Murder comes home is the third in the Hometown mysteries by Rosalie Spielman.
A television crew has descended on Aunt Edna’s home. Ricks and Picks is scouting for more antiques and collectibles (Think Antiques Roadshow.) The discovery of a box of letters sparks an investigation into the history of the house and the family that owned it before. And the mysterious death of a so-called orphan girl.
At the same time, undercurrents in the television crew begin to cause problems in modern times. The ’67 Mustang Tess and her aunt – the Shecanics – are restoring for sale is taken from the garage. When it’s found, the Ricks and Picks cameraman is found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning, zip tied to the steering wheel. Tessa and Aunt Edna are on the case.
I love these books. Tessa and Aunt Edna are fully realized. I wish I knew Aunt Edna. The other characters are real individuals. And the mysteries aren’t bad either. I hope Spielman continues this series.
This week I read Death in the Orchard by MK Graff.
This is the third in the Trudy Genova mysteries. Trudy is a nurse. In the previous two entries, she is hired as a medical consultant to verify the information in television productions.
Death in the Orchard is a little different. Trudy, and significant other Ned, are on their way to Schoharie County to visit Trudy’s family. Her brother and wife are having a baby.
But Trudy has another agenda. Her father was murdered years ago and she has always thought there was more to it. The reader knows there is. A recent parollee hires on because he is looking for money buried in the orchard.
Then his body is discovered shot on the steps. It doesn’t take much imagination to realize someone else might know about that money!
This past week I read Murder in the Fourth Position by Lori Robbins.
This is the fourth in this very interesting series. The protagonist/detective is a ballerina.
In this outing, Leah Siderova leaves the world of ballet for a musical on Broadway. The truth, though, is more complicated. There are rumors of problems on the set and the star of the show, Amber, is being targeted by online threats.
Then the online threats escalate into real world violence, resulting in the hospitalization, not only of Amber, but also of a costumer.
Then Leah herself is targeted. I love this unusual protagonist and setting and the mysteries aren’t bad either.
The second book for the week is Old Murders, the third in Frankie Bailey’s Lizzie Stuart mysteries.
I love this series. Lizzie Stuart is an engaging character with flaws as well as strengths.
Against the backdrop of a fight over the development of downtown Gallagher, a talented local artist goes missing. At the same time a fifty year old murder raises its ugly head. Someone wants to keep bury both mysteries and Lizzie is in the way.
At the same time, she is dealing with her fragile relationship with detective John Quinn.
As usual, Bailey does a great job of setting her mystery against the intersection of race, gender, and the imbalance of power. Highly recommended.
On Saturday, I had a wonderful time at Goshen Public Library and Historical Society. My talk was centered, naturally, on the history behind my Bronze Age Crete series. The audience was very engaged and asked questions for over half an hour.
Speaking to groups is one of my favorite activities!
FRESH FICTION GIVEAWAY
I am also running a giveaway on Fresh Fiction. I’m giving away four copies of On the Horns of Death, a backlist title, and
I am also in a blog tour with Partners in crime tours. Showcases, reviews, a radio interview, another giveaway and Amazon gift card. More information will be forthcoming.
I’ve known Frankie for several years but never read her first mystery series. Last week I read the first one, Death’s Favorite Child, and now I’m hooked.
In Death’s Favorite Child, Lizzie Stuart is in Cornwall, England, on a much needed vacation with her friend Tessa. But Tessa’s ex shows up, and shortly after one of the people staying in the B&B is murdered. Although Lizzie doesn’t intend to investigate, she is sucked in.
Meeting John Quinn, a cop also on vacation, provides some heat and the possibility of a relationship.
In A Dead Man’s Honor, Lizzie has taken a position as visiting professor at Piemont College in Gallager, Virginia. Her grandmother, Hester Rose, had always told Lizzie to stay away from Gallagher but she can’t. She wants to solve the mystery of her grandmother’s past.
She gets more than she bargained for. Another murder – and John Quinn who is now head of University security.
Since handweaving is one of my hobbies, or was until my books took off and I no longer had time, I am fascinated by ancient textiles. Until modern times, and the Industrial Revolution when looms and weaving became mechanized, weaving was one of the most important professions. In Egypt, some of the hieroglyphics inscribed on walls show weavers. And loom weights have been found in Akrotiri, buried in ash when the volcano that blew the center out of Santorini and severely weakened the Minoan civilization erupted.
Working in tandem with the weavers were the dyers. Of course, until the 1880s when the synthetic dyes were invented, all the dyes were natural dyes. The women of Bronze Age Crete used dyes to create their elaborate and colorful patterned textiles.
The Cup Bearer
Notice the colorful stripes on the figures loincloth in the restored fresco from Knossos.
The camp stool fresco
What were the dyes they used? Yellow from saffron. (A famous fresco depicts a group of young girls collecting saffron from crocuses. Yellow was the color of the young girl.) Blue from indigