and its people to solve these crimes.

Whenever I learn that Martin Walker has written a new Bruno novel, I can't wait to get my hands on it. Each one is rich in character, rich in culture and customs, and permeated with the most delightful sense of place. The mysteries are intriguing and often tie into the history of the Perigord region of southwestern France.

Although the inhabitants of St. Denis aren't angels, the village can seem too idyllic at times, but I don't mind a bit. As a former journalist, Walker has an eye for the telling detail, and once you've read a Bruno novel, you have a good grasp of the land, its people, its customs, and-- mouthwateringly so-- its food and wine. St. Denis is a French village as it should be, and I enjoy reading about it.

It's easy to become hooked on Bruno's life in general: how he knows everyone who lives there, how firmly entrenched he is in the life of the village through his job and his participation in sports, celebrations, and good fellowship. Bruno is the perfect candidate for marriage, but Miss Right continually eludes him. In fact, he has some upsetting news on that front in The Resistance Man, and it's interesting to see how he comes to terms with it. If you're a crime fiction fan who yearns for plenty of forensics, you'll have to find that elsewhere; these books are all about how Bruno can solve crime through observing and knowing people. Yes, he has a gun, but he seldom ever carries it, let alone uses it.

Each one of the subplots-- from the train robbery to the burgled houses to the murdered antiques dealer to the nuclear weapons program-- is interesting in its own right, but I loved seeing how Walker has Bruno tie them together.

Martin Walker's Bruno Chief of Police series is an armchair traveling sleuth's delight. The Resistance Man can easily be read as a standalone, but why deny yourself? Curl up with Bruno and a nice glass of wine and prepare to be transported to a wonderful village in France.

The Resistance Man by Martin Walker

ISBN: 9780385349543

Knopf © 2014

Hardcover, 336 pages

Police Procedural, #6 Bruno Chief of Police mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen. 

How Should You Artistically Express Yourself?

You Should Express Yourself Through Photography

You are a very visual person, and sometimes you suspect that you see the world differently than most people. You are imaginative and good at finding beauty in unexpected places. And as a photographer, you could capture that beauty. You tend to be a bit more private than most people. Whenever possible, you prefer observing to jumping right in the mix. You may not enjoy small talk and parties, but you have a lot of compassion for humanity. You just express it in different ways.

How Should You Artistically Express Yourself?


[The rare quiz that does a pretty decent job of describing me!]


 

@ The Poisoned Pen with Charlotte Hinger and Frederick Ramsay!

As I drove to my favorite bookstore (The Poisoned Pen) that Saturday afternoon, there was brilliant sunshine, not a cloud in the deep blue sky, and balmy breezes-- just the type of weather tens of thousands of people flock here to experience each winter. A lot of the people traveling the same streets as I had been to the Parada del Sol, but I had different fish to fry. I had set out to see two Poisoned Pen Press authors: Charlotte Hinger and Frederick Ramsay.

Charlotte writes the Lottie Albright series set in western Kansas, and the latest book, Hidden Heritage, was named one of the Best Mysteries of 2013 by Kirkus Reviews. It's one of my favorite series, and I was looking forward to seeing her.

Frederick Ramsay writes three series (and standalone novels, too), and he was here to sign his latest Ike Schwartz mystery, Drowning Barbie. I've seen him several times attending signings for other authors although this would be the first time I'd attended when the spotlight would be on him. I have yet to read one of his books, but I have two of them on my Kindle because-- after watching him interact with others-- I have the distinct impression that I'm really going to like his writing. Have you ever had that feeling?

I browsed the shelves, made my purchase, and sat down to read. All during this time, another customer in the store had kept catching my eye, and I didn't know why. He even told one of the employees his name, but it didn't mean a thing to me. I gave him the once-over at least three times, and I still didn't know why a very faint little bell kept jangling in the back of my mind. The man took a seat across from me. When he replied to a comment someone else made, I almost got whiplash. At the very same moment, he looked over at me and said, "Are you Glenore's daughter?" That's when I recognized him-- he worked with my mother twenty years ago, and I'd seen him whenever I went into the library to pick Mom up after work. We had a nice catch-up chat while we waited for the event to begin.

Just goes to show... I may not recognize a face, names may not stick in my brain for very long either-- but I remember voices!

"You've got me till spring!"

