Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne

 

First Line: Tiko kicked the deflated soccer ball down the alley, laughing as MauMau, the tan puppy with the chewed-up ear, chased it into the puddle, his too-big paws splattering mud and droplets everywhere.

 

After using revolutionary scientific methods to catch one of the most prolific serial killers in history, Professor Theo Cray has found himself cut off from university research. He's trying to rebuild his life, but when the desperate father of a missing child comes to him for help, Cray finds himself drawn into another unsolved case.

 

The only clues he has to go on are children's drawings and an inner-city urban legend about someone called the Toy Man. To unravel this mystery, Cray is going to have to set aside his scientific preconceptions and learn to embrace a world where dreams and nightmares carry just as much weight as reality. 

 

~

 

When I read the first book in this series, The Naturalist, I felt as though I'd hit the jackpot with the main character, Dr. Theo Cray. This feeling continued in Looking Glass. In my review of the first book, I said: "Cray is a wimp. He's a nerd. He has trouble relating to people because his head is so thoroughly buried in science and he spends so much time alone on field trips." In this second book, Cray isn't such a wimp anymore. His experiences have changed him, and he's learned how to protect himself better and how to minimize the risks he takes. What hasn't changed is how much I love watching how this character's mind works and how he tracks things down and puts them together. He sees patterns that no one else can, and that's highly important in his search for the Toy Man and the missing children. Cray may say that he can't read his own moral compass, but he definitely has one. When he sees something wrong-- especially something that others are knowingly turning a blind eye to-- he will not quit until the bad guys are caught. No matter what it takes.

Shunned by fellow academics, Cray is looked upon as the Dark Knight in defense intelligence circles, and they're hoping that he'll develop programs they can use both in war and in law enforcement. He's doing his best to steer clear of the war part of the work, and he made me smile when he uses his clearance and some of the tricks he's learned in his new job to help him on his quest to find the missing children. 

Andrew Mayne certainly knows how to write a story and a main character that set fire to my imagination, and although I did find the serial killer in Looking Glass to be a bit over the top, both the killer and the events surrounding him aren't completely out of the realm of possibility. I've grabbed a copy of the next Theo Cray thriller, and I know that I'll enjoy reading it.

Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne

eISBN: 9781542047999

Thomas & Mercer © 2018

eBook, 317 pages

Thriller/Amateur Sleuth, #2 Dr. Theo Cray mystery

Rating: A-

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

 

First Line: On the morning of the worst, most earth-shattering day of Ray McMillian's life, he ordered room service: scrambled eggs for two, one side of regular bacon (for Nicole), one side of vegan sausage (for him), one coffee (for Nicole), one orange juice (for him).

 

Young Ray McMillian is determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing is going to stand in his way. Not the fact that his mother wants him to stop all that noise, get his GED, and start earning money for a 60-inch color television. Not the fact that he's Black and wants a career in a predominantly white profession. Not the fact that he's never had private lessons. Not the fact that he doesn't even have a decent violin to play.

Given a beat-up old family fiddle by his beloved grandmother, Ray's fortunes begin a meteoric rise when he discovers that the old fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius. All his dreams are suddenly within reach, and he qualifies for the renowned Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Then tragedy strikes. His violin is stolen; the thieves wanting five million dollars before they will return it. As the time for the competition approaches, Ray not only has to try to recover his violin but he also has to prove that-- regardless of the outcome-- there is a truly great musician within him.

~

I don't remember why I decided to pick up Brendan Slocumb's The Violin Conspiracy and read it, but I'm certainly glad I did. Slocumb's story grabbed me by the throat almost from the beginning, and it didn't let me loose until I'd turned the last page.

The story isn't new. Boy has talent. Boy needs violin. Boy gets violin. Boy works hard. Boy starts to get some breaks. Boy's violin is stolen. Can boy's dreams still come true? But if the only books that mattered were those with completely new plots, very few books would matter at all. Some stories are universal and deserve to be told over and over again.

Some of the characters aren't new either. The self-absorbed mother who wants Ray to stop making all that racket, get his GED, and get hired on at the hospital so he can buy her that 60-inch color TV she wants. The greedy family who, when they learn that the old family fiddle none of them gave a hoot about is actually a priceless Stradivarius, see nothing but DOLLAR SIGNS and insist that Ray sell it so they can wallow in millions of dollars. The evil couple who insists that the violin is theirs. The fairy godmother of a college music professor. Even Ray isn't new. 

But guess what? Those tried-and-true characters we've seen thousands of times are just as fine as that "old" story because of the way Brendan Slocumb breathes life into it all. We care about Ray. We want him to succeed. We want to tackle every bigot the young boy has to face and get them out of his way for good. Our hearts soar as music fills every pore in Ray's body and then comes out in a brilliant torrent as he plays that old family fiddle. You don't have to love classical music to enjoy this book, but-- if you do-- it's going to add that extra Something Special. 

The identity of the violin thief is easy to deduce, but how the theft was accomplished and what happened to the thief made up for that. The author explains how much of The Violin Conspiracy actually happened in his notes and acknowledgments, and I also watched a video of one of his appearances on Youtube in which Slocumb stated, "I want to be the Stephen King of musical thrillers!" After falling head over heels into this first book of his, all I can say is that I hope his wish comes true.

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

ISBN: 9780593315422

Vintage Books © 2022

Trade Paperback, 368 pages

 

Standalone Thriller

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen.

On Borrowed Crime by Kate Young

First Line: The white wrap-around dress would have me in hot water if my mother heard I'd committed the heinous crime of wearing white after Labor Day.

Sweet Mountain, Georgia, is Lyla Moody's beloved hometown where she's the receptionist for her uncle's private investigation firm. Her circle of friends are all in the true crime obsessed Jane Doe Book Club, and her parents have just celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. But... her idyllic life might be coming to an end. Her best friend Melanie is on vacation. Her ex-boyfriend and horrible cousin have moved in together next door, and-- worst of all-- she's found fellow club member Carol dead and shoved into a suitcase on her doorstep.

Carol's death is ruled "undetermined," but when police discover that the suitcase in which her body was found belongs to Melanie, Lyla's best friend becomes the prime suspect. Convinced that the police are following the wrong trail, Lyla believes her job at her uncle's private investigation firm and her obsession with true crime are the perfect requirements for her to find the real killer. Of course, they just could be the exact same requirements to make her Victim #2.

~

When I rolled my eyes at the very first sentence of On Borrowed Crime, I should have heeded the warning and stopped right there. From a very promising premise, this first book in the Jane Doe Book Club cozy series just was not my cup of tea. From an easy-to-deduce whodunit to an awkward takeoff on Janet Evanovich's Grandma Mazur, I simply could not warm up to either the story or the characters.

Lyla loses half her wardrobe, but it's no biggie because her mother keeps her closet fully stocked at home. Lyla's car goes to the scrapyard in the sky, but-- no biggie-- she can borrow her mother's car. But if you think the thirty-one-year-old's life as the daughter of rich parents is all sunshine and roses, you obviously haven't met her mother. Apparently, Lyla's mother had some sort of tragedy in her childhood that makes her the ultimate control freak, and it's the sort of thing to fuel another book in the series, but honestly, I don't have the will or the desire to find out what happened to her. Lyla's always been obsessed with true crime, with solving cold cases, with finding justice for victims and their families, but that's not the life choice her parents want for her, so they actually put her in therapy in an attempt to snap her out of it. Marriage and babies. That's the thing. Ugh! (Hey, I can't help it if I'm pro-choice.)

However, the one thing about writing book reviews is that I'm fully aware of the fact that, while I'm describing something that drove me around the bend, at the same time I'm convincing some of you that this is exactly the book you want to read next. If you look at it this way (and I do), it's a win-win situation. The next decision is up to you.

 

On Borrowed Crime by Kate Young

eISBN: 9781643854632

Crooked Lane Books © 2020

eBook, 300 pages

 

Cozy Mystery, #1 Jane Doe Book Club mystery

Rating: D

Source: Net Galley

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

First Line: When you first disappeared, your mother warned me that finding out exactly what had happened to you would be worse than never knowing.

Claire is the trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia is a single mother who's dating an ex-con and struggling to make ends meet. Twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia's teenage sister Julia vanished without a trace. When Claire's husband is killed, that "Julia wound" they've never really recovered from is ripped open once again.

What could possibly link the disappearance of a teenage girl with the murder of a middle-aged man? Claire and Lydia have formed an uneasy truce to find the truth for themselves.

This is the first book written by Karin Slaughter that I've read, and I have to admit that I was a bit underwhelmed. This is a story with occasional chapters from the point of view of Sam, a father grieving over the loss of his daughter Julia. The family dynamics are the best part of the book. Readers witness a tragedy and the implosion of a family, then watch as the two remaining sisters form an alliance to uncover the truth. 

But as good as the story of those family dynamics is, Pretty Girls suffers from "too much middle" that slowed down the book's pace and bogged down the story. Perhaps too much exposition is why I thought the bad guy was too over the top, and why I wasn't really surprised by any of the revelations. I can see how some readers would find this book too violent and misogynistic, but those elements really didn't bother me that much. What bothered me was knowing that a first-rate thriller was buried beneath way too many words.
    

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

ISBN: 9780062429070
William Morrow © 2016
Mass Market Paperback, 592 pages

Thriller, Standalone
Rating: C+
Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen


 

Demise in Denim by Duffy Brown

First Line: The convertible top was down, a crescent moon hung low over the marshlands, and the night sky was filled with a bazillion stars as I drove Walker Boone's precious red '57 Chevy toward Tybee Post.

You know it has to be a desperate situation for Walker Boone to let Reagan Summerside drive his beloved classic car-- and it is. Boone is on the run from the law, since the law is convinced Boone killed Conway Adkins. 

Reagan knows that Boone is no killer, so she has to set out to prove it before the police find the man whose kisses make her toes curl in her flip-flops. Trouble is, Adkins was probably the most hated man in Savannah, and the list of suspects Reagan must go through is a long one. At least she's got the help of her Aunt KiKi and her friends, and she's going to need it. Someone wants Walker Boone to take the fall for Adkins' death. Everyone knows three things about Reagan: (1) she's nosy, (2) she's incapable of letting the police do their job, and (3) she's sweet on Boone. The killer knows Reagan will have to be taken out of the equation.

