The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert

First Line: Elizabeth Lacy had been a member of the Darling Garden Club ever since Mrs. Blackstone started it in 1925, and president for the last two years.

It's 1930 in Darling, Alabama (population 907), money is scarce, and everyone is making do. The ladies of the Darling Dahlias Garden Club are looking forward to sprucing up the neglected gardens of their new clubhouse, which they inherited after the club's founder, Mrs. Dahlia Blackstone died. However, there's plenty going on in town to distract them.

There are rumors floating around that the Darling Savings and Trust may be in trouble, and there's been a prison break, but what has the lion's share of club president Elizabeth Lacy's attention is the disappearance of drugstore clerk, Bunny Scott. 

Bunny was known to be flighty and man crazy, and she was always talking about moving to New York, but Liz Lacy and fellow club member Verna Tidwell know good and well that a woman doesn't leave for New York City and leave all her clothes, jewelry and cosmetics behind. When Bunny turns up dead in a stolen car, the Darling Dahlias decide to do some investigating on their own-- even if a ghost does seem to be digging around the old cucumber tree at night.

Susan Wittig Albert almost immediately transported me to Depression-Era Alabama in this first book in the series. She's done her research, and her mentions of songs playing on the radio and the movies that were showing at the theater in town created a lot of the needed ambiance. Her research shows up everywhere-- in the prices people were paying for things, in their recipes, in the fear that swept through the community when rumors of a bank closure and a prison break began to circulate-- and all these details fit into the story seamlessly. 

Add an intriguing mystery to a perfect setting, and you've got a good book to read. In fact there are several little mysteries running throughout this book. Some are easily solved, but others require much more thought and deduction.  What raises the bar even higher is Albert's cast of characters. The main garden club members come from all walks of life-- there's the mayor's wife whose husband is always telling her not to worry her pretty little head, there's a legal secretary, a probate clerk, and women who run the local diner and moonlight as telephone operators. If these women don't have their fingers on the pulse of Darling, Alabama, then no one does!

We get to know Lizzy Lacy the most in this book, and I like her a lot. She's what would have been called a spinster back then, since her domineering mother got it into her maternal head that Lizzy was going to be her live-in doormat forever more. But lest you get the idea that Lizzy has no spine, think again. I guarantee you're going to like her. I look forward to learning even more about the rest of the characters because just enough of their backgrounds were given to let readers know that there's much more to their stories, too. 

Albert also includes "making do" tips and recipes at the back of the book, and reading them brought back many memories for me, having grown up with a grandmother and mother who lived through the Depression. And although I did notice the slow pace of the book throughout the first half, I just chalked it up to setting the stage for this new series. History, mystery, characters, food, music, and flowers. I'm already looking forward to the next book!

The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert

ISBN: 9780425234457 

Berkley © 2010

Hardcover, 304 pages

Historical Mystery, #1 Darling Dahlias mystery

Rating: A-

Source: Paperback Swap 


 

What Part of Italy Are You?

You Are Venice

You are a true romantic, and you appreciate a slower, more old fashioned pace of life. You like to travel, but you don't need to see the world all at once. You are content to stay in one place for a while. You appreciate culture, art, and history. You like to dig deep and discover the things that aren't in books. You are a dreamer, and you love to be inspired. In the perfect setting, you feel anything is possible.

What Part of Italy Are You?

At The Poisoned Pen with Deborah Crombie!

With the rain and flooding in the Phoenix area canceling an author event that we'd planned to attend, it had been a while since Denis and I headed over to our favorite bookstore, The Poisoned Pen, in Scottsdale. With our trip up to Black Canyon Lake on the Mogollon Rim area, we had been refreshed with our sightings of mule deer, golden-mantled squirrels, Stellar's Jays, a Cooper's Hawk, and a Belted Kingfisher, and were more than ready for some culture. I made my usual purchase (this time Weave of Absence by Carol Ann Martin and To Dwell in Darkness by tonight's author Deborah Crombie) and made my way to the back to sit and read. 

A very shiny floor and some early birds....

I'd no more stuck my nose into Charlie Lovett's First Impressions when The Poisoned Pen's technical guru, Ariel, asked me if I'd noticed that the bodies were gone. Now, I'd noticed that the floor was so shiny you could count the pores on your face, but I hadn't noticed that those crime-scene-tape yellow "chalk" outlines of two bodies were missing! Seems the company that cleans the floor was so zealous that they polished them right off. I asked Ariel if she was going to lay on the floor to provide the outlines again, and she said she probably would-- but she was thinking of adding blood splatter as well. Sounds good to me!

I never did get back to reading because a steady stream of familiar Deborah Crombie fans kept coming in, and naturally we had to share our opinions of recent books we'd read.....

"If you don't send me to The Poisoned Pen..."

L to R: Barbara Peters, Deborah Crombie

The evening truly began when Barbara and Deborah took their seats at the front of a large group of enthusiastic fans-- most of whom seem to have read every single one of her books. (This would include Denis and me.) Barbara looked over at Deborah and said, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we've been together for every book?" Crombie replied, "Yes, we have... well... maybe not the first one. And I think for one of the Bantam books they told me that they weren't going to be sending me to The Poisoned Pen, and I told them, 'If you don't send me, I'll pay to go myself!" (They sent her.)