L to R: Charlotte Hinger, Barbara Peters, Frederick Ramsay

Charlotte Hinger arrived early, and from the coat draped over her arm, her sweaters, long wool skirt and tall boots, she looked like she wasn't from these parts. Sure enough, she told us that when she left Kansas, it was 7° below zero, and once she'd been filled in on the sort of weather we've been having, Charlotte exclaimed, "You've got me till spring!"

More and more people began to arrive, including Donis Casey, author of the excellent Alafair Tucker mysteries, and we learned that Donis and Charlotte had been roomies at Malice Domestic.

Bookstore owner, Poisoned Pen Press editor, and host Barbara Peters sat down between her two authors and asked them to introduce their characters to us. Charlotte told us that her series is set in western Kansas and features Lottie Albright, an historian and law enforcement officer who married into a devout Catholic family. Her husband is much older than she, and the oldest of the four children from his first marriage is older than Lottie. Family dynamics often play important roles in the books.

Retired Episcopal priest Frederick Ramsay told us that his main character, Ike Schwartz, is a Jewish sheriff in a Baptist town who finds every chance he can to question political correctness. Barbara Peters said, "Ike's also been involved in a long-term relationship that I doubted was ever going to end well." Ramsay smiled and said that one of the subplots in Drowning Barbie concerned how Ike was going to break the news of what happened on a trip to Las Vegas when he got back to Picketsville.

"Looks like they're trying to..."

Frederick Ramsay

Barbara then said, "Drowning Barbie is an unusual title. How on earth did you come up with it?"

Ramsay laughed. "Last January my grandchildren were playing with their Barbie dolls in our pool. When I asked my son-in-law what they were doing, he took a look and said, 'Looks like they're trying to drown Barbie.'"

Further fuel for his book came from a writers conference that he attended. "It was one of those days when I could have sworn I was wearing my collar," he said. A woman approached him and sat down to talk. "I'm crazy," she told Ramsay. It took Ramsay a minute to realize that the woman was serious. She went on to tell him that she was a meth baby who'd been pimped out by her mother.

Another piece of the manuscript that became Drowning Barbie involved a mobster who attempted to take control of a crime family. He was killed in New York, and although his body wasn't found, his killers-- who were responsible for many other deaths-- were sent to Sing Sing on the evidence the police did manage to gather. Later on, the mobster's body was dug up elsewhere, and the evidence obtained from the body did not match the trial facts. Should these killers get a new trial? As you can see, ideas for crime novels can come from anywhere!

Available Now!

Ramsay went on to mention that when he'd started writing about Ike, they were roughly the same age. Now Ike is 30-40 years younger than his creator. Ramsay has no idea what guys in that age bracket are up to now, so he writes Ike "as an old-fashioned kinda guy."

Barbara then brought up the fact that Frederick Ramsay has written two books-- The Eighth Veil and Holy Smoke-- from the viewpoint of the New Testament as history. "These books are really interesting... and they may no longer be just a trilogy," she said, smiling at Ramsay. Ramsay enjoys telling the gospel through the eyes of people who had no investment in the events unfolding around them. They don't care what's happening, so he's able to put an entirely different spin on these mysteries. "Most people don't know the region's history, or if they do, it's through the cloaks of religion and Cecil B. DeMille," he said.

"It can be hard to explain the old morality."

L to R: Charlotte Hinger, Barbara Peters

The conversation switched back to Charlotte as Barbara reminded us that Hidden Heritage had been named one of the ten Best Mysteries of 2013 by Kirkus Reviews.

Since Hinger's series deals so much with history (her main character is an historian), she often finds herself trying to explain the morality of previous generations, "...the concept of shame, of having to get married, of what it meant to file bankruptcy, of being forced to go to the Poor Farm." These are concepts that Charlotte herself understands very well because two generations of her family span three centuries. "My father was born in the nineteenth century, I was born in the twentieth, and now I'm living in the twenty-first and watching my six grandchildren grow up."

In Hinger's books, oftentimes it's an old crime that causes a new murder, and she's done the same work that Lottie does in the books. "I've talked to so many people. I know of several couples who, back in the day, got married and didn't have sex for six months so they could prove to everyone that there hadn't been any hanky panky going on before the wedding.

"I've found out that when people are in their fifties, they don't want to talk to historians. By the time these people are in their 80s and 90s, they want people to know all sorts of things before they die!"

Available Now!

