Author Archives: Eleanor Kuhns

About Eleanor Kuhns

Librarian and Writer Published A Simple Murder, May 2012

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Week of April 5

Now that I have completed reading the books for my Malice Domestic panel, I am branching out. This week I read the newest book by an old and favorite author (Ann Cleeves – The Heron’s Cry), and a book by a new author, to me at least (Nancy Allen – the Code of the Hills).

Cleeves’s new book is the second in her Matthew Venn series.

Venn is called to an artist’s colony. Dr. Nigel Yeo has been stabbed to death by a shard of glass from one of his daughter’s glass creations. Dr Yeo is an unexpected victim. A good man, and very concerned about the treatment of mental health patients, he has been investigating the suicide of young man.

Then the owner of the artist’s colony is found murdered in exactly the same way. Since Matthew’s husband Jonathan is connected to this colony, he must tread carefully.

Although the Vera and Jimmy Perez mysteries are my favorites, the Matthew Venn books are very enjoyable as well.

The second of the two is The Code of the Hills by Nancy Allen.

Although she is probably more well – known as a co-writer with James Patterson, this mystery that she wrote alone is great as well. Elsie Arnold is a state prosecutor tasked with trying an incest case. Kris Taney has been accused of the rape of his two oldest daughters.

Everyone lies to Elsie, including Kris’s wife and the two daughters. Then a Evangelical group becomes involved – and Elsie is targeted. Her car is vandalized in some particularly horrible ways.

Elsie herself is not entirely admirable. She drinks too much and her choice of men leaves a lot to be desired. But she works on the case to the best of her ability.

The author, who spoke to my Sisters in Crime group via Zoom, referred to her early series as ‘Hillbilly noir” and noir it is.

Absolutely fascinating!

Malice Domestic Programming

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Besides the panel I moderate (Historical Mysteries – the Rapture of Research on Friday, April 23, 2pm), there are a number of fascinating offerings.

Some of the fascinating topics:

Blurring Genres: Blending a Cozy with Romance? With Fantasy?
Solves a Crime or Feed the Cat?
Can you Google the Killer?

And these are all on Friday, in addition to a panel on The Agatha Best Contemporary Novel Nominees with:
Ellen Byron
Edwin Hill
Louise Penny
Gabriel Valjan

On Saturday, panels range from:

Women in Historical Mysteries: Grappling with Gender Expectations (One I will surely attend) to How Strong Characters Make a Strong Mystery and How Do Bookstores and Libraries Foster Community? And these are all at 9 am.

At ten, I plan to attend  Farms, Fields and Felonies: Crime in Remote Settings.

Panels continue through out the day with one interviewing debut novel nominees, discussion of the effects of Covid on the in-person experience, and, of course, the awarding of the Agatha at the banquet.

On Sunday, Hank Phillippi Ryan will interview the International Guest: Sophie Hannah, another not to be missed event.

After the long dry spell of no conferences or in-person activities, I plan on trying to get to as much as I physically can. I will be happily exhausted.



Currently Reading – week of April 4

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This week I finished the final two books that my panel authors will be discussion at Malice Domestic. I always enjoy finding new authors.

The first book I read was The Murderess Must Die by Marlie Wasserman.

This is a fictionalized account of a true crime. Martha Place was accused of the murder of her stepdaughter Ida and the attack with an axe on her husband William, She was poorly represented by counsel and became the first woman to be executed via the electric chair. Horrifying and Thought provoking.

The second book is one that I read when it was first released: Death at the Emerald by R.J. Koreto.

This is the third in the Lady Frances Folks Edwardian mysteries. Frances Is asked by Lady Torrance to look for her daughter Louisa, who ran away to become an actress. I really hope the author pens a few more in this series. Beautiful written and charming.

Malice Domestic 2022

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The full program for this year’s conference has been posted on their website – malicedomestic.org. More about this later.

They are also offering day passes. So, if you are in North Bethesda any day from April 21 to 24, the conference is being held at the Marriott.

Readers, and attendees at Malice, vote on the Agatha Awards. This year’s nominees are:

The 2021 Agatha Award Nominees

Best Contemporary Novel
Cajun Kiss of Death by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)
Watch Her by Edwin Hill (Kensington)
The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
Her Perfect Life by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)
Symphony Road by Gabriel Valjan (Level Best Books)

Best Historical Novel
Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge (Kensington)
Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime)
The Bombay Prince by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
Death at Greenway by Lori Rader-Day (HarperCollins)
The Devil’s Music by Gabriel Valjan (Winter Goose Publishing)

Best First Novel
The Turncoat’s Widow by Mally Becker (Level Best Books)
A Dead Man’s Eyes by Lori Duffy Foster (Level Best Books)
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala (Berkley)
Murder in the Master by Judy L. Murray (Level Best Books)
Mango, Mambo, and Murder by Raquel V. Reyes (Crooked Lane Books)