Barbara replied, "Publishers seem to wax and wane about how they want to publicize their books. Deborah's just begun a five-week book tour-- and other times she has to offer to pay her own way. You just never know how it's going to work out!"

Barbara once interviewed Deborah during a Left Coast Crime conference, which is where she learned she'll never be able to keep one of Crombie's titles straight: "I've never been able to keep the title Leave the Grave Green straight... I've called it Leave the Grass Green forever!" Deborah laughed and said, "My agent calls it Leave the Grass Green, and we refer to it as 'the fertilizer mystery'."

Although most of Crombie's books are set in various London locations, she has set a few in other UK areas. For years, Barbara used to campaign for a "pottery" book (one set amongst all the china and pottery factories of Staffordshire), but she told us, "I've decided that I'm going to have to write it myself and put Deborah's name on it." Deborah did say that she'd love to write Barbara's pottery book, but that she wrote herself into a bit of a corner, and now she needs to deal with that first.

"It's sort of ticking quietly in the background..."

Deborah Crombie

"It started at the end of No Mark Upon Her where something happened that was not what it appeared to be," Crombie said, "and I knew it wasn't what it appeared to be when I wrote it. I sort of knew what really happened and what the consequences were going to be, and it was something that couldn't be resolved in that book. Then The Sound of Broken Glass... it kind of simmered under the surface a bit, and you get more of it in this book... and then in the next one, I'm going to have to deal with it. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do yet!"

"I figured you were postponing it because you didn't know what you were going to do," Barbara said, "but I like it. It's sort of ticking quietly in the background, and it could go for a while."

"I've had a couple of people ask me after that book came out why I ruined a perfectly good crime novel with an unresolved conspiracy," Crombie went on to say. "I did it because I thought it was interesting. And if you just write the same thing... this is my sixteenth book, and if you just write the same thing all the time you get bored, and readers will get bored. If people want to read the same book, they can reread all the others. I'm being tacky, I know! Of course I want people to love the books I write, but it was just something I wanted to do. "

"I agree that if you aren't enthused about what you're writing, readers won't be either," Barbara said, "but I also wondered if Rob and I hadn't been influenced by MHZ TV that you can get through Direct TV. We've been watching these European crime stories that run on for episodes, and believe me they can go on forever---"

"Story arcs!" Deborah blurted out.

"Yes," Barbara agreed. "Even Call the Midwife. I know it's not crime fiction, but I absolutely love it. I think I've gotten more accustomed to long-running story lines."

Crombie then mentioned that she'd had various ongoing relationship threads in her books as well as investigations, but she felt that "at least one story line needs to be resolved or the reader feels cheated."

"I'm not a fan of repeat serial killer characters," Barbara added. "I stopped reading Patricia Cornwell when a serial killer had already appeared twice and then came back a third time as a ghost. Just come up with a new serial killer! Why are you recycling the same one?"

"...nothing to do with the London Eye!"

Deborah Crombie

As talk began to turn to her newest book, To Dwell in Darkness, Deborah assured us that it had "absolutely nothing to do with the London Eye. The London Eye just makes a striking cover!"

She described this book to us as a "continuation of my love affair with Victorian architecture." Crombie loves St. Pancras International Railway Station in London, and knew that she would one day set a book there. "I think it's the crowning achievement of Victorian architecture," she told us.

"We might want to say a few words about how the train stations in London work," Peters said, "because you can't just take a train from any London station to go anywhere."

"Yes, that was the big thing about St. Pancras because it would take the trains coming from the north. Trains coming from the west will go to one station, those from the south to another, and so on. What station you go to in London depends upon which direction you're traveling," Crombie said.

This talk segued nicely into Barbara Peters' favorite P.D. James story in which James was talking about letters she'd received from fans. In one of her Adam Dagliesh mysteries, James sent one of her characters off from the wrong station, and she received lots of mail about her error-- to point it out and to complain. All except one woman, whose letter began, "I, too..." and then went on to explain that she'd also tried to leave from the wrong station, listing all the stations, trains, and lines she had to take to get to where she wanted to go! We were all laughing when Deborah said, "J.K. Rowling goofed too, but at the time it had been years since she'd been to London. She has the Hogwarts train leave from King's Cross, but she's actually describing Paddington Station." (All  this talk of trains and stations made me think of the trip to Scotland Denis and I are currently planning in which we intend to take the night train from London to Inverness. Something tells me I'm incessantly going to be doublechecking the station from which we leave!)

From St. Pancras to trains to Crombie's latest book, the author told us that at the beginning of To Dwell in Darkness, Duncan is still trying to make sense of his abrupt transfer from Scotland Yard to an area murder investigation team for the borough of Camden that works out of Holborn Station. He's not getting along well with his team, and he's unaccustomed to being disliked. But all that takes a backseat when a white phosphorus grenade is set off in St. Pancras Station. He and his team have to learn-- and learn quickly-- if this was an accident or an act of terrorism. It's the main case in the book, with Gemma's case taking on a secondary role, which is only right since she had the lead in The Sound of Broken Glass. Crombie did want, however, for something in Gemma's case to give Duncan insight into the identity of the murderer in the investigation he's running. "So I gave Gemma this case, and then I realized I was going to have to solve it. It was hard!" 