Proving that life often imitates art, Hinger had to change one of the family names in Hidden Heritage because the exact same thing happened in real life as in Charlotte's plot. She definitely didn't want to open herself to a lawsuit!

"Barbara tries to keep my historical tidbits subdued so the book still qualifies as a crime novel," Charlotte told us with a smile.

Questions, Answers & Editors

A fan mentioned music, and Charlotte loved the fact that she'd noticed. "Music is important in the books because it's important to me," she said.

Donis Casey brought up the curandera in Hidden Heritage. "Yes," Hinger said. "Half of the medicine we have today can be found on the Plains, and there was always someone who knew how to use it." [A curandera is a healer who uses folk remedies.]

Another person mentioned writing groups, which don't work for Hinger. "Having people critique your work can be tricky," she said. "I trust Barbara Peters and I praise her abilities to everyone." Hinger shared some writing advice she was given and that she follows: "Don't trust anyone. Not enemies. Not friends. Don't change a thing unless the change resonates within you."

When asked if he had any advice to give us, Frederick Ramsay said, "Never teach middle school if you're my age." A student told him, "My great-great-grandfather fought in World War II." Ramsay thought a few seconds and could see that the math was right. He then told the boy, "My great-great-grandfather fought in the Civil War."  Ramsay laughed. "I think that boy still hasn't gotten his mind around that!" (And I sat there thinking that my grandfather fought in World War II and my great-great-great-grandfather died in the Civil War!)

Right now, Charlotte Hinger is hard at work on a book about nineteenth-century African Americans and their impact on the settlement of the West, which makes her editor a bit nervous. "I can't help but be reminded of John Dunning," Barbara Peters said. "He spent so much time writing The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, which turned into a sort of black hole. He emerged with a brain tumor and was unable to continue his brilliant Bookman series."

Charlotte divulged the fact that she's torn between two titles for her next Lottie Albright novel: Fractured Families or Ominous Origins. Most folks seemed to prefer the former, while I preferred the latter. Wouldn't you know it?

When Barbara couldn't see something across the room, she apologized. "I've just finished editing seven books for our fall list, and I'm practically blind!" Referring back to what Charlotte had said about her earlier, Peters said, "I think one of my strengths as an editor is the fact that I have absolutely no desire to write a book." At this point Donis Casey-- another of the authors Peters edits-- jumped in quickly to add, "Barbara doesn't try to write your book for you."

The rest of the very enjoyable event concluded with questions and prizes. Frederick Ramsay had brought his own questions, although he did notice from a comment made that "Donis, you're on page 102 of Drowning Barbie." He also let us know that he does "backwards research," writing the story first and then going back to do the research.

Charlotte Hinger has a color-coded system for her rough drafts. "The first draft is on pink paper: it's pink with promise. The second draft is on yellow paper because the light is beginning to shine through." 

Ramsay had a deputy badge to give away. Due to a little snafu with the numbers, the man whose voice I recognized traded his number with Donis Casey. Which number was called? The number he'd just given to Donis!

What a fun afternoon! Glorious weather, a wonderful bookstore, two fascinating authors, and a group of crime fiction lovers. You can't get much better than that! (And... remember what I said earlier about not having read any of Frederick Ramsay's books? I've just begun to read Artscape, the first Ike Schwartz mystery!)

What's Goin' On Weekly Link Round-Up

For one reason or another, an occasional week wafts through my life in which nothing much happens-- or at least nothing much I want to talk about. That's what happened here at Casa Kittling this past week, so I'm going to let these links do all my talking for me.  Have a fabulous weekend, everyone-- and don't forget to read a good book!

Bookish News & Other Interesting Tidbits

• Stephen King is a busy boy. Mr. Mercedes will be released in June, and Revival is set for a November release.
• How to protect your Facebook account from Rogue applications.
• Isabel Allende knows how to ruffle the feathers of the crime fiction community.
• America's best first lady? It's no surprise who tops the list whenever this poll is taken!
• Having been less than thrilled with the little anniversary video Facebook cooked up for me, I have to admit I got a chuckle or two from the "much more honest" version someone else took the time to do.
• Tales2Go launches a Netflix for audiobooks service which is aimed at children.
• The book industry isn't dying, it's thriving with an eBook assist.
• I have yet to read Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken (Shame on me!), but that didn't keep me from taking a look at the first trailer available for the movie which is based on that book.
• J.K. Rowling is writing a second book under her Robert Galbraith pseudonym. (See if you can catch the error in the article.)
• Remember when James Patterson told us he was going to give $1 million to independent bookstores during the next year? The first checks are in the mail.