Best Short Story
“A Family Matter” by Barb Goffman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Jan/Feb 2021)
“A Tale of Two Sisters” by Barb Goffman in Murder on the Beach (Destination Murders)
“Doc’s at Midnight” by Richie Narvaez in Midnight Hour (Crooked Lane Books)
“The Locked Room Library” by Gigi Pandian (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine July/Aug 2021)
“Bay of Reckoning” by Shawn Reilly Simmons in Murder on the Beach (Destination Murders)

Best Non-Fiction
The Combat Zone: Murder, Race, and Boston’s Struggle for Justice by Jan Brogan (Bright Leaf Press)
Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter by Chris Chan (Level Best Books)
The Irish Assassins: Conspiracy, Revenge, and the Phoenix Park Murders that Stunned Victorian England by Julie Kavanaugh (Atlantic Monthly Press)
How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America by MWA with editors Lee Child and Laurie R. King (Simon & Schuster)

Best Children’s/YA Mystery
​Cold-Blooded Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers)
The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur (Fiewel and Friends/Macmillan)
I Play One on TV by Alan Orloff (Down & Out Books)
Leisha’s Song by Lynn Slaughter (Fire and Ice/Melange Books)
Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche by Nancy Springer (Wednesday Books)

I’ve read several of these books and the nominations are well deserved.

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Week of March 28.

This week I read two of the five books we will be discussing at Malice Domestic. I previously read Front Page Murder.

Cry of the Innocent, by Julie Bates, takes place right before the American Revolution begins. Widow Faith Clarke runs a tavern in Williamsburg.

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She is far more worried about her tavern and inn than about the rumblings of revolt among the citizens. Then a wealthy and influential man, widely reputed to engage in the slave trade, is murdered in her spare room. A young slave, Stella, is accused of the crime. Faith is sure the slim young woman is not guilty and embarks on an investigation of her own.

So many of the themes raised in this mystery are relevant to today. The characters are wonderfully drawn. Recommended.

The second book I read is Death on the Homefront, by Frances McNamara. This is another war book, although the war in this book is World War I.

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Tensions rise as the threat of the United States involvement in World War I increase. Emotions against Germans rise and those who fight for peace are considered traitors.

Emily Cabot is present when a young woman about to make a brilliant society marriage is murdered. Hazel is Emily’s daughter’s best friend. A waiter with a German surname is arrested; public emotion against the Germans is rising. A civilian run force is trying to find spies and saboteurs, and attacking anyone they feel are treasonous. At the same time, violent worker protests are threatening bombings.

Emily watches with fear and trepidation as her adult children are caught up in the events, making dangerous choices.

Recommended.

Malice Domestic 2022

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I am happy and excited to announce Malice Domestic 2022. For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, this will be an in-person conference.

I will be moderating a panel on Historical mysteries, naturally, on Friday, April 22. My panel consists to Frances McNamara (the Emily Cabot mysteries) Death on the Homefront; Julie Bates – The Innocent’s Cry, Marlie Wasserman – The Murderess must Die, and finally R.J. Koreto – Death at the Emerald.

The honored guests are Rhys Bowen and Julia Spencer-Fleming. Lifetime Achievement Awards will be given to Ellen Hart and Walter Mosley.

I am so looking forward to this.

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week of March 21.

The first book I read this week was The Bluff by John Dedakis.

Another in the Lark Chadwick series. Lark in invited to anchor a news show at the local television station at the same time one of the students in her journalism class is hired by editor Lionel. They are assigned a land scam story in which a large number of senior have been defrauded of plots of land.

As they investigate, Lark begins to read the diary left by Lionel’s daughter Holly. Both Lionel and his wife Muriel were devastated by Holly’s death in a climbing accident.

But Lark begins to suspect the accident was really murderer.

The characters are well drawn and the mysteries are captivating. Recommended.

The second book I read is Betrayal at Ravenswick.

Fiona Figg works for British Intelligence during World War I. She is sent to Ravenswick in disguise as a man, Dr Vogel, to confirm whether a man staying there is actually a German spy. Shortly after his/her arrival, a murder occurs at the ‘Big House”. Fiona can’t help herself. Despite being told not to involve herself in local matters, she begins to investigate.

Because of her interference, she becomes a suspect and has to be extracted by way of a phony arrest.

Glad to return to her woman’s role, she continues her volunteer work at the hospital. Captain Clifford, on the scene at Ravenswyck and now also assigned to British intelligence, displays an interest in Fiona. She is able to manipulate him into finding evidence and clearing the accused innocent man.

My main problem is that the mystery at Ravenswyck disappears when Fiona returns to London and is only reintroduced towards the end. It felt like another book was sandwiched into the middle.