Peters said it sounded as though this book had been difficult to write. "It was really a challenge," Crombie agreed. "It's certainly not the longest book I've ever written. That was Water Like a Stone which was 'the book that wouldn't die'! It was something like 650 pages in manuscript. To Dwell in Darkness was a challenge. Everything happens in four days. It was a very tight timeline. I felt as though I were writing an episode of 24. So everything had to count. There were so many different story lines, so many different characters... and everything had to be blocked together. I hope I pulled everything off."

"I think you did," Barbara said. "So... what happens to the kittens?"

"Ah, everyone wants to know about the kittens, although when my editor was reading the manuscript, she kept saying, 'Enough of the kittens!' But then I'd tell her 'There's a reason why the kittens are there!'" Crombie went on to tell us more about the kittens, but I'm only going to say that Kit and Toby find a starving mother cat and four kittens and wind up bringing them home.

Tea at the Ritz!

Available Now!

Barbara and Deborah then proceeded to tell us about the time that they had tea at the Ritz and then went to Buckingham Palace when it first opened to the public in order to raise funds for the repairs to Hampton Court Palace, which had had a devastating fire in 1986. After getting sidetracked, Barbara said, "So we had tea at the Ritz and then went to Buckingham Palace and went through it, and even then you were kvetching about being late with a book! I didn't want to say whining. So it's been sort of a constant...."

Deborah laughed and replied, "If you do the math it's been twenty-one years since A Share in Death was published, and I've written sixteen books. So it's not that..."

"I didn't mean that you were chronically late," Barbara rushed in to say. "I meant that you were chronically anxious that you won't get it done and bring it all together."

"Yes, and it hasn't gotten any better," Deborah said. 

"I think you've had an endless quest for perfection and that makes it harder for you," Peters commented.

"My agent (we've been together for twenty-three years) has asked me why I can't just write a draft. But it's never worked that way for me. My friend Louise Penny writes a draft, and then she writes another draft. I can't do that. I outline."

"Whatever works for you," Peters said.

"I have to figure out how all the pieces fit together before I can actually sit down and start writing." To illustrate how much she can agonize over her writing, Crombie then told us that she turned in the manuscript for To Dwell in Darkness on July 1-- which cut it close for all the finishing touches to be done. "I have to turn in my next manuscript on March 1, and how that is going to happen, I do not know! I know what's going to happen in the next book... and that's about it! Now what I need is uninterrupted time where I can lock myself away and just write."

As the evening began to draw to a close, other tidbits surfaced:

Deborah highly recommends Connie Willis's Blackout and All Clear as "the best description of the Blitz I've ever read. Everyone should really read these books!"

Barbara then mentioned having her wallet stolen in Covent Garden-- just as she exited the Police Museum.

Perhaps the biggest news came at the very end: a British production company has bought the option for Crombie's series in hopes of turning it into a television series for BBC or ITV.  One of the stars who has been mentioned is Joe Armstrong, son of Alun Armstrong who will be very familiar to any New Tricks fans out there (like Denis and me). I can't wait to see what happens!

After getting my book signed, Denis and I stopped at the Cornish Pasty for dinner, and talked books all the way home. Haven't read Deborah Crombie? You just have to change that-- she is an incredible writer!

The Refreshed and Renewed Weekly Link Round-Up

This week brought a much-needed break up in the White Mountains. Denis and I try to go up to Black Canyon Lake before the snow has a chance to fly so we can make sure the critters are stocked up on raw peanuts and sunflower kernels for those long winter evenings. This was a very special visit indeed. Not only were the golden-mantled squirrels shoveling goodies into their cheek pouches as fast as they could, the Stellar's jays were practicing aerial bombardment-- swooping in with talons extended to snatch up a peanut to take it to a pine tree and stash it for a future snack.

Mule deer at Black Canyon Lake

Those are the regulars that Denis and I are used to seeing, but I'm thrilled to announce that we saw some other critters that aren't so regular-- at least for us.

I saw a bird swoop down over the water, snatch something up and then fly over to a tree root and perch. It was quite a distance away, and I could only hope that my camera would be able to zoom in close enough so that I would be able to get home and identify the bird. Well, not only was I able to identify the bird as a belted kingfisher, I managed to get a couple of shots of it with the fish in its beak! I'm thrilled because this is the first time I've ever seen a kingfisher. I've heard them at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, but had never seen them before today.

Then on the way back on the fire road that takes visitors to the lake, Denis and I saw not one but two mule deer in the trees. One was very kind, letting Denis stop, put the Jeep in reverse, slowly back up, and giving me time to take a couple of photos. Of course I said, "Thank you!" when I was finished. Going out in nature is always good for what ails me. I'll be refreshed when Denis and I head to The Poisoned Pen to see Deborah Crombie!