Architecture, Archaeology & Other Links I Dig

• Having read Empty Mansions last year, I was interested to see that one of Huguette Clark's mansions may finally have sold.
• Imagine turning 420,000 matchsticks into J.R.R. Tolkien's Minas Tirith.
• An ancient rural town has been uncovered in Israel.
• A talented architect has made an RV look like a cabin in the woods.
• South Carolina archaeologists are racing to uncover a Civil War prison.
• A 3,600-year-old Egyptian mummy has been unearthed by Spanish archaeologists.
• An ancient dog burial site has been found in Mexico City.

Mother Nature

• Tired of shoveling now? Be glad you don't live around the city of Aomori, Japan!
• The Kelud volcano has erupted in Indonesia.
• Nothing like seeing the world's tallest building being struck by lightning. 

I  ♥  Lists

• Literature's 25 most memorable love affairs. 
• The all-time top ten grossing Sci-Fi movies adjusted for inflation... in one of those addictive infographics.
• 13 words you didn't know were invented by Shakespeare.
• The extraordinary origins of 11 ordinary words.
• The ten richest US presidents.
• 11 cakes shaped like books.
• 11 reasons to date a bookworm.

That's all for this week. Don't forget to stop by next weekend when I'll have a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure!

Dead Water by Ann Cleeves

First Line: Jimmy Perez stopped for breath and looked out to sea.

Inspector Jimmy Perez has been on leave from the Shetland Island police force for reasons known to those who have been following Ann Cleeves' books closely. He is trying to work his way back gradually, but his depression and fits of temper are wearing out his co-workers. Whether he likes it or not, he finds himself pulled back into the heart of an investigation into the murder of a journalist. Not only does he have to re-accustom himself to the rigors of an investigation, he has to acquaint himself with a new boss. Detective Inspector Willow Reeves has been sent to head her first big case, and she's determined to find the killer.

When I first learned that Ann Cleeves' books featuring Jimmy Perez were expanding beyond the original quartet size, I was a bit worried. I should not have been. Cleeves has delivered another tightly woven mystery within its beautifully evocative setting of the Shetland Islands.

The mystery centers on a journalist in search of a story-- a journalist whose checkered past on the islands adds to the list of possible suspects. The story he's researching seems to do with alternative forms of energy, and Cleeves does an excellent job of weaving this into the story, along with the energy sources' possible effects upon the islands and their inhabitants.

As usual, it's the characters that bring everything to life, and two of them in particular. Perez's portrayal as a man frozen in grief rings painfully true, and readers who have followed these books from the very first (Raven Black) will hurt along with him and long to see him on the road to recovery. The second character to share the spotlight in this marvelous book is Detective Inspector Willow Reeves. She's smart, she's quirky, and she's brought in especially since she was born and raised on the Outer Hebrides-- a bit of a joke, proving that those in charge in places like Aberdeen or Edinburgh don't know as much as they think they do. One group of islands off the coast of Scotland is not exactly like any other. I liked watching how Willow fit herself in with a new group of people, and if this series continues, I am certainly looking forward to seeing more of her.

Dead Water continues one of the aspects of this series that I love the most. In this day and age of technology, forensics, Google, and everything else, it's the people who solve the crimes. Police officers like Perez and Reeves solve the case because they get out and do the work; they check records, they talk to everyone who needs to be talked to, and they listen. Forensics is all well and good, but to investigators like Perez-- and writers like Ann Cleeves-- forensics serve to back up the evidence that people have worked hard to uncover.  I like it like that.

Dead Water by Ann Cleeves

ISBN:  9781250036605

Minotaur Books © 2014

Hardcover, 400 pages

Police Procedural, #5 Shetland series

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet 

Books, Cooks, and Crooks by Lucy Arlington

First Line: After a long day of contract negotiations, phone calls to authors and editors, and a meeting with my fellow literary agents, the last thing I expected was to come home to find my kitchen on fire.

The Taste of the Town festival is almost ready to hit Inspiration Valley, North Carolina. The Novel Idea Literary Agency is organizing a celebrity chef event, and one of its agents, Lila Wilkins, is right in the thick of things. Unfortunately things get off to a very rocky start. After the welcome dinner given for all the chefs, an oven in the demo kitchen explodes, killing one of the star cooks. Now Lila has to figure out which one of her clients is a killer.