I've enjoyed Duffy Brown's Consignment Shop cozy series set in Savannah, Georgia, and Demise in Denim is the best of the bunch. Brown's humor and characterizations absolutely sparkle and remind me of what I used to enjoy so much about Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books (without that never-ending romantic triangle). 

Reagan Summerside is a good-hearted, funny, yet rather bumbling amateur sleuth, and when she starts snooping with her Auntie KiKi (a former roadie for Cher), or one of her friends Mercedes (house cleaner and makeup artist for a local funeral home) or Chantilly (former UPS driver, now cook for a catering company), you just know there's going to be trouble-- usually the kind that makes you laugh.

I have friends who love to read yet-- for some unknown reason-- have an aversion to Southern accents, and I can report that Brown is skilled in giving readers the flavor of Southern speech without a y'all in sight. I'm not quite sure how she manages to do that, but it is very well done.

Even though I did recognize the guilty party almost immediately, that didn't matter because I was enjoying the characters so much. By book's end, all the loose ends were neatly tied up, and I closed Demise in Denim with a smile on my face. This is a very enjoyable series that I recommend to all cozy lovers.

Demise in Denim by Duffy Brown

ISBN: 9780425274705 

Berkley Prime Crime © 2015

Mass Market Paperback, 293 pages

Cozy Mystery, #4 Consignment Shop Mystery

Rating: B+

Source: the publisher

 

Dead Man Walker by Duffy Brown

First Line: "See, there he is, Mr. Boone," Mercedes said to me.

It's springtime in Savannah, Georgia, but it's SDDM (Same Day Different Mop) for mortician/ beautician and housekeeper Mercedes-- or it would be if she hadn't found homeowner Conway Adkins naked as a jaybird and dead in his bathtub. Now Mercedes is a woman with a past, and she knows that the police are going to think she's the perfect prime suspect, so she calls local lawyer Walker Boone to come help her out. 

There's nothing Walker Boone would like to do more than get Mercedes out of this tight spot, but there's two flies in the ointment: One, Prissy Fox consignment shop owner Reagan Summerside won't stop nosing around, and, two (which is even more worrisome), Walker Boone has his own connections to the dead man. He may just find himself on the run from the law... if that pesky Reagan would get out of his way.

This digital short story sets up the newest Consignment Shop mystery (Demise in Denim) which will be released in April, and it has some surprises for readers of the series. For one thing, it actually sounds a bit more Southern than the novels, which leads me to surprise number two: the entire story is written from Walker Boone's point of view. More on that later.

Duffy Brown adds more humor to this short story, too, and I lost count of the times she had me chuckling with her descriptive phrases and a few well-chosen scenes like the one in the dead man's home before the police arrive. The dead man, Conway Adkins, was probably the most hated man in Savannah, so the suspect pool should be a large one, especially with a stranger from Charleston in town who seems to be in cahoots with an ambitious local. Notice I said "should be." The police are aiming for the most obvious first.

Which leads me back to Mercedes and Walker. Mercedes is a wonderful character, and I definitely want to see more of her primarily because of her thought processes. (Mercedes believes that her housekeeping services are in such high demand that someone is willing to bump off her clients in order to be moved on up to the top of the list... among other speculations.)

Having the story told from Walker's point of view is a stroke of genius. His voice is different from Reagan's-- more Southern-- and we not only get to learn more about his mysterious background, we get to learn how he truly feels about Reagan Summerside. 

Yes, this is a perfect lead-in to Duffy Brown's next book in the series, Demise in Denim, and I'm really looking forward to finding out how Walker Boone gets himself out of trouble. Roll on, April!
 

"Dead Man Walker" by Duffy Brown

eISBN: 9780698178021

Berkley Prime Crime © 2015

Digital Short Story, approximately 54 pages

Short Story featuring Consignment Shop series characters

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley


 

Pearls and Poison by Duffy Brown

First Line: "People are going to hate me if I do this," I said to Auntie KiKi.

Reagan Summerside would much rather work in her consignment shop, the Prissy Fox; she's got bills to pay. Instead, she finds herself being roped into campaign duties since her mother is running for city alderman. However, when her mother's opponent is murdered and Gloria Summerside is Suspect #1, Reagan puts aside both campaign and consignments and appoints herself the lead investigator in this murder case. She's got her mamma's name to clear.

The further Duffy Brown's Consignment Shop series goes, the more I like it. The setting and the characters are really coming into their own. Brown blazes a mysterious trail indeed, and lays enough red herrings along the way that even Reagan's hot dog-centric mutt, Bruce Willis, would be led astray.

The cast of characters is a strong one, all the way from sassy and stubborn Reagan to her nemesis (and romantic interest) Walker Boone to two elderly sisters who are professional mourners... all the way to Reagan's strait-laced mother (who's a judge known as Guillotine Gloria) and flaky Aunt KiKi, who was a roadie for Cher. These characters are growing and changing, and in each book we learn things about them that alters our perceptions.

There's also plenty of delightful Southern sass and humor, and as Reagan follows leads, we're treated to plenty of the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia, along the way. Come to think of it, I must be getting hooked on this series because I worry about Reagan not being able to pay her bills. Not only that, I'm thinking that she really should get herself a less conspicuous handbag if she's going to take it along on her investigations! You can't go wrong when you spend an afternoon or two with Reagan and the gang.

Pearls and Poison by Duffy Brown

ISBN:  9780425252482

Berkley Prime Crime © 2014

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #3 Consignment Shop mystery

Rating: B+

Source: the author 

Pies and Prejudice by Ellery Adams

First Line: Ella Mae LeFaye Kitteridge slammed a ball of dough onto the countertop, sending a snowstorm of flour into the air.

Having caught her husband cheating on her, Ella Mae LeFaye leaves him, the cooking school she was attending, and New York City to head back home to Havenwood, Georgia, and the loving arms of her aunts. Ella Mae has always loved to bake, and when she opens the Charmed Pie Shoppe things seem to be looking up. Well... except for arch rival Loralyn Gaynor who seems to love making trouble. When Loralyn's fiance is killed with Ella Mae's rolling pin, Ella Mae is Suspect #1 and is forced to take her eye off the pies in her ovens long enough to clear her name.

Pies and Prejudice should be every foodie's delight. The descriptions of Ella Mae's baking at the beginning of this book had my mouth watering and my memories firmly in the past when, as a young child, I would watch my grandmother bake her own wonderful pies. Although my grandmother's pies were good enough to convince their eaters that they'd died and gone to heaven, Ella Mae's pies are indeed magic. Whatever mood she's in while she's making her delectable concoctions is transferred to the baking. If she's feeling romantic, the folks who eat those pies go looking for love in all imaginable places. Adams uses this device to infuse quite a bit of humor into the book. (The romance is provided by Ella Mae's old high school crush, Hugh Dylan.)

I wish I could say that my enchantment with this book lasted through to the last page, but it didn't. The mystery and its resolution took the backseat to Ella Mae and the self-discovery of her talents and those of her family. Although this is important to the book-- and to setting up future books in the series-- it made the mystery feel rushed, and the way the identity of the killer is revealed is a letdown. Since so many clues to what's really going on with Ella Mae and her family are given, it's easy to put the puzzle pieces together, so I felt as though more emphasis on the mystery would have made for a stronger book.

Don't get me wrong. Ellery Adams is one of my very favorite cozy writers, and I greatly enjoyed the characters and setting of this book. I just feel as though someone sneaked a strawberry* into my cherry pie. 

*I'm allergic to strawberries.

Pies and Prejudice by Ellery Adams 

ISBN: 9780425251409

Berkley Prime Crime © 2012

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Cozy/Paranormal Mystery, #1 Charmed Pie Shoppe mystery

Rating: B

Source: Paperback Swap 

Grilled, Chilled and Killed by Lesley A. Diehl

First Line: Emily shook the metal canister filled with ice, liquor and mix until her hand numbed from the cold.

Emily Rhodes, a retired preschool teacher, lives in rural Florida and works as a bartender to supplement her small pension. To make a little extra money, she agrees to work at a local barbeque cook-off. When she finds a dead body covered in barbeque sauce in the beer cooler, she decides to stay out of it and let Detective Stanton Lewis do his job. Well... until she finds out that his idea of whodunit is just plain wrong. Lewis is so condescending toward her that Emily packs up her theories and starts doing her own snooping. With a crooked cop muddying the investigative waters, it's anyone's guess who's going to be declared the winner in solving this case: Detective Lewis or Emily Rhodes.

The very first things that grabbed me about Grilled, Chilled and Killed were the characters and the author's sense of humor. You learn the major characters' histories as you go along-- finding out what events shaped their lives and make them react the way they do to other people's behavior and to the action as it unfolds. Also, Emily is different from the normal cozy amateur sleuth because she gave her daughter Naomi up for adoption at birth. They are now forging a relationship, and that adds an interesting element to the story.

Emily has two men interested in her: Detective Stanton Lewis and her boss, Donald Green, a man who never met a bass he didn't like. (We're talking fish here, folks.) Both men have a tendency to rub her fur the wrong way, but with the amount of arguing she and Lewis do, you know the chemistry is sparking between them. The romantic element of the book adds spice and doesn't detract from the story one bit, although I do hope Emily and Lewis tone down their squabbling a bit in future books.

A lot of the humor that I appreciate so much is done in flashes: a descriptive phrase here, a small laugh-out-loud funny scene there. For instance, Emily decides that questioning suspects in restaurants isn't a good idea because she seems to be gaining weight; one person wears a shirt that's had "too many meetings with Maytag"; and Detective Lewis has a run-in with an old hound that will make you laugh a few pages later. Humor can be difficult to pull off, but Diehl does it very well.

The villains are good ones, too. They have different agendas, which (as Poirot would say) makes the reader fire up the little grey cells in an attempt to deduce what's going on and why. Emily flirts with danger at one point, and her fear is palpable. What makes that entire section work is the fact that she doesn't allow herself to become so frightened that she can't think of ways to get out of the situation. I like my heroines feisty and smart, and that's Emily Rhodes in Grilled, Chilled and Killed.