 

Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits

• Have you ever wanted to track your reading on a spreadsheet? I do, and it's simple once I set up a routine. As a result, I can pull up all sorts of statistics for my year-end blog posts. Here's some help setting up a spreadsheet.
• Fans of the cancelled televison program Longmire aren't taking kindly to the fact that A&E thinks they're too old. 
• Some tidbits about upcoming Star Trek 3 are coming to light.
• The population of the internet-- in one map. 
• The first "Gone Girl" movie reviews confirm that the book's ending hasn't changed, and it's an Oscar contender. (I couldn't finish reading the book; I wonder if I'll like the film any better?)
• eBook piracy is fast becoming a top concern. 
• I may not like Budweiser, but I tend to love their commercials. They've got another winner out now.

Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones

• The second-ever photo of Billy the Kid has emerged.
• Think hair extensions are relatively new? Think again!
• Last week I mentioned the divers searching the ship graveyard in the San Francisco Bay. This week, news of the discovery of historic ghost ships is rising to the surface.
• Child goldsmiths went blind making some of the treasures at Stonehenge.
• It took eight long years, but archaeologists managed to uncover the hidden death chambers of Sobibór. 
• Archaeologists are still discovering all sorts of things at Stonehenge. 
• Sunk off the coast of South Carolina 157 years ago, the SS Central America-- otherwise known as the "Ship of Gold"-- is giving up a fortune in gold and jewels.
• The search for a 500-year-old shipwreck could rewrite Australia's history. 
• Follow a journalist inside the long-unopened storage locker of the Beatles' American lawyer.
• More than 50 geoglyphs have been discovered in Kazakhstan. 
• The discovery of a 4,000-year-old shipwreck could be the world's oldest.

I  ♥  Lists

• 22 literary pun names for your dog.
• In honor of Banned Book Week-- Which banned book are you? I took the quiz and was told I am The Grapes of Wrath. 
• How scandalous is your reading history?
• 17 things English majors are tired of hearing.
• The Huffington Post examines banned books in 5 infographics. 
• A fellow book blogger has gathered together 30 book blogger booktastic boards on Pinterest.

Book Candy

• 25 vintage international book covers for H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds.
• 3 innovative outdoor libraries in Russia. (I wouldn't mind having the tube-shaped one to put in a private garden setting.)
• 9 charming things every book lover needs.

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

The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves

First Line: Vera Stanhope climbed out of Hector's ancient Land Rover and felt the inevitable strain on her knees.

Even though she tends to be a solitary person, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope has made friends with her free-spirited neighbors. After all, they keep her supplied with conversation and bottles of home brew. But talk and ale only go so far, and she doesn't want to become bosom pals. That may be about to change when neighbor Jack tells Vera that Joanna is missing. Against her better judgement and her inclination, she agrees to track the woman down. 

She finds Joanna at the Writer's House, a country retreat on the Northumberland coast where aspiring authors attend lectures and work on their books-- and that's not all she finds. Someone is dead, and Joanna has been found with a knife in her hand. The crafty D. I. manages to hold on to the case, even though she is a friend of the prime suspect, but she and her team can't seem to find a motive-- even when another body is found.

I have long been a fan of Ann Cleeves' writing, in particular her Shetland series and these Vera Stanhope novels. Vera is a favorite of mine. She's not young, she's definitely not pretty, and she tends to be a grouch. Her life with her eccentric father shaped her, but it does not define her. This woman has a mind like the proverbial steel trap, and not much gets past her gimlet eye.

What's new for Vera this time around is the fact that she's paying more attention to children and mothers, and she's wondering if perhaps she should've given motherhood a try herself. When a woman is childless past a certain age, it's natural to think about what if's... and Vera might even be wondering who's going to take care of her when she no longer can.

Cleeves' strengths are in evidence here: characterization, creating atmosphere, her ear for dialogue, and plotting, and I always enjoy how she includes her own interests in her books-- like the beautiful county of Northumberland, birds, and this time the world of writing and publishing. I was slightly disappointed in that I knew the identity of the killer immediately, but I think it was more the case that I instinctively distrust certain types of characters rather than any sort of weakness on the author's part. 

What I am sure of is my affection for Vera Stanhope. Whenever Vera has a new case, you can be certain that I'll read all about it.
 

The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves

ISBN: 9780230762862 

Pan Macmillan © 2012

Paperback, 374 pages

Police Procedural, #5 D.I. Vera Stanhope mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Paperback Swap

Death of an Old Git by Andrea Frazer

First Line: The village of Castle Farthing drowsed in the heat of the July sunshine, postcard-pretty with its diamond-shaped green, duck pond, and Saxon church.

Old Reg Morley is the man everyone loves to hate there in the village of Castle Farthing. He's a petty thief, a peeping Tom, a troublemaker who insists that children should be neither seen nor heard, and he seems to have trained his dog to defecate on demand in his neighbors' gardens. When he's found strangled to death in his kitchen, the entire village breathes a sigh of relief.