I continue to enjoy this Novel Idea cozy series created by the writing team known as Lucy Arlington. In Inspiration Valley, they have created a town in which all lovers of books, food, and the arts would love to live. It's such a perfect place, in fact, that the setting gives the series a bit of a fairy tale aspect, and it's one in which I love to escape whenever a new book appears.

The cast of characters is varied and well-drawn, and adding a group of television chefs with their quirks and egos increases the enjoyment factor. Lila Wilkins is at the book's heart, and her life is not a static one. We get to watch her son grow from boy to man, we see her relationship with her mother change, and her growing attachment to police officer Sean Griffiths touches on all aspects of her life. I particularly like the relationship between Lila and Sean; it isn't the usual one where the law enforcement man in the heroine's life frowns upon her doing her own investigating. Sean sees Lila for who she is, and he's willing to work with her instead of against her. It makes a refreshing change.

One of the best things about this series is that readers have the feeling that they are getting behind-the-scenes looks at what it's like to work at a literary agency. Not only do they get that here, but there's the added bonus of insider views of the television culinary scene. What are those celebrity chefs really like when the cameras aren't rolling? How do they interact with each other? Why do they do what they do?

There's only one thing that kept me from thoroughly enjoying Books, Cooks, and Crooks: very early on when Lila is giving the chefs and their entourages a guided tour of where they'll be working, clues to what is going to happen-- and who's going to do it-- are practically gift wrapped and presented to readers. However, with a series that has so much richness and depth in both characters and situations, this was only a minor annoyance. Bring on Book Four!

Books, Cooks, and Crooks by Lucy Arlington

ISBN:  9780425252246

Berkley Prime Crime © 2014

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #3 Novel Idea mystery

Rating: B

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.

Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham

First Line: Cardiff Prison. September 2010. "Welcome."

Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths welcomes the call about illegal dumping in a Cardiff, Wales, suburb; it saves her from another dull weekend. What she doesn't expect is to find a severed human leg-- complete with a high-heeled shoe-- tucked away in a garage freezer. The police are able to identify the body part as that of a young woman who went missing five years earlier, but just as Fiona starts to get inside the murdered girl's head, another body part is found, and this one belongs to a male. As more body parts are found, the media begin whipping themselves into a frenzy, and-- contrary to the evidence-- Fiona is convinced that these two victims are connected in some way.

My first encounter with DC Fiona Griffiths was in Harry Bingham's Talking to the Dead, and it became one of my Best Reads of 2012. Love Story, With Murders is now one of my Best Reads of 2014, and it has everything to do with Fiona... Fi. 

While in her teens she suffered an unusual sort of breakdown, and it has colored everything in her world: how she relates to people, how she thinks, how she copes with stress. She's almost the idiot savant of the Cardiff police force-- one moment disobeying orders and haring off to do something extremely foolhardy, and the next moment putting totally disparate clues together to crack a case. Reviewers have likened her to Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander, and they are similar in their strange intelligence, but where Lisbeth radiates hostility, Fi is often endearing-- especially once you know the truth about her breakdown.

Love Story, With Murders continues the story of Fi's reintroduction to the normal world. She's got a man in her life now, and she works to remember to do all that "boyfriend stuff" that he expects. You can almost chart her progress as the pages turn, and it makes you feel good. She's also developing a rapport with her boss, Rhiannon Watkins, a woman so disliked that she could be "the first murder victim with over a million plausible suspects. A group that would include every one of her CID colleagues." Watkins can see flashes of Fi's brilliance, and Fi always seems to ignore the superficial to see things in people that normally go unnoticed. Boyfriend, boss... and family, for Fi's father also becomes part of the investigation, which is both a worry and a help to the young detective constable.

The case is a true puzzler; however, I was so wrapped up in watching Fiona put the clues together that I made no attempt to solve the crimes ahead of her. Bingham has combined an absolutely brilliant characterization with a finely constructed mystery-- for the second time in a row. Love Story, With Murders can be read as a standalone, but if wonderful characters are one of the main reasons why you read, why deny yourself the pleasure of even one paragraph of Fiona Griffiths' story?

Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham

ISBN: 9780345533760

Delacorte Press © 2014

Hardcover, 400 pages

Police Procedural, #2 Fiona Griffiths mystery

Rating: A+

Source: NetGalley