On Skein of Death by Allie Pleiter

 

First Lines: So it's more than 'yarn'?" the young woman staring at my shop sign asked. "The letters...stand for something?"

 

After a painful divorce, Libby Beckett is fortunate enough to return to Collinstown, Maryland, to follow her passion: opening her own yarn shop. The name of the shop is Y.A.R.N. which stands for You're Absolutely Ready Now, and there is a blackboard in the shop to encourage patrons to devise their own versions of the acronym. 

Libby has worked hard to create a series of events that will not only put her shop and Collinstown on the map but will also further the career of Norwegian knitwear designer Perle Lonager. The events are turning into quite a big deal which angers obnoxious Chamber of Commerce president George Barker-- especially when Mayor Gavin Maddock decrees a Collinstown Yarn Day to celebrate. 

 

But it all turns to tragedy when Perle is found murdered on the stage of the local theater. Libby feels responsible for letting the town down, but most of all she wants justice for the talented young woman whose life was cut short. Does Libby have what it takes to be an amateur detective and capture a killer?

 

~

 

I think I've finally found the perfect knitting-themed cozy series for me. I had a big smile on my face as I turned the last page of Allie Pleiter's debut Riverbank Knitting mystery, On Skein of Death. It is a wonderful blend of mystery, character, setting, and knitting. 

In the other knitting-themed cozies that I've read, knitting is usually nothing more than the hook to entice readers to buy the book. You're lucky if the characters look at a skein of yarn or pick up a knitting needle once or twice during the course of the book. But On Skein of Death has knitting firmly woven into the story. If Libby's shop were real, I'd be making a bee-line for it and would undoubtedly spend way too much money there. When Libby can't sleep or needs to clear her mind so she can think, she picks up her needles and knits. She teaches a thirteen-year-old to knit and encourages a stressed-out businesswoman to take up needles, too. There are also dollops of yarn bombing and illusion knitting. But it's not only instances like these that put the knit and purl into On Skein of Death, it's the language Pleiter uses. She lets us know that knitters rarely get upset at delays because delays are just opportunities to whip out knitting projects and add a few rows. Libby also finds out that this investigation has "more twists and backtracks than it does to turn a sock heel."

But before you begin to think that there's nothing but needles and yarn to On Skein of Death, there's an interesting group of suspects for Libby to learn about. Was the killer the strange young man who showed up to the first event? Was it Perle's "what's in it for me" beady-eyed editor? Was it...? I enjoyed the mystery even though the identity of the killer was no surprise. (Unfortunately, I've watched too many episodes of Forensic Files.) 

Pleiter has also created a stellar cast of characters that bodes well for future books. Libby's outlook on life and her passion for her shop and knitting will warm your heart. She's also good at making friends and developing useful contacts, and she's not one to take unnecessary risks. Gavin Maddock is Collinstown's mayor and Libby's high school sweetheart, and Gavin's thirteen-year-old daughter Jillian is a little jewel. Libby's mother Rhonda and her friends (known as "the Gals") provide plenty of humor. and then there's Frank the police chief and his receptionist Angie whom I hope to see more of in future books. Good gravy, I forgot one of the most important characters! Hank the English bulldog is Y.A.R.N.'s mascot and quite skilled at modeling sweaters and being your best buddy when you're in dire need.

As you can see, I've fallen head over heels for On Skein of Death, and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book in the series. You really don't even have to be interested in knitting to enjoy this book. Find out for yourself!

On Skein of Death by Allie Pleiter

eISBN: 9780593201787

Berkley Prime Crime © 2021

eBook, 304 pages

 

Cozy Mystery, #1 Riverbank Knitting mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

Some Reading Art for a Holiday Monday

 

Jeffrey T. Larson's "Summer Story"

Congratulations to the Giveaway Winners!

 

Congratulations to my two giveaway winners! 

 

Diana M. from Illinois has won the autographed copy of And Now She's Gone. 

Nan D. from Alabama has won the autographed copy of We Begin at the End.

The books will be on their way to you two shortly. Happy Reading!

A Just Between You and Me Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Ssshhhh... I don't want this to spread around, but this leg of mine has actually shown a lot of improvement lately (and I want it to stay that way). I think it decided to straighten up and fly right due to the appointment I have with a new doctor today. We'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed!

I've been minding my P's and Q's even though it's been annoying. I've spent a lot of time in my spruced-up reading and blogging space, and I've watched the young verdin (very small flycatchers) leave the nest in the top of the cactus outside this big picture window. I've watched a lizard climb up and down the cactus, too.

Speaking of the cactus, it was covered in blooms this year, something that's never happened before. (The senita is a night-blooming cactus, by the way, and I got a kick out of Denis going out almost nightly with his camera to keep an eye on it.) What we've been learning is that the huge Aleppo pine tree that died and was removed is a well-known water hog, so its demise has meant that the other plants on the property are getting more water than they ever have before. 