When Detective Inspector Harry Falconer and his partner, Acting Detective Sergeant Davey Carmichael, drive from Market Darley to begin their investigation, they discover most of Castle Farthing's residents hovering as near to old Morley's place as they can get-- and that the local constable has let the vicar into the crime scene. They've barely gotten their bearings when Falconer realizes that practically everyone in the village had a reason to want the old man dead. Uncovering all the village secrets-- and the killer-- is going to be a long, hard slog, but Falconer will not rest until the case is solved.

I was first attracted to this book by its title, which is proof that, not only am I an Anglophile, I have an English husband as well. But trouble quickly loomed on the horizon. The writing was stiff, and there was far more telling me what was going on rather than leaving the characters alone to show me. Just as I was thinking of stopping and choosing a different book to read (at the end of chapter two), something shifted and all the separate parts of this little mystery clicked into place. From a book I'd decided not to finish, Death of an Old Git turned into a very fun, enjoyable read.

The reason for this abrupt about-face is the author's marvelous sense of humor. I lost count of the times Andrea Frazer either made me smile or made me laugh out loud. Falconer is one of those fussy men; everything-- from his clothing and appearance to his home, car, and office-- must be just so before he's happy. Imagine this meticulous man partnered with "the human ironing board" Acting Detective Sergeant Davey Carmichael-- a towering young man who has all the fashion sense of a manic, colorblind stork. To Falconer's astounded and agonized eyes, Carmichael's choice of clothing alone sets the tone for each day of the investigation. And the humor certainly isn't limited to clothing.

The plot of Death of an Old Git isn't complicated. Falconer and Carmichael go 'round and 'round Castle Farthing reinterviewing all the suspects until they finally piece things together. The identity of the killer should be rather clear, and Frazer even has an interactive element in the story when Falconer finds something at the crime scene, slips it into his pocket, and promptly forgets it. Each time it was mentioned, I wanted to grab Falconer by his freshly starched and ironed collar and shake him just a little bit. See? Interactive!

So... a shaky start and a simple plot usually elicits a thumb down from me, but not this time. I was quite frankly hooked and bedazzled by Frazer's wit, humor, and her two main characters. I already have the next book in the series lined up and ready to read. 
 

Death of an Old Git by Andrea Frazer

ASIN: B00F54ZHQI

Accent Press © 2014

eBook, 210 pages

Cozy/Police Procedural, #1 Falconer Files

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

The Kill Switch by James Rollins and Grant Blackwood

First Line: Doctor Paulos de Klerk packed the last of the medical supplies into the wooden trunk and locked the three brass clasps, mumbling under his breath with each snap.

Sigma Force is given a vital mission that must be carried out immediately, and Tucker Wayne and his partner, the retired war dog Kane, are the only ones close enough to get in quickly and get it done. Escorting the pharmaceutical magnate out of Russia and into the United States isn't easy from the first second Tucker and Kane set foot in Siberia. Someone knew he was coming, and now Tucker has to try to outfox the group that wants to keep Abram Bukolov in Russia. Bukolov holds the secret to a deadly bioweapon that's going to take them on to South Africa and Namibia before the billionaire ever has a chance to see America.

James Rollins knows how to take interesting tidbits from history and science and turn them into an adrenaline-fueled thriller. In the case of The Kill Switch, the history is the Boer War and the science involves something that could very well be the stem cells of the plant world. Add to the history and science the intriguing duo of Tucker Wayne and Kane, and the enjoyment factor increases tenfold.

Having already read a bit about this man and his dog, I was looking forward to a little background on the two of them, and I was not disappointed. Tucker's childhood and his service in the military have led him to make rules for himself that can cause problems. One of those rules is that he won't kill a dog. Dogs have given him the love, the friendship, and the loyalty that humans never have, and although his "rule" makes sense to him, it is something that does put him and the others at risk. Kane, the Belgian shepherd, is just as devoted to Tucker as Tucker is to him. He is intelligent, extremely well-trained, and I can see some readers turning the pages of The Kill Switch and thinking that Kane is Super Dog, a fantasy of Rollins' imagination. Truth is, anyone who knows what these war dogs are capable of doing says that Rollins downplays their abilities.

I enjoyed this book for increasing my knowledge about Tucker and Kane, and I found the tie-in to the Boer War and the science fascinating. The action is almost non-stop, but if there is a weakness in this book it is the fact that too much of that action is predictable. However, I look forward to seeing what's in store for these two.

The Kill Switch by James Rollins and Grant Blackwood

ISBN: 9780062135254

William Morrow © 2014

Hardcover, 388 pages

Thriller, #1 Tucker Wayne

Rating: B+

Source: Amazon Vine

The Summer Road Trip Test

You Are Low Key

For you, vacation is all about having a great time without a lot of effort or planning. You prefer to spend as much time as you can in a nice spot, focusing on nature, family, friends, and maybe even a little reading. Of all the types, you are the most likely to want to get away to unplug. A trip is a chance to live a bit more simply. That's not to say you won't do anything on your vacation. You're happy to participate in almost any activity, as long as it's not too much fuss!

The Summer Road Trip Test

Inquiring Minds and All That

I have a really bad habit of random questions floating into my mind like butterflies and-- instead of doing anything with them-- I just let them float on out. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf; therefore, I will occasionally post one that I've actually managed to capture on a Post-It note. 