Good characters, good humor, good story. I'll be heading to the Big Lake country of Florida again. Why don't you meet me there?

Grilled, Chilled and Killed by Lesley A. Diehl

ISBN: 9781610090995

Oak Tree Press © 2012

Paperback, 214 pages

Cozy Mystery, #2 Big Lake Mystery

Rating: B

Source: Purchased from Amazon. 

Killer in Crinolines by Duffy Brown

First Line: Magnolia Plantation wasn't really a Southern plantation, the guests milling about the wide verandahs and lush green lawn weren't really extras from Gone with the Wind, and that wasn't Scarlett O'Hara descending the curved staircase but my auntie KiKi in a green flouncy dress with enough crinolines to cover all of Savannah.

Reagan Summerside should be devoting her time to her consignment shop, The Prissy Fox. Instead, she's raced to Magnolia Plantation on an errand of mercy, delivering a black bow tie so the wedding can get started. Since Reagan's luck is no better than mine, she manages to trip over a dead body. The groom has had a fatal encounter with a cake knife and now lies draped over his own wedding cake.

Unfortunately Reagan's best friend, UPS driver Chantilly Parker, is the prime suspect, since the groom jilted her to wed rich Waynetta Waverly. Chantilly even had plans to crash the wedding in her UPS truck. But even though Chantilly has both motive, means and attitude, Reagan knows her friend didn't commit murder and sets out to prove it. Little does she know that she's going to have two shadows throughout her sleuthing: her eccentric Auntie KiKi and Walker Boone, the lawyer Reagan loves to hate.

I enjoyed the first book in this series, Iced Chiffon, and I'm happy to say that the seeds author Duffy Brown planted in that first book have flowered beautifully in this second installment. The plot is filled with red herrings and humor, and I have to admit that I was enjoying myself so much that I forgot to put the clues together until just before the reveal. But the plot isn't the best part of Killer in Crinolines.

No, the prize for that would definitely go to Duffy Brown's cast of characters. From Reagan Summerside, a woman who can get more miles out of a huge yellow Target purse than anyone else I know, to her auntie KiKi, former roadie for Cher, dance instructor, and head gossip tweeter on the local kudzu vine, to Reagan's emotional best friend Chantilly, and on down to a pair of professional mourners, this is one group of characters to fall in love with and to laugh with. I think I had a big smile on my face almost the entire time I was reading.

Duffy Brown also has a light touch. This book is Pure-D Southern with a capital S without drowning in the vernacular speech that can turn some readers away. If you're looking for a cozy series that's light and fun, one with sparks of romance, a cast of characters you want to sit and gossip on the front porch with, and enough humor to keep you smiling for days, I have a recommendation for you: Duffy Brown's Consignment Shop mysteries!
 

Killer in Crinolines by Duffy Brown

ISBN: 9780425252154

Berkley Prime Crime © 2013

Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages

Cozy Mystery, #2 Consignment Shop mystery

Rating: B+

Source: the author

Author Duffy Brown Shares Her Love of Savannah

The second book in the Consignment Shop cozy mystery series, Killer in Crinolines, will be available tomorrow, May 7. You'll also be able to read my review of it in a bit, but first I'm thrilled to say that the author, Duffy Brown, is my guest today. Settle back and let Duffy tell (and show) you just why she loves Savannah, Georgia-- the place where the Consignment Shop books are set!

~~~~~~

Mansion in Savannah

One of the reasons I wanted to write my Consignment Shop mysteries was to set a book in Savannah, Georgia. I love Savannah. My daughter went to school there, and I fell in love with the city.

Savannah is the Old South as opposed to Atlanta the New South. One of the big reasons is because Sherman didn’t burn it to the ground, thus sparing all the wonderful old mansions we see today restored to perfection. 

Forsyth Park

My favorite thing about Savannah… besides the incredible food…is that twenty-three squares dot the city. These squares were laid out by George Oglethorpe when he and his merry band of followers founded the city. The squares are a block in size, shaded by huge Live Oak trees draped in Spanish moss. One look at the square and you know you’re not in Kansas or NYC or LA. This is Gone With the Wind territory for real.

The Garden of Good & Evil

If you've ever read/seen Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, you know Savannah.  The home of pralines, sweet tea, voodoo--that is not a tourist trap like in New Orleans but here spoken of in hushed voices—Paula Deen and springtime! No place does spring better than Savannah. It’s a two-month long event with azaleas big as a bus, magnolias big as a dinner plate... the whole city one big impressionist painting and smelling like heaven on earth.

Some of my favorite places to eat are Zunzi's for their Conquistador sandwich and special sauce that drips off your fingers when eating it, the Olde Pink House for shrimp and grits, and the Pirates' House where Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island, and you can enjoy delish she-crab soup, pecan chicken and the great ghost stories the staff will tell you if you ask.

The Pirates' House

This is just a touch of Savannah. If my kids didn’t live in Savannah, I’d live in Savannah. I’m a closet belle…have the baton, pearls and manners to prove it.

If you ever want to take a road trip to Savannah, let me know at we’ll meet up at Leopold’s for a double-dip of Old Black Magic ice cream!

                                                            Hugs,

Iced Chiffon by Duffy Brown

First Line: I poured out the last of the pinot and lifted my glass as I gazed around the dining-room table.

Reagan Summerside should never have signed that pre-nuptial  agreement. With the help of a slick lawyer, her ex-husband has taken off with everything that wasn't nailed down, leaving her with lots of bills to pay in an old house she's restoring in the Victorian district of Savannah, Georgia. In order to pay one or two of those bills, Reagan's reduced to selling her designer clothes, which starts her well on the way to opening her very own consignment shop on the first floor of her home.

The Lexus wasn't the only thing her ex took with him: Janelle, the blonde cupcake, went with Hollis straight to his condo. But when Janelle's body is found in the truck of the aforementioned car, Reagan's forced to work overtime on finding the killer. If she doesn't do everything she can to reduce Hollis's lawyer fees, Hollis will sell Cherry House right out from under her to pay that handsome shyster, Walker Boone.

Reagan's got just the sort of contacts to help her, too. Her Aunt KiKi (a former roadie for Cher) lives next-door. KiKi spends a lot of her time giving dance lessons to all sorts of people, so she's right in the thick of all the best gossip. Just in case KiKi misses a morsel or three, Reagan can also rely on AnnieFritz and Elsie Abbott, two retired schoolteachers who hire themselves out on the Q.T. as professional mourners. If that weren't enough, UPS delivery person Chantilly Parker not only helps Reagan with her consignment business by tweeting about it, she also picks up useful information on her rounds in that big brown truck.

If you can't tell by now, I really enjoyed the cast of characters in this book. And although the y'alls are few and far between in Iced Chiffon (which will please some readers I know), Duffy Brown made me smile more than once by her occasional use of Southern colloquialisms. One all by its lonesome is still making me grin because it's one I grew up hearing, and I use it to this day. ("How are you?" "Fine as frog hair!" -- guaranteed to glue a puzzled look on the face of anyone who's not familiar with it.)

I'm undoubtedly dating myself, but the sparks flying between Reagan and the lawyer, Walker Boone, made me think of Maddie and David in "Moonlighting." (Catch some scenes on YouTube or watch it on Netflix.) But even though there is chemistry there, romance never takes center stage over the characters or the mystery. In fact, I was having so much fun keeping tabs on the main characters that I almost forgot to be on the lookout for the killer.

Setting, mystery, characters... and just enough information about running a consignment shop to pique my interest. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store next for Reagan and all her friends down in Savannah.

Iced Chiffon by Duffy Brown

ISBN: 9780425251607

Berkley Prime Crime © 2012

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #1 Consignment Shop Mystery

Rating: B

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen.

Defending Angels by Mary Stanton

Title: Defending Angels
Author: Mary Stanton
ISBN: 9780425224984
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, 2008
Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages
Genre: Cozy/Amateur Sleuth, Paranormal, #1 Beaufort and Company mystery
Rating: A
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: "Hanged by the neck until dead, every one of 'em," Lavinia Mather said with enormous satisfaction.

In a move from North Carolina to Savannah, Georgia, in order to escape the smothering concern of her parents, lawyer Brianna Winston-Beaufort took her eccentric uncle's inheritance and ran with it. Unfortunately his law offices were damaged in a fire, and Brianna needs someplace temporary to set up shop until the remodeling is done.

What she finds is in a prime section of historic Savannah, the most haunted city in America, and although the offices are in an old home set right in the middle of the only all-murderers cemetery in the state of Georgia, Brianna can't afford to be picky. Especially when the owner, Lavinia Mather, has the rent set so low. Brianna just hopes her future clients won't mind walking through landscaping that looks like it's straight from a Hammer horror film.

It doesn't take long for Brianna to realize that something very strange is going on; for instance her first client is billionaire Benjamin Skinner who calls and demands her services-- after he had been declared dead.

Defending Angels is a fun read highlighted by its plot and unique angle. It's very difficult to say much about the book without giving away some of its secrets, so I won't even try. If you're in the mood for a light, very fun and fast-paced mystery filled with things that go bump in the night, by all means pick up Defending Angels! I've already gotten the second book in the series sitting on the shelf waiting for me.

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One Grave Too Many by Beverly Connor

Title: One Grave Too Many
Author: Beverly Connor
ISBN: 9780451411198
Publisher: Onyx, 2003
Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages
Genre: Police Procedural, #1 Diane Fallon mystery
Rating: A-
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: "His head isn't on straight."

Forensic anthropologist and former human rights investigator Diane Fallon is now director of the RiverTrail Museum of Natural History in Georgia. She's hoping that the new line of work will help her to forget the South American nightmare she found herself in as a human rights investigator uncovering mass graves.

It isn't long until Detective Frank Duncan tracks her down for help. A bone has been found in the woods that may relate to a missing persons case. Diane finally agrees to his request, and shortly after her investigation begins, a family is murdered. Little does she know that this one small bone is going to put her life in danger once again.

Diane is the type of person who's good at anything to which she puts her mind. She also has a wide range of interests--anything from the Thai Elephant Orchestra to caving. One scene in particular has Diane fighting for her life. The scene was swift and scary, and I liked it-- not because Diane was in jeopardy, but because she was capable of using her head even though she was scared to death.

The story was also a strong one. Time after time, I thought I had it figured out only to discover that I really didn't. Connor also didn't use an interesting profession as a hook to persuade readers to read only to abandon the hook a few pages in. (Something that really irks me.) Throughout the book, Diane is a museum director and a forensic anthropologist, and I learned quite a bit (painlessly) about both professions.

Strong, interesting main character, fast-moving, well-plotted action... I'm already looking for the second book in the series. If you've enjoyed books by Aaron Elkins, Patricia Cornwell or Kathy Reichs, you might want to give Beverly Connor a try.

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The Confederate General Rides North by Amanda C. Gable

Title: The Confederate General Rides North
Author: Amanda C. Gable
ISBN: 9781416598398, Scribner, 2009
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: "Get up, baby," Mother says. "We're going on an adventure."

It's the 1960s, and eleven-year-old Katherine McConnell's mother is most definitely taking her daughter on an adventure. Without a word of good-bye to anyone, Kat's mother has her pack a bag and then they hop in the car for a road trip north to Boston and Cape Cod, where Margaret McConnell grew up. Margaret plans to open an antique shop, and they're going to make stops along the way to buy merchandise for the store.
Kat is dragging her feet a bit, especially when she's told that she can't say good-bye to her father or grandparents, so to sweeten the deal, her mother tells her that Kat can be in charge of the itinerary. This makes Kat's eyes shine because she daydreams of being a Confederate general in a spotless uniform riding a beautiful horse. If Kat plans the itinerary, she's going to make sure they stop at as many Civil War battlefields as they possibly can.

Mother and daughter haven't gone many miles down the road before the reader has a very strong feeling that something's up... and that Katherine McConnell is a very special eleven-year-old girl. Her obsession with the Civil War isn't the run-of-the-mill obsession of a horse-crazed tomboy. Kat uses her knowledge of the Civil War and its generals as a coping mechanism:

The Confederate general often feels very alone; after all, everything is up to her. Even if she gets advice from her staff, the decisions are hers. She can't reveal her uncertainties to anyone. Her men and her staff need to be confident in her, confident in her abilities; it wouldn't be good for them to know about the times that she is unsure and confused. To know that she questions her own resolve.

The farther the road trip progressed, the more foreboding I felt. Would an eleven-year-old be able to deal with what I felt was coming? It's been a while since I've been this involved with characters in a book, but Kat and her mother had me wound up tighter than an eight-day clock. By the end of The Confederate General Rides North, I wanted to hug the stuffin' out of Kat McConnell-- and author Amanda C. Gable. Gable's debut novel had me very emotionally involved from beginning to end, and that doesn't happen very often. I'm looking forward with great anticipation to her next book.

Homemade Sin by Kathy Hogan Trocheck

Title: Homemade Sin
Author: Kathy Hogan Trocheck
ISBN: 0061092568, Harper Mystery, 1995
Genre: Cozy mystery, Private Investigator, #3 Callahan Garrity mystery
Rating: C-
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: "Nine-letter hint," I muttered, absent-mindedly winding a curl around my finger.

When her cousin Patti McNair is shot to death in her new car near the Garden Homes project in Atlanta, a horrible situation is made even worse by the fact that her young son is in the car with her. Callahan refuses to believe that Patti's death is a random robbery and senseless murder, and sets out to find her own suspects and conduct her own investigation. In fact, she's being so mule-headed about the whole thing that she puts her own life in danger.

I've enjoyed this series about a former Atlanta police officer who's now owner of the House Mouse cleaning service. Granted, Callahan's mother has always rubbed my fur the wrong way with her methods of getting her daughter to do as she wants, but I could overlook that. Unfortunately, in Homemade Sin there were a few too many things I couldn't overlook.

For one thing, I can't help but compare this series to Ann Purser's Lois Meade series centered on a woman running her own house cleaning agency in small town England. Purser's series wins, hands down. It's obvious that Callahan had a career previous to House Mouse, and by the way she's always haring off to do something else, her heart isn't in her current career. On the other hand, Lois keeps a tight rein on her business, takes care of her family and solves crimes.