In the midst of my making plans for Albuquerque day trips next year before Left Coast Crime, I've also gotten a box of yarn for future afghans, and my seat at the picture window has gotten me acquainted with the comings and goings of my neighbors, which is a good thing. At least I can see and not be seen so I won't become known as the neighborhood curtain twitcher! And one last observation before I turn all these links loose: at around 4 PM every day, a hummingbird comes and hovers just above the ground between the fairy duster shrub and the cactus. I've learned that there tends to be a small colony of gnats that frequent that spot, so the hummingbirds are taking advantage of the extra protein. (Yes, the little jewels eat bugs, too.)

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• How does a book get adapted for television or film?
• Scientists create flat scored pasta that morphs into 3D shapes when cooked for more efficient packaging.
• A tale of witchcraft and murder in Jazz Age America.
• Who wrote it: Dr. Seuss or Roald Dahl?
• A new Oregon Trail game revisits westward expansion from the Native perspective.
• How black pepper won Europe from a tastier pepper.
• The rise of the millennial cozy mystery.
• How an eccentric old house allowed a writer to blur the lines between fact and fiction.
• Gilded Age parties were even wilder than you can imagine.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Runes found on a seventh-century cow bone could change Slavic history.
• How the Inca discovered a prized pigment.
• A rare silver coin portraying King Charles I was found in a field in Maryland. More from the Washington Post.
  
• Egyptian archaeologists accidentally discovered 250 ancient rock-cut tombs.
• A Vesuvius victim has been identified as an elite Roman soldier sent on a failed rescue mission.
• An enormous Roman shipwreck has been found off the coast of a Greek island.
• New archaeological research says that Greece's Parthenon temple had the wrong name for centuries.
• Archaeologists in Greece have found 3,500-year-old royal tombs.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Egg-laying mammals and peacock spiders: meet some of Australia's weirdest creatures.
• Here are 65 animals that laugh according to science. More from Live Science.
  
• An estimated 50 billion birds populate the earth, but four species reign supreme.
• An engineer built an action film-inspired backyard obstacle course for squirrels plotting to steal birdseed.
• Seven of the most destructive invasive insects.
• Watch compassionate humans help a frantic mother duck rescue her ducklings from a swimming pool. (I have a pair of mallards stop by for a swim in mine each March.)
• Got some old socks? A Colorado company wants to turn them into cozy dog beds.
• A mouse deer born at the Bristol Zoo is the height of a pencil.

 

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• The late 70s and early 1980s heyday of Spain's Costa del Crime.
• The ten longest place names in the world.
• The three cities of Northeast England.
• The five mass extinction events that shaped the history of Earth, and the sixth that is happening now.
• Why a 200-year-old building in Morocco is the only National Historic Landmark outside the U.S.
• Ten incredible national parks in Africa.
• How Disney's Frozen may have solved Russia's Dyatlov Pass mystery.
  

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Runner Anna Rutherford says stock cubes helped her smash the record on a 212-mile run in Scotland.
• Eugenie Clark, the marine biologist who fought sharks' bad reputations as "gangsters of the deep."
• Female public defenders are unsung heroes. It's past time to change that.
• Eight proper facts about Jane Austen.
• Before he wrote a thesaurus, Roget had to escape Napoleon's dragnet.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Books by Haitian and Haitian American authors.
• Twelve facts about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery-- the world's biggest art heist.
• Twenty-six cozy book nooks to burrow into next winter.
• Jane Fonda's reading list.
• Ken Jennings' reading list.
• Amy Tan's reading list.
• Gillian Flynn's reading list.
• Kamala Harris's reading list.

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

Stay safe. Stay healthy. And don't forget to curl up with a good book!

Murder in a Scottish Garden by Traci Hall

First Line: Paislee Shaw gritted her teeth as the school bus jounced over a crack in the paved road, and wished for a wee bit more padding to protect her bum from the hard plastic seat.

 

Single mother Paislee Shaw's priority is her ten-year-old son Brody, but you can't blame her if she wants to do a bit of multi-tasking now and again. She signed on as chaperone for the class trip to the Leery Estate, but she not only wants to take care of the children on the field trip, she also wants to track down the heir to the estate, Shawn Marcus. Yes, that Shawn Marcus, the man who served an eviction notice to her and five other shopkeepers in Nairn and then disappeared. Her knitting shop, Cashmere Crush-- her sole means of support for herself, her son, her grandfather, and their dog-- is at stake.

 

But instead of finding the missing man, Paislee finds herself shielding one of Brody's classmates as a dead body comes crashing through a hedge. Who is the dead man? Why was he shot? And where in the world is her missing landlord? Paislee's got a lot more multi-tasking to do to get to the bottom of this mystery.

 

~

 

Knit shop owner Paislee Shaw continues her winning ways in Murder in a Scottish Garden, the second in Traci Hall's Scottish Shire cozy series set on Scotland's north coast. The mystery is the type to keep you scratching your head as you try to unravel all the knots and tangles. True to any rich family worth its salt, those on the Leery Estate hold themselves to different standards, and everyone on the property seems to have at least four different versions of the truth that they share with both Detective Inspector Mack Zeffer and the ever-inquisitive Paislee Shaw.

One of the things that I like about this series is that there's more going on than the mystery. There's the problem of Paislee's missing uncle, a mystery that her grandfather seems loathe to share and which ties into the strong parents-and-their-children theme of the book as does the lawsuit facing the school. There's also the problem of the eviction notice that she and the other shopkeepers have been served. If Paislee is forced to move from her prime location, it could have dire consequences for her business. If she loses Cashmere Crush, women won't have any place to gather for their Knit & Sip meetings or a place to buy yarn or order one of Paislee's custom-knit items.

And of course, like any good cozy, all this is held together by a fine cast of characters, in particular Paislee, her son Brody, and her grandfather. I like how Paislee's primary concern is her son, how she isn't looking for a man but thinks nothing of trying to play matchmaker for her single friends. There is no shortage of eligible men in Nairn. For example, there's the "high-end fashion model" handsome detective inspector who seems to be slowly learning to appreciate Paislee's sleuthing skills, and there's the local headmaster with the irresistible dimples. Well, they used to be irresistible until that lawsuit.

I find Paislee, her family, and her sleuthing to be good for what ails me, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if you did, too. If you're new to the series, I suggest that you begin with the first book, Murder in a Scottish Shire. You have some fun in store!

Murder in a Scottish Garden by Traci Hall

eISBN: 9781496726025

Kensington Books © 2021

eBook, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #2 Scottish Shire mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

June 2021 New Mystery Releases!

I had this post 33% complete when it simply vanished. I still don't know what I did to make it disappear. I almost shut everything down so I could pick up the very good book that I've been reading, but I'm stubborn. I at least wanted to get this back to where it was before it disappeared. So I started again and the formatting went haywire. Therefore, this is my third attempt. Fasten your seatbelts. This may get ugly!

The following list contains my picks for the best new crime fiction being released throughout the month of June. I have them grouped according to their release dates, and the covers and synopses are courtesy of Amazon.

Did I choose any titles that are already on your own wish lists? Did I choose any that new-to-you titles that you just couldn't resist? Now's the time to find out!

=== June 1 ===

Title: The Bombay Prince

Author: Sujata Massey

Series: #3 in the Perveen Mistry historical series set in 1920s Bombay, India.

360 pages

 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

 

Synopsis: "Bombay’s first female lawyer, Perveen Mistry, is compelled to bring justice to the family of a murdered female Parsi student just as Bombay’s streets erupt in riots to protest British colonial rule. Sujata Massey is back with this third installment to the Agatha and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning series set in 1920s Bombay.

November 1921. Edward VIII, Prince of Wales and future ruler of India, is arriving in Bombay to begin a fourmonth tour. The Indian subcontinent is chafing under British rule, and Bombay solicitor Perveen Mistry isn’t surprised when local unrest over the royal arrival spirals into riots. But she’s horrified by the death of Freny Cuttingmaster, an eighteen-year-old female Parsi student, who falls from a second-floor gallery just as the prince’s grand procession is passing by her college.

Freny had come for a legal consultation just days before her death, and what she confided makes Perveen suspicious that her death was not an accident. Feeling guilty for failing to have helped Freny in life, Perveen steps forward to assist Freny’s family in the fraught dealings of the coroner’s inquest. When Freny’s death appears suspicious, Perveen knows she can’t rest until she sees justice done. But Bombay is erupting: as armed British secret service march the streets, rioters attack anyone with perceived British connections and desperate shopkeepers destroy their own wares so they will not be targets of racial violence. Can Perveen help a suffering family when her own is in danger?" 

Title: On Skein of Death

Author: Allie Pleiter

Series: #1 in the Riverbank Knitting cozy series set in Maryland.

304 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Libby has come home to Collinstown, Maryland to live her dream and open her own yarn shop, aptly named Y.A.R.N., along the Chester River. To Libby, Y.A.R.N. stands for "You're Absolutely Ready Now." But the acronym changes whenever inspiration strikes, and customers add to the list of suggestions that fill the blackboard wall in a shop stuffed with color, fiber, and comfort. 
 
Libby is thrilled when she lands famous Norwegian knitting celebrity Perle Langager for a series of events  at Y.A.R.N. Libby's English bulldog, Hank, has been modeling one of Perle's doggie sweaters, and customers just can't wait to see Perle in action. The mayor of Collinstown even decrees a Collinstown Yarn Day to celebrate. But once Perle arrives in town, she seems distracted and on edge.  And when she's found strangled with a skein of red yarn, Libby knows she has to solve a knotty mystery before her new life unravels."

Title: The Mystic's Accomplice

Author: Mary Miley

Series: #1 in the Mystic's Accomplice historical series set in 1920s Chicago. 

224 pages

Synopsis: "It's 1924, and Maddie Pastore has it made. A nice house, a loving husband with a steady job - even if it is connected to Chicago's violent Torrio-Capone gang - and a baby on the way. But then Tommy is shot dead, and she learns her husband had a secret that turns her life upside down.

Penniless and grieving, Maddie is only sure of two things: that she will survive for the sake of her baby, and that she'll never turn to the mob for help. So when she's invited to assist a well-meaning but fraudulent medium, she seizes the chance. She's not proud of her work investigating Madam Carlotta's clients, but she's proud of how well she does it.

When Maddie unearths potential evidence of a dark crime, however, she faces a terrible dilemma: keep quiet and let a murderer go unpunished, or follow the trail and put herself and her baby in mortal danger . . ."

Title: Forest of Secrets

Author: Fiona Buckley

Series: #19 in the Ursula Blanchard historical series set in Elizabethan England.

240 pages

 

Synopsis: "May, 1586. Ursula and her retinue return home from a lengthy trip to discover she has an unexpected visitor. Etheldreda Hope is a simple countrywoman who has come to Ursula with disturbing tales of strange goings-on in her rural village. Fearing that Etheldreda's reports of mysterious forest rites indicate a possible conspiracy to overthrow Queen Elizabeth in favour of her cousin, Mary Stuart, the queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, orders Ursula to travel to Etheldreda's home to find out what's really going on.

On reaching Chenston village, deep in the New Forest, Ursula discovers an isolated, suspicious community; the locals deeply in thrall to the old pagan traditions and beliefs. But are these ancient customs harmless - or are they part of a genuine conspiracy against the queen? And, if so, who is behind it?

It's not until the night of Halloween that Ursula will discover the shocking truth." 

=== June 8 ===

Title: A Rogue's Company

Author: Allison Montclair (pseudonym of Alan Gordon)

Series: #3 in the Sparks & Bainbridge historical series set in post-World War II England.

352 pages 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "In London, 1946, the Right Sort Marriage Bureau is getting on its feet and expanding. Miss Iris Sparks and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge are making a go of it. That is until Lord Bainbridge―the widowed Gwen's father-in-law and legal guardian―returns from a business trip to Africa and threatens to undo everything important to her, even sending her six-year-old son away to a boarding school.

But there's more going on than that. A new client shows up at the agency, one whom Sparks and Bainbridge begin to suspect really has a secret agenda, somehow involving the Bainbridge family. A murder and a subsequent kidnapping sends Sparks to seek help from a dangerous quarter―and now their very survival is at stake."

=== June 22 ===

Title: Suburban Dicks

Author: Fabian Nicieza

Standalone Thriller set in New Jersey

400 pages

 

Synopsis: "From the cocreator of Deadpool comes a hilariously entertaining debut featuring two unlikely and unforgettable amateur sleuths. An engrossing and entertaining murder mystery full of skewering social commentary, Suburban Dicks examines the racial tensions exposed in a New Jersey suburb after the murder of a gas station attendant.

Andie Stern thought she'd solved her final homicide. Once a budding FBI profiler, she gave up her career to raise her four (soon to be five) children in West Windsor, New Jersey. But one day, between soccer games, recitals, and trips to the local pool, a very pregnant Andie pulls into a gas station--and stumbles across a murder scene. An attendant has been killed, and the bumbling local cops are in way over their heads. Suddenly, Andie is obsessed with the case, and back on the trail of a killer, this time with kids in tow.

She soon crosses paths with disgraced local journalist Kenneth Lee, who also has everything to prove in solving the case. A string of unusual occurrences--and, eventually, body parts--surface around town, and Andie and Kenneth uncover simmering racial tensions and a decades-old conspiracy. Hilarious, insightful, and a killer whodunit, Suburban Dicks is the one-of-a-kind mystery that readers will not be able to stop talking about." 

Title: Teacher's Threat

Author: Diane Vallere

Series: #8 in the Madison Night cozy series set in Texas

260 pages

 

Synopsis: "A professor murdered during office hours. A decorator enrolled in his course. Can she outsmart the killer who designed the perfect crime? Madison Night just learned that business isn’t sexy. She modeled her decorating career on a Doris Day movie, but after losing her company in a legal battle, the local banks are unimpressed with her unique sales angle. Determined to get her MBA, she attends night school – until her professor is found dead after an intensely-heated lecture. Now the only degree she can think about is murder in the first. While the college recovers, Madison’s last hope for a loan is denied. The dean resumes the coursework himself, and Madison can’t help wondering if the curriculum holds the clues to the murder. Continuing her education is not without risk; pursuing her MBA may leave her DOA. Can Madison’s sleuthing make the grade or will failure be a fatal lesson?" 

=== June 29 ===

Title: The Night Hawks

Author: Elly Griffiths

Series: #13 in the Dr. Ruth Galloway police procedural series set in England

368 pages

 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

 

Synopsis: "Ruth is back as head of archaeology at the University of North Norfolk when a group of local metal detectorists—the so-called Night Hawks—uncovers Bronze Age artifacts on the beach, alongside a recently deceased body, just washed ashore. Not long after, the same detectorists uncover a murder-suicide—a scientist and his wife found at their farmhouse, long thought to be haunted by the Black Shuck, a humongous black dog, a harbinger of death. The further DCI Nelson probes into both cases, the more intertwined they become, and the closer they circle to David Brown, the new lecturer Ruth has recently hired, who seems always to turn up wherever Ruth goes." 

Title: The Keepers

Author: Jeffrey B. Burton

Series: #2 in the Mace Reid K-9 mysteries set in Chicago

288 pages 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Mason “Mace” Reid lives on the outskirts of Chicago and specializes in human remains detection―that is, he trains dogs to hunt for dead bodies. He calls his pack of cadaver dogs The Finders, and his prize pupil is a golden retriever named Vira.

When Mace Reid and Vira are called in to search Washington Park at three o'clock in the morning, what they find has them running for their very lives. The trail of murder and mayhem Mace and CPD Officer Kippy Gimm have been following leads them to uncover treachery and corruption at the highest level, and their discoveries do not bode well for them . . . nor for the Windy City itself.

The Keepers is an exciting, fast-paced mystery filled with courageous dogs you'll want to root for."

Title: Bad Moon Rising

Author: John Galligan

Series: #3 in the Bad Axe County procedural series set in Wisconsin.

336 pages

 

Synopsis: "Sheriff Heidi Kick has a dead body on her hands, a homeless young man last seen alive miles from the Bad Axe. Chillingly, the medical examiner confirms what Sheriff Kick has been experiencing in her own reoccurring nightmares of late: the victim was buried alive. As the relentless summer heat bears down and more bodies are discovered, Sheriff Kick also finds herself embroiled in a nasty reelection campaign. These days her detractors call her “Sheriff Mommy”—KICK HER OUT holler the opposition’s campaign signs—and as her family troubles become public, vicious rumors threaten to sway the electorate and derail her investigation.

Enter Vietnam veteran Leroy Fanta, editor-in-chief of the local paper who believes Heidi’s strange case might be tied to a reclusive man writing deranged letters to the opinions section for years. With his heart and liver on their last legs, Fanta drums up his old journalistic instincts in one last effort to help Heidi find a lead in her case, or at least a good story..." 

Title: Little Black Book

Author: Kate Carlisle

Series: #15 in the Bibliophile cozy series set in Scotland

384 pages

Synopsis: "Brooklyn and her hunky husband, security expert Derek Stone, have just returned from a delightful trip to Dharma, where the construction of their new home away from home is well underway, when a little black book arrives in the mail from Scotland. The book is a rare British first edition of Rebecca, and there’s no return address on the package. The day after the book arrives, Claire Quinn shows up at Brooklyn and Derek’s home. Brooklyn met Claire when the two women worked as expert appraisers on the television show This Old Attic. Brooklyn appraised books on the show and Claire’s expertise was in antique British weaponry, but they bonded over their shared love of gothic novels.
 
Claire reveals that during a recent trip to Scotland she discovered her beloved aunt was missing and her home had been ransacked. Among her aunt’s belongings, Claire found the receipt for the package that wound up with Brooklyn and Derek. Claire believes both her own life and her aunt’s are in danger and worries that her past may be coming back to haunt her.
 
But just as Brooklyn and Derek begin to investigate, a man who Claire thinks was following her is found murdered, stabbed with a priceless jeweled dagger. With a death on their doorstep, Brooklyn and Derek page through the little black book, where they discover clues that will take them to the shadows of a medieval Scottish castle on the shores of Loch Ness. Under the watchful gaze of a mysterious laird and the irascible villagers who are suspicious of the strangers in their midst, Brooklyn and Derek must decode the secrets in Rebecca to keep their friend’s past from destroying their future...."

Title: Survive the Night

Author: Riley Sager

Standalone Thriller set "on the road"

336 pages

 

Synopsis: "It’s November 1991. George H. W. Bush is in the White House, Nirvana's in the tape deck, and movie-obsessed college student Charlie Jordan is in a car with a man who might be a serial killer.

Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away. For Charlie, it’s guilt and grief over the murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it’s to help care for his sick father. Or so he says. Like the Hitchcock heroine she’s named after, Charlie has her doubts. There’s something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn’t seem to want Charlie to see inside the car’s trunk. As they travel an empty highway in the dead of night, an increasingly worried Charlie begins to think she’s sharing a car with the Campus Killer. Is Josh truly dangerous? Or is Charlie’s suspicion merely a figment of her movie-fueled imagination?
 
What follows is a game of cat and mouse played out on night-shrouded roads and in neon-lit parking lots, during an age when the only call for help can be made on a pay phone and in a place where there's nowhere to run. In order to win, Charlie must do one thing—survive the night." 

Good gravy, talk about a bumper crop of new books-- I don't know which one I'm the most excited about! Of course, there's Elly Griffiths, The Night Hawks-- I love Dr. Ruth Galloway-- but there's also a new Perveen Mistry to take me to 1920s India, and a new Sparks & Bainbridge (I'm so glad I discovered the face behind the Allison Montclair pseudonym), and a new Madison Night, and a new Riley Sager to keep me up at night, and... whew!

Which ones are you most excited about reading? Inquiring minds would love to know! (By the way, the third time was a charm. I finished this post without further mishap. Now I can pick up that book and dive in!)

The Prodigal Daughter by Mette Ivie Harrison

 

First Line: Kurt and I were in marriage therapy again.

 

It is a fraught time in the Wallheim household. Linda and her husband Kurt, who is a bishop in the Mormon church, are going through marriage therapy. Too many things have happened in her life, and Linda's outlook and thinking have changed. Kurt resents the changes and wants the woman he married back.

 

In this time of tension and stress, Linda's son Joseph asks for her help. Sabrina Jensen, the babysitter for their infant daughter, has vanished, and he wants his mother to help find the young girl. As she begins to ask questions in order to form a better picture of her, she realizes that Sabrina has been under a great deal of pressure from her parents to be the perfect Mormon daughter... and that she has been the victim of a horrible crime at the hands of her own classmates, good Mormon boys all and future church leaders.

 

Linda is sickened and determined to find Sabrina regardless of the cost to herself. Her search will lead her to the homeless on the dark, frigid streets of Salt Lake City, and what she discovers will make her question whether the Mormon community's most privileged and powerful will ever be called to task for past sins.

 

~

 

The Prodigal Daughter is often a very painful book to read, wrapped as it is in the #MeToo movement and the author's own life. Has the #MeToo movement made it easier to speak out about sexual assault in religious communities? Personally, I doubt it because it's much too easy to blame outsiders for the problem. It simply couldn't happen here, not with our good little boys raised in the teachings of the church! (Notice how I did not single out the Mormon church?)

Mette Ivie Harrison's life has become shredded due to her Linda Wallheim mysteries and her unflinchingly honest portrayal of crime in Mormon communities. I'd love to say that I'm shocked by the Mormon reaction to her writing, but after having lived in Provo, Utah, for three years, I am not. Her writing is honest. She talks about the good things the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does. She talks about what she strongly believes in. But-- and here's the rub-- she also talks about where the Church often fails.

 

In The Prodigal Daughter, it's the plight of runaway and thrown-away children who either can't deal with their parents' insistence on being the perfect Mormon child or who have been thrown out because they don't live up to their parents' expectations. Harrison also paints a clear picture of Mormonism, #MeToo, and women as second-class citizens. It's not pretty, but as Linda Wallheim says, "If the truth destroys something, then it probably wasn't real to begin with."

 

As I said earlier, The Prodigal Daughter is often painful to read as Linda tries to find Sabrina and provide her with safety and acceptance. The truth can hurt. But it's as if all the things Harrison has been living through as she wrote this book squeezed some of the heart out of it. It feels rushed and doesn't quite measure up to previous books in this excellent series, but that does not make it a bad book. Not in the slightest. If you like mysteries that provide you with a strong, clear look into another world, mysteries steeped with a sense of place so palpable that you can touch it, I strongly urge you to read Mette Ivie Harrison's series in its entirety. Begin with The Bishop's Wife.

The Prodigal Daughter by Mette Ivie Harrison

eISBN: 9781641292467

Soho Press © 2021

eBook, 264 pages

 

Amateur Sleuth, #5 Linda Wallheim mystery

Rating: B

Source: Net Galley

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver

 

First Line: London. August 1940. We were going to get caught.

 

Electra "Ellie" McDonnell's cousin Colm is off fighting in the war. Her cousin Toby is missing after the debacle at Dunkirk, and Uncle Mick's skills as a locksmith can no longer pay all the bills, so he and Ellie resort to their other talents as cat burglars and safecrackers to break into the houses of the rich to take what they need to keep body and soul together. 

 

Despite the precautions they always take, they are caught red-handed and, instead of being taken to prison as Ellie expects, they are taken to a large townhouse where a tough-as-nails government official, Major Ramsey, gives them an ultimatum: break into a house, open the safe, and steal blueprints crucial to the war effort... or go to prison. 

 

It's not a difficult choice to make, but what surprises Ellie is the fact that she's willing to do as Ramsey orders because she wants to do her part for the war effort. If only things would go according to plan! When she and Ramsey break into the house, they find the thief dead on the floor and the blueprints gone from the safe. There's a double agent on the loose, and Ellie finds herself working with the imperious Major Ramsey to find the traitor before the blueprints can get into enemy hands.

~

One of these days, I'll tire of reading historical mysteries set during World War II, but I don't show any signs of slowing down-- especially when books like Ashley Weaver's A Peculiar Combination are being published. If you're a fan of series like Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope or Allison Montclair's Sparks and Bainbridge, you're going to enjoy adding this new series to your reading list.

Ellie is smart, brave, and definitely a quick thinker. Her reasons for distrusting law enforcement give her character more depth and will definitely have readers on her side. Once Ellie begins working with Major Ramsey, she likes the feeling it gives her; she feels that, for the first time in a long time, she's doing something good. Ellie gets stubborn when anyone tries to intimidate her, and I really appreciated the fact that, although there are times she doesn't want to tell the irritating Major Ramsey everything she knows, she's smart enough to realize that keeping things from him will only cause her grief in the long run.

Naturally, the major with a titled background, Hollywood good looks, and ramrod down his back is there to provide a hint of impending romance as well as a source of annoyance. Normally, I don't care for romance in my mysteries, but Weaver has such a light touch with it that I enjoyed the sparks, and she makes the major's backstory so intriguing that I have to know more. 

The mystery is a good one in A Peculiar Combination, the story flows smoothly, and with the main characters so skillfully introduced, I'm looking forward to more burgling, safecracking, and romantic sparks in the books to come.

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver

eISBN: 9781250780492

Minotaur Books © 2021

eBook, 288 pages

 

Historical Mystery, #1 Electra McDonnell mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

A "Twofer" Giveaway: We Begin at the End & And Now She's Gone!