At first I thought about doing this on my blog's Facebook page, but I had another think about it and decided to broaden the scope. You see, I'm really interested in your answers, so whether it's easier for you to respond here or on Facebook, I hope you'll share your opinions. Here goes!


Which mystery series that are no longer being written do you miss the most?


I know that I've become attached to a mystery series or two over the years, and when this question came to mind and I first began making my list and checking it twice, the first place I went to was my "Favorite Mystery Series" page here on my blog. My first go-through left me with about 12-15 names-- way too many for this post.

So I went through that first list a second time and narrowed it down to eight. Then a third time to five. The fourth time was the charm: I successfully forced my list down to two names-- the two authors whose series I miss the most. What may or may not be surprising is how different the authors and their books are.

There are many reasons for an author to stop writing a series-- losing interest, losing a publisher, or family obligations could be a few; but the saddest reason of all is the author's death. 

Leighton Gage, who lived in Brazil , wrote a contemporary police procedural series set in Brazil whose main character is Chief Inspector Mario Silva. The first book, Blood of the Wicked, was amazing, but each successive book was even better than the one before it. When someone likes to read mysteries set all over the world and asks me for a recommendation, Leighton Gage's books always jump to mind first. He immerses you in the country, its customs, and its politics in a way that is poetic and profound, and his cast of characters is superb-- a mix of intelligence, humor, cunning, and persistence. 

A Leighton Gage novel has always given me the best in entertainment and enlightenment. Pancreatic cancer stole a gifted writer from us much too soon, and no matter how many books I have stacked to the ceiling, I will always regret that a new Leighton Gage mystery is not among them.

Fidelis Morgan is probably a force of nature. Born in a gypsy caravan, she's an actress, a playwright, she's written non-fiction and-- my absolute favorite-- a series of historical mysteries featuring the Countess Ashby de la Zouche (former mistress of Charles II) and her faithful maid, the busty Alpiew. The Countess is an older woman now. She's lost her looks, she has no money, her house is falling to bits, and she's taken to writing gossip for a London scandal sheet to keep body and soul together. It's amazing how much trouble one can get into looking for gossip.... 

The four books in the series are gems of setting, character, mystery and (often) laugh-out-loud humor. I've seldom read books by any other author that have so completely immersed me in a time and place. Unnatural Fire, The Rival Queens, The Ambitious Stepmother, and Fortune's Slave are near and dear to my heart, and-- personally-- I think her publisher should be tarred, feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail for dropping her. (That bit of exaggeration should tell you how much I love this series!)



Well, those are my two choices. It's your turn. What mystery series do you miss the most? I may have missed some jewels, so... Inquiring minds want to know!


 
 

May You Live in Interesting Times Weekly Link Round-Up

It's been an interesting week, mostly spent on the phone trying to unsnarl, untwist, and untangle two different messes (neither of which were my fault). The Poisoned Pen author event for Faye, Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman was rescheduled due to a huge storm system that moved in. While I was at the dentist, Phoenix received yet another torrential downpour. Thankfully it was of short duration, but I still had my fingers crossed as I navigated the Jeep through flooded streets. I got home to see that the property had narrowly escaped being inundated. Again. But hey-- my pearlies are nice and white, and that chipped incisor was repaired!

Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits

• The Reanimation Library is breathing life into old books.
• This is a given, but it's still fun to look at this infographic that tells us that Reading Is Good For You.
• Robert Parker's Jesse Stone lives on with a new author.
• It's not much of a surprise that Facebook users voted for Harry Potter as the book that stayed with them.
• I'm beginning to think that infographics are my guilty pleasure. Here's one to tell us how long it takes to read popular books. 
• Sophie Hannah tells us how she wrote a new Agatha Christie mystery. (Jesse Stone isn't dead, and neither is Hercule Poirot.)
• As cutthroat as Amazon can be, you'd think they'd be more concerned with the loopholes in Audible.
• There is a literacy crisis in the UK (and I would imagine that it's not the only country affected).
• A pirate's life has always had an allure for me, but not this kind: pirated Kindle books may hijack your Amazon account.
• There's a city in China in which phone addicts get their own sidewalk lane. (But are they going to look up from their phones to see if they're in the proper lane?) 
• A British politician is claiming that prisoners have better libraries than the public. 
• James Patterson and his publisher are donating books to the troops.
• Stephen King has been in the news, probably due to the announcement of a book tour. He's also sounded off on his most hated expressions.

Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones

• Media attention is driving archaeologists crazy at the excavation in Greece. Articles are popping up faster than crabgrass: "a remarkable find" followed by "marble female statues" (check out the slideshow), and then "Is this Alexander the Great's tomb?" (Now you see why the media frenzy.)
• A 115-year-old shipwreck has finally been located along Lake Superior's "Shipwreck Coast." (Why is it whenever I hear "shipwreck" and the name of one of the Great Lakes, I start hearing Gordon Lightfoot singing in my head? Where's that tinfoil?)
• New species of dinosaurs are also spouting up thick and fast. First a giant water-living dinosaur, and then an ancient "dragon beast" that looks as though it flew right out of "Avatar." (How many of you already know that the wonders of Pandora were all inspired by wonders right here on Earth?)
• A diver in Bulgaria inadvertently discovered the world's oldest gold coin. (Wish Denis would discover one while cleaning the sludge out of the pool.)
• Archaeologists are discovering that raping and pillaging doesn't necessarily exclude one from being a good architect. 
• A massive 5,000-year-old stone monument has been revealed in Israel. 
• A long lost Roman fort has been discovered in Germany.
• Divers are sure they'll find new treasures from the "ancient computer" shipwreck.
• They're exploring the "graveyard of ships" near San Francisco. 
• The story of 160 people illegally enslaved and then marooned on a remote island. The only thing that could tell these people's story was archaeology.

I  ♥  Lists & Quizzes

• 8 authors whose biggest successes came after the age of 50.
• How well do you know Dickens?
• The top 12 authors' beards. (See how trivial my mind is?)
• 10 must-read books about the Old West.
• 10 literary canines. 
• 10 great books based on other great books.

Book Candy

• 35 things to do with all those books.
• 14 secret bookcase doors. I'd love to have one-- how about you? 

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

And the Winners Are...

Wow! I think this giveway had more entries than any other one that I've done. I wish I could go back and check records, but I can't. A combination computer glitch and my destroying the emails with contestants' names and addresses put paid to that idea quite some time ago. Besides, I'm not in this for the statistics!

With no further ado, here are the four lucky winners of autographed copies of Marked Down for Murder:

Marty from Utah, Lynn from Illinois, Kate from North Carolina, and Debbie from Pennsylvania!

A big Thank You! to each and every one of you who entered.

I'll be putting your books in the mail bright and early Thursday morning. Well, let me be 100% accurate on this. Denis chose the winning numbers, I got the books ready for the mail, and Denis is the person who will be ferrying them to the post office.... Enjoy!

The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout

First Line: In late summer Line told him she was two months along.

It's been a long, hard winter for the homesteaders in 1850s Nebraska. Four women's hearts and minds have been broken by bitter hardship. This isn't a new problem, but the area has no asylum. The traveling preacher puts in motion the plan that worked so well the year before: a homesman must be chosen from among the women's husbands to take them back to Iowa where they will then be sent on to their families to be cared for either at home or in asylums. The rest of the husbands will provide a wagon, team, and provisions.

When the husbands draw straws to see which one will be the homesman, the one with the short straw refuses to go, and in steps a remarkable woman. Mary Bee Cuddy, an unmarried homesteader with a well-run farm, commits to the task. As strong and as brave as she is, Mary Bee realizes that she will not be able to do this alone-- but the only person she can find to accompany her is a no-account claim jumper named George Briggs. Mary Bee, Briggs, and the four helpless women set out on a journey that will take at least six weeks, traveling against the tide of settlers, Indian attacks and treacherous weather.  

Normally I'm not what's known as a "cover junkie," but the cover of The Homesman showing a lone sod house in endless waves of prairie grass under an eternity of sky grabbed me. When I read the synopsis, I knew I had a purchase to make. Decades ago I remember coming across a comment in a history book which stated that women in those "soddies" out on the Great Plains had been known to go insane just from loneliness and the ceaseless keening of the wind. That was all that was said, but those words stuck in my mind like a burr. Now here was a novel in which the story of these lost voices could be heard.

Author Glendon Swarthout was always more interested in the losers in the Old West. What happened to them? What were their stories? In doing research, he didn't find much about what was done about people who were mentally ill, and what he did find was about the men-- who were likely to die of exposure or disease, to become alcoholics, or even to be shot down like rabid dogs in some out-of-the-way corner. But what happened to the women? Even back in the 1850s you couldn't just shoot a woman. The Homesman is Swarthout's solution, and it is spare, poetic, and brutally honest. 

Superficially it is the simple tale of a man and a woman taking four helpless women cross country in a wagon to get them the sort care that they need. But the troubles Mary Bee and Briggs encounter on the trail, the people they meet, and just their close proximity to each other, begin to change them in subtle ways. This book is heartbreaking, it is brutal, and it is shocking. It tells a tale that many readers aren't particularly going to want to read, and perhaps that's the exact reason why they should read it. This is a story about the losers, those who were completely lost to history. The reasons why these beleaguered people failed were never going to be pretty or cheerful, but they should be remembered.

As I read, I began to feel cheated that the four women being taken back to Iowa didn't have any real dialogue or interaction with the others. Then I just had to shake my head at my own foolishness. The four women in The Homesman had been bludgeoned past caring by work with no end, by giving birth to one baby after another, by the brutal vagaries of the weather, and often by cruelty from their own husbands. These women had completely given up; they had been reduced to things that needed to be moved from Point A to Point B.

No, it's Mary Bee and Briggs who carry the load of thinking and conversation and action, and even their stories don't go as most readers would like. But as shocking as their tales may be, Swarthout plants clues all along the trail for us to notice. I was completely under this book's spell, and even though I didn't like how everything turned out, I still loved it. Now I'm looking forward to how Hollywood treats a very un-Hollywood novel. It will be interesting.
 