Trocheck's series, set in Atlanta, also has a tendency to limit African American characters to the roles of domestics, gang bangers and project dwellers, which didn't set well with me.

But what really got up my nose is the behavior of Callahan herself. At the very beginning of the book, there really isn't any evidence to support Callahan's belief that Patti's murder was planned. I'm sorry, but Callahan's guilt over not talking to or visiting with her cousin as often as she should have in recent years just isn't evidence to me. Our intrepid heroine then proceeds to ride rough-shod over everyone else in the family to pursue her gut feeling. She has no respect for anyone else's feelings or wishes. Then she pouts when family members give her the Silent Cold Shoulder Treatment. Gah!

Yes, Callahan was proved right, but I'm still annoyed with her. Hmm... see why I have enjoyed this series? The characters can get to you! If you're in the mood for a cozy with a heroine whose heart is in the hunt and not the scrub bucket, give Kathy Hogan Trocheck's Callahan Garrity series a try. Not everyone is a curmudgeon like me!

What Looks Like Crazy by Charlotte Hughes

Title: What Looks Like Crazy
Author: Charlotte Hughes
ISBN: 9780515144239, Jove Books, 2008
Genre: Cozy Mystery, #1 Dr. Kate Holly mystery
Rating: B-

First Line: As a clinical psychologist, I've spent most of my time trying to convince my clients they're not crazy.

You might be more familiar with Charlotte Hughes from the series she co-wrote with Janet Evanovich. I admit to reading the first, Full House, and not being very impressed.

This time, the South Carolina writer is all by her lonesome and introducing us to clinical psychologist Kate Holly. Kate lives in Atlanta in a house with mood swings that she calls "Mad Ethel". She's afraid to say too much about the house to her landlord in case all the repairs are made and the rent is raised. She has an eccentric receptionist who drums up business by such schemes as offering free manicures. and her mother and aunt collect junk art. (They recently installed a vaguely sexual sculpture in her front yard, and Kate's neighbors are up in arms.)

Her psychiatrist ex-boyfriend keeps referring all sorts of "interesting" cases to her, and Kate begins to receive mysterious threats. If she weren't so busy chasing after everyone, she just might be able to take these threats seriously.

Kate is an extremely likable character. She has a good turn of phrase (I blushed so hard that I was certain I'd singed my eyebrows), and we tend to see eye-to-eye on things: Despite my Ph.D. in clinical psychology, I had yet to figure out why Popeye and Brutus were constantly coming to fisticuffs over a woman like Olive Oyl.

I also liked the care and concern Kate showed with each of her patients. What did wear a little thin with me throughout the first section of the book was her reason for divorcing her firefighter husband-- she literally cannot stand the thought of his being in danger every single day. That's the only reason. Kate's explanations carried on a bit too long for me, to the point where I wanted to tell her to put on her big girl panties and deal with it. Good thing I'm not the psychologist, eh?

Other than being mildly irked with Kate for the first quarter of the book and wondering about a practically non-existent mystery, I greatly enjoyed this book. Hughes' skill in characterization will have me looking for the second book in the series, Nutcase, when I need something light and fun.

[Source: Paperback Swap.]

A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J. Ellory

Title: A Quiet Belief in Angels
Author: R.J. Ellory
ISBN: 9781590202500, Overlook Press, 2009
Genre: Historical Mystery, Amateur Sleuth
Rating: A-

First Line: I am an exile.

It's 1939, and in rural Augusta Falls, Georgia, someone rapes and murders a classmate of twelve-year-old Joseph Calvin Vaughan. It is the first of several such murders that span many counties, many sheriffs' jurisdictions, and many years. As a young boy in school, Joseph wanted the murders to stop, so he banded together with several other boys in his class to form the Guardians. All the boys felt that, if they could keep an eye on things, the murders would stop. They were wrong.

Fifty years will pass. Many little girls will be raped and murdered. And Joseph will remain haunted by it all.

I fell into this book and did not want to come up for air. Sure there were a few problems: sometimes the imagery was a bit overwrought or tangled, and Joseph seemed all too content to let life happen to him so he could agonize over it and write about it. Once in a while it strained credulity that not once in all those years did any of the sheriffs in the area ever find one clue or have even one tiny inkling of the murderer's identity, but those were minor annoyances for me. I was hooked by the story, by Joseph's voice, and by the tale that Ellory was spinning.

Elena.

You sweet, silent, lost little girl.

I think of the woman you would have become. I wonder if somewhere there is a place that holds all these unfinished lives. Another plane, another world running parallel to our own, where the dead pick up their incomplete lives and live them out.

And I recall times when I tried so hard to understand the kind of person who could have killed so many children.

Perhaps South of Broad is still lingering in my memory, but as I read A Quiet Belief in Angels I found similarities in the rich language of R.J. Ellory and Pat Conroy-- evocative imagery, a strong sense of place, the power of memory, wounded characters who somehow find untapped wells of strength. It would be rather safe to assume that if you enjoy the novels of Pat Conroy, you're going to love R.J. Ellory's A Quiet Belief in Angels.

As I did. Joseph Calvin Vaughan and his quiet belief in angels will linger on in my own memory for some time to come.


*Review copy provided by Vida Engstrand of the Overlook Press.

REVIEW: Every Crooked Nanny

Title: Every Crooked Nanny
Author: Kathy Hogan Trocheck
Protagonist: J. Callahan Garrity--ex-cop, failed P.I. and owner of the House Mouse cleaning service
Setting: present-day Atlanta
Series: #1
Rating: B-

First Line: I knew it was going to be a bad day when Neva Jean called that early in the morning.

While cleaning the home of snooty Lilah Rose Beemish, Callahan is hired to trace Kristee, the family's Mormon nanny who has absconded with furs, jewels and business secrets stolen from Lilah's husband Bo during their affair. Callahan's investigation leads her to Kristee's boyfriend, to a lesbian who loved the missing woman and then to Kristee's body, stored in a fur vault with Lilah's black sable. Bo and Lilah seem the most likely suspects as Callahan digs up dirt about Bo's multimillion-dollar real estate deal.

Trocheck has a marvelous cast of characters in this first book of the series, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does with them in following books. The only real problem I found with Every Crooked Nanny was that it really didn't pick up steam until the last third of the book.