 

You know me. I like to share the wealth, so when I suddenly realized that I had two excellent books sitting on my desk, my first thought was GIVEWAY! And since there were two books, I thought I'd give both books away at the same time instead of conducting two separate giveaways. Yes, I'm feeling lazy. Here are the two books I'm giving away.

 

The Giveaway Prizes

• One autographed, gently read hardcover copy of Chris Whitaker's We Begin at the End with a protective mylar cover on the dust jacket. The autograph is on a separate bookplate. Here is my review of the book, and if you click on the book title, you will be taken to Amazon where you can read the synopsis.
• One autographed, gently read hardcover copy of Rachel Howzell Hall's And Now She's Gone with a protective mylar cover on the dust jacket. Here is my review of the book, and if you click on the book title, you will be taken to Amazon where you can read the synopsis.

How to Win, or The Rules

• There will be two separate drawings for these books, with one winner receiving We Begin at the End and the second winner receiving And Now She's Gone.
• Send an email to kittlingbooks(at)gmail(dot)com. One email per book.
  
• If you want to win We Begin at the End, the subject header of your email must read WHITAKER GIVEAWAY.
• If you want to win And Now She's Gone, the subject header of your email must read HALL GIVEAWAY.
• You may enter to win both books, but you will have to send two separate emails, one for each giveaway.
• The body of your email must contain your name and mailing address.
• Due to the cost of postage, only entries from the U.S. will be accepted. Sorry!
  
• Get your entries to me no later than noon, Sunday, May 30, 2021.

The winners will be announced Sunday evening, May 30, 2021, and the books will be in the mail to them by Tuesday at the latest. 

Now it's time to fill my inbox with entries! Good Luck!

A No Hole in My Bucket Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Another week with nothing much to say. What an exciting life we lead! As I write this, Denis and I do have an outing to the zoo planned for tomorrow (Wednesday) if all goes well. Hopefully, I'll have some photos to share in the near future. 

My leg still continues to cause trouble, and I'm heartily sick and tired of it. Next Friday, I'll be seeing a new doctor, and it would be lovely if we could get to the root of what's causing this.

In the interim, I've decided two things. One, if I have to put up with this leg being wrapped all the time, I'm at least going to have a little color to brighten things up. What do you think of the two-tone green? Tomorrow for the zoo I plan on tan and teal. Look at me, a fashion plate! *laughing*

The other thing I've decided is that I'm fed up with being housebound, especially since we're all "vaccinated up." I don't know about Denis, but I intend to keep on wearing a mask. It will keep my nose from getting sunburned if I happen to forget the sunscreen, and wearing one does help with my allergies. Being tired of being housebound means that I want to get out and about, and if this means that I have to stick my foot in a bucket to catch the runoff from my leaky leg, that's what I'll do. (I've been using an electric scooter, so this doesn't mean that I'll be walking around with a bucket on one foot, although that is a rather amusing mental picture.)

Anyway, I'm all ready for the zoo tomorrow, and I hope you're enjoying spring wherever you may be. Enjoy the links!

[Note: due to an eye problem Denis had, we didn't go to the zoo. Denis went to the eye doctor instead. Oh well. *sigh*]

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Author Anne Hillerman on finding inspiration for fiction in the kindness of untruths.
• Sony Pictures sets the release date for the crime drama Where the Crawdads Sing.
• Take a look at a revolving bookcase called Ariel.
• "Bill and I got pretty friendly": James Patterson on writing with Clinton and clashing with Trump.
• Author C.S. Harris on keeping a long-running series fresh: the secret is character.
• How bookishness affects the book biz.
• Hunting for books in the ruins: how Syria's rebel librarians found hope.
• The ill-fated idea to move the nation's capital to St. Louis.
• Fourteen brands offering freebies for getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
  

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A melting glacier in the Italian Alps reveals a trove of World War I artifacts.
• A presumed portrait of Catherine Howard may actually depict Anne of Cleves.
• 1,20 years ago, Maya children decorated this hidden cave with handprints. (Reminds me of the "Baby House" tucked away in Monument Valley.)
• In ancient Turkey, gladiators fought at this Colosseum-like amphitheater.
• The tomb of Maid Marian.
• A 17th-century gold mourning ring may be linked to an executed English aristocrat.
• An Irish farmer stumbled onto an untouched ancient tomb.
• An actual head cone found on a buried Egyptian woman has solved an ancient mystery.
• The teeth of fallen soldiers hold evidence that foreigners fought alongside ancient Greeks, which challenges millennia of military history.
  

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Condors won't stop visiting (and trashing) this California woman's house. Here's why.
• Dogs can donate blood to save the lives of their fellow canines, too.
• The elusive Bornean Rajah scops owl with bright orange eyes has been seen for the first time in 125 years.
• According to science, here's why cats like to sit in boxes.
• Baby sea turtles spend "lost years" in the Sargasso Sea.
• Watch this brave titmouse (bird) pluck hair from a sleeping fox.
• A man documented how a moose and her calves spent the whole day in a family's backyard.
• The bee hummingbird is the jewel of nature.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Why historians should reevaluate Mary Todd Lincoln's oft-misunderstood grief.
• The enduring mystery of Mary Roberts Rinehart, America's answer to Agatha Christie.
• Author Iona Whishaw's family of spies.
• Lyn Macdonald, who preserved the voices of World War I, has died at the age of 91. I love her books-- such a vivid window into an era.
• Arni Magnusson, the obsessive scholar who saved Iceland's ancient literary legacy.
• How Pretty in Pink star Andrew McCarthy became an unlikely teen heartthrob.
• Jacques Futrelle, the crime writer who went down with the Titanic.
• The Asian American women who fought to make their mark in World War II.
• A joy of reading, sparked by Hasina Islam, a special librarian determined to make a difference.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• Globally, forests the size of France have grown back since the year 2000.
• Pride and property: on the homes of Jane Austen.
• Twenty facts about Route 66.
• The "three-dimensional game board" of Agatha Christie's country houses.
• Contemporary Mauritanian literature.
• The crime books of Mongolia: murder on the roof of the world.
• Portugal has opened the world's longest pedestrian bridge, and it's a trip.
• Seven author-owned bookstores you should visit.
  

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Seven books brimming with the magic of libraries.
• Seven books about the Partition of India and Pakistan.
• The most anticipated crime books of 2021, a summer reading guide.
• Nine great thrillers featuring alter egos.
• Eleven actors who took home their animal co-stars.
• Eleven historical mystery books for fans of Ellis Peters.
• The ten most expensive movies ever made.
• Fifty of the best new non-fiction books about the natural world. 

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

Sta safe. Stay healthy. And don't forget to curl up with a good book!

Rosy Is My Relative by Gerald Durrell

 

First Line: Unaware that doom was overtaking him, Adrian Rookwhistle, in his shirt sleeves, was occupied in making faces at himself in his looking-glass.

 

Adrian Rookwhistle is a young man who's led an extremely quiet, circumscribed life, and his thirst for adventure is slaked when his uncle dies and leaves him an elephant named Rosy. Rosy is affectionate, but she eats a lot and has a penchant for drunken binges whenever she's in the vicinity of a pub. Adrian can't keep her, so he devises a plan to take her to the coast to find a circus to take her in even though his uncle's will forbade him to do that. 

What Adrian didn't realize is just how much of an adventure his trip with Rosy would be-- and that he'd be facing a prison term by the end. 

 

~

 

Gerald Durrell's cautionary tale for those who get what they wish for was the perfect book to read in order to raise my spirits. Durrell swore that the whole thing actually happened and that he merely clarified and embellished, but I really don't care one way or the other. The entire story played out on the movie screen of my mind, and I found myself laughing many times as I turned the pages. I'm even smiling as I type this review.

 

Adrian has a tough time steering Rosy clear of pubs on the way down to the coast, and they also come a cropper when meeting up with a local hunt club, a country house ball, and the stage at a seaside theater. Durrell's Dickens-esque names for his characters give this story the required light and charming touch that it needs, and he includes several turns of phrase that kept me laughing. You want examples, you say? Here are two. "Lady Fenneltree had "eyes like those of a particularly maladjusted python." "He bristled and quivered like a small, alert terrier at a rabbit hole."

If you're in need of something light, fun, filled with a lovable elephant and other brilliant cartoon-like characters, as well as a legal trial that will have you laughing with glee, pick up a copy of Rosy Is My Relative. I can feel her trunk tapping me on my shoulder now.

Rosy Is My Relative by Gerald Durrell

eISBN: 9781504042628

Open Road Integrated Media © 2016

Originally published in 1968.

eBook, 234 pages

 

Humor, Standalone

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

An April Stroll through Butterfly Wonderland

It had been much too long since Denis and I had visited Butterfly Wonderland, so-- being fully vaccinated, having checked their safety measures, and knowing that most of the snowbirds have returned home-- we booked our tickets and headed to the far east side of the Valley for our visit. 

 

It was a beautiful day, and it was fantastic being amidst all the butterflies and flowers. Let me share some of the photos I took while we were there. I'll share one of Denis's, too, and it will be easy to see why I didn't take it myself.

 

 

Butterfly Wonderland also has a small aquarium and reptile exhibit. I was hoping to see the chameleons, but they were gone. Instead, I watched the little poisoned frogs for awhile. I liked how this blue and black dart frog's tiny toes look like hearts.

 

Malachite butterfly

I enjoy the flowers every bit as much as the butterflies.

The butterfly with its wings spread out is a Gray Cracker.

Sometimes I think butterflies encourage us to plant unusual and beautiful flowers, don't you? 

I enjoyed watching this little boy. He had his identification card and was determined to find a living example of each and every butterfly on it.

The show stopper butterfly tends to be this Blue Morpho because of its brilliant coloring. You'll seldom see one in this position, however. Normally it's at rest with its wings closed.

Postman butterfly

Battered and tattered

A Black and Tan Page butterfly

White Peacock butterfly

Paper Kite butterfly

This always reminds me of the bottle brush tree I used to have in the backyard.

Several species of butterfly are attracted to white hair. Ask me how I know this.

There's something peaceful and fulfilling about being amongst sunshine, flowers, and butterflies. Denis and I certainly enjoyed our outing, and I hope you did, too.