Next week, I will be discussing the books of my panelists. I will be moderating a panel: Historical; the Rapture of Research, at Malice Domestic on April 22. The conference, the first in=person since 2019, will run from April 21 through April 25. I am looking forward to it. I always love finding new authors and what could be better than talking about books?

The Clotilda, last known slave ship

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Even though the U.S. banned the importation of the enslaved from Africa in 1808, slavery itself was not banned and the enslaved were not freed. Slavery continued to be critical to the economy, particularly in the south but in the north as well. The high demand for slave labor from the cotton trade (the cotton woven into cloth at New England textile factories) encouraged some plantation owners, such as Alabama plantation owner Timothy Meaher, to risk illegal slave runs to Africa. In 1860, his schooner Clotilda sailed from Mobile to what was then the Kingdom of Dahomey He bought Africans captured by warring tribes back to Alabama, creeping into Mobile Bay under the cover of night. Some of the enslaved were divided between Foster and the Meahers, and others were sold. Foster then ordered the Clotilda taken upstream, burned and sunk to conceal the evidence.

After the Civil War, the freed slaves wished to return to Africa but did not have the money to do so. They set up a town in Alabama, near Mobile, called Africatown. It is set up under the same system as the African villages with a chief, a system of laws, a church and a school.

Based on stories told by modern day descendants living in Africatown, a search for the ship Clotilde was begun. Ben Baines, a reporter, found a shipwreck but it was too large to be the schooner. A company that specializes in maritime shipwreck recovery took on the job. Although the wreckage of the Clotilda was not very deep in the water, maybe eight to ten feet, the visibility was so poor that it was hard to find. It was finally recovered in 2019.

The Clotilda is proof that the slave trade went on for far longer than it should have, by law, and far longer than most of us believe.

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Week of March 12. This week I read two books. Oddly enough, both were historical fiction that take place during World War II.

The first, Front Page Murder, involves a young woman serving as the editor of the local paper. Her father had signed up and left her in charge. Needless to say, this causes friction with some of the men who resent a woman being in charge.

Other changes abound. Women flood into town to work in the local factory. Irene’s mother takes in one of those women, Katherine.

But all is not rosy. One of Irene’s best reporters is found dead in his house. Although the police chief thinks it was an accident, Irene is convinced it was murder.

Swaztikas and other anti-Semitic slogans appear on the doors of the Jewish shop owners in town. Then the janitor at the factory is seriously hurt. What is going on?

The light touches, Irene’s younger sister’s crush on Frank Sinatra, are interspersed with some of the dark.

Highly recommended.

The second book I read, Return to Afton Square, has a wonderful premise. Two strangers meet in Cradock, Virginia, both investigating past family who lived in the town. An initial dislike gradually warms into something else

The B&B where they are staying is reputed to be haunted and sure enough they begin experiencing supernatural events of their own. Some old keepsakes found in an attic and a visit to a ninety year old woman in a nursing home bring Heidi and Marcus into the story of Addie and Tobias, a young German sailor. He is stationed on a German ship being held in Cradock. (The United States had not entered the war yet.)

The characters of Addie and Tobias, the friends and family shine brightly. I found them more engaging than the modern day characters.

There are at least three stories going on at the same time. (This novel is connected to the author’s other series.) It is not a mystery but more of a supernatural love story.

Inequality in 1800 US

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Inequality is not a new phenomenon. Through most of human history, recorded history for sure, most of the resources have been coopted by the few. One of the few times in history when there was a big shake up was during the Black Death. Entire villages were wiped out. Crops rotted in the fields. With such a diminished labor pool, surviving serfs were able to negotiate better wages and working conditions for themselves.

However, change usually comes about through some cataclysm or continuous revolts.

In the United States, most of the founding fathers were wealthy and quite a few were plantation owners with slaves. (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, e.g.) Although Will Rees, of the Will Rees mysteries is not poor, he and his family do struggle a bit to make ends meet. Besides farming, Rees takes his loom and weaves for farmwives for a bit of ‘cash money’. Lydia sells her eggs and cheese at market.

Rees comes face to face with the difference in wealth in Murder, Sweet Murder. Lydia receives a frantic letter from her sister begging her to come to Boston. Their father, Marcus Farrell, has been accused of murder. Although Lydia is reluctant, she has been estranged from her father for years, he is still her father. She and Rees, along with the baby and daughter Jerusha, head off to Boston.

Although Rees knew Lydia came from money, he is shocked by the wealth of the Farrell family. The large house is stocked with servants, they own several vehicles including a carriage with a matched foursome, and apparently money is no object.

The Farrells also look down upon Rees for his more humble life. He grew up on a poor farm and certainly does not make enough for servants.

But Marcus Farrell is enmeshed in the Triangle Trade. He owns sugar plantations in the Caribbean as well as a distillery in Boston and a fleet of ships to transport slaves from Africa.

Marcus Farrell, it seems, is morally bankrupt. The question is, is he also a murderer?