The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout

ISBN: 9781476754260

Simon and Schuster © 2014

Originally published in 1988.

Paperback, 248 pages

Historical Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen. 


 

Sanctuary by Ken Bruen

First Line: Dear Mr. Taylor, Please forgive the formality.

There's only one person whom Jack Taylor considers a friend, so when Ridge becomes ill, Jack cancels his trip to the United States. He's clean. He's sober. He's not even smoking cigarettes. But when a religious psycho begins sending him-- and only him-- clues that could prevent the murder of a child, Jack has no choice but to investigate. First stop: the police, where Superintendent Clancy's disgust for the former policeman makes him scoff at Taylor's insistence that there's a serial killer on the loose. Jack has no choice but to hunt the killer himself.

I love Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor mysteries. They are lean, brutal howls of anguish and rage that sometimes read like poetry and at other times read like outlines. I normally do not care to read books about main characters who are alcoholics or drug addicts, but Jack Taylor is the exception. He rages against man's inhumanity to man. He is a wounded, soul-sick wreck of a man who came to be that way simply because he cares too much. I may not like Jack Taylor, but I do care about him.

Bruen's Jack Taylor books are written in a sparse style that is filled with irony, sarcasm, and insights into modern Ireland. That these books are also filled with humor is something that may well pass many readers by if they do not pay attention.

These books are dark and often brutal, and they aren't for everyone, but Ken Bruen is one of the very few writers who's ended a book with a scene that made me cry out in shock and horror and made me burst into tears. Very powerful stuff-- even the memory of that scene still ties me in knots.

In Sanctuary, Jack Taylor learns something about what occurred in that scene that ripped such an emotional response from me, and he falls off the wagon of sobriety. After two lost weeks, he's down to ten drinks and one Xanax per day-- and he's finally ready to put an end to the killer who's still taunting him. 

The only thing in this book that didn't satisfy was the showdown between Jack and the killer. It seemed a bit perfunctory. But the book does end with questions that lead on to the next books in the series. I will read them all. Slowly. Because they're marvelous. And because I can't stay on Bruen's emotional roller coaster for extended periods of time. Jack Taylor is about as noir as they come, and although I may not like him, I do love him.
  

Sanctuary by Ken Bruen

ISBN: 9780312384418 

Minotaur Books © 2009

Hardcover, 208 pages

Private Investigator, #7 Jack Taylor mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet. 

Ill-Gotten Panes by Jennifer McAndrews

First Line: For generations, my family followed a simple principle: If everything goes wrong, go back to the beginning.

After having lost her job and her fiance, Georgia Kelly has left the Big Apple and retreated to the one place she's always felt safe: her grandfather's home in Wenwood, New York, a crumbling small town that's on the verge of going under for the third time. There's only one thing that can keep Georgia's mind off her job search-- her grandfather is accused of murdering the owner of the local hardware store. The police in town seem to be third-string Keystone Kops, so Georgia feels obligated to conduct her own investigation in order to save her grandfather from a prison sentence.

Author Jennifer McAndrews has the bare bones of what could turn into an excellent cozy series-- an appealing young heroine, an adorable kitten, a quirky best friend, and an eccentric grandfather. In a departure from the usual dream-come-true small town, McAndrews has created Wenwood. Wenwood was once a thriving town, but with the closure of its brick factory and the horrific national economic downturn, it's barely surviving. The series could receive quite a boost if Georgia and the other residents band together to save the town.

McAndrews has also written a fine mystery that kept me guessing, but then less positive things begin to rear their ugly heads. The "hook" of this series is that it's supposed to be one in which stained glass plays an important role. It certainly doesn't in Ill-Gotten Panes. The pitifully few scenes are certainly interesting, but you could also excise them from the book, and you'd never be able to pinpoint where they'd been. I will cut some slack for that because Georgia does say that everything in her life at that point must be put on hold until her grandfather is cleared of murder. 

But speaking of her grandfather and the rest of the characters, most of them are so unlikeable that I really have no desire to pay a return visit to Wenwood. Her grandfather is a crotchety old cuss who drives his employees to distraction and is usually downright nasty to his granddaughter. Georgia's new best friend Carrie takes a shine to her for no reason at all-- Georgia's charm isn't exactly in evidence when they meet-- then hits our heroine up for a favor and gets contrary about the kitten Georgia's become attached to. 

In addition it would appear that the economic blight in Wenwood has turned everyone into rumor-mongering grumps. Georgia's turned out of more than one business just because her grandfather has been accused of murder. Even the hunky contractor who's trying to turn the old brick factory into a marina to save the town has his anti-social moments. 

Combine a hook that goes nowhere with a passel of unlikeable characters, and you have the beginning of a series with which I'm not quite sure I want to continue... even though there is true promise in those pages.

Ill-Gotten Panes by Jennifer McAndrews

ISBN: 9780425267950

Berkley Prime Crime © 2014

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #1 Stained-Glass mystery

Rating: C+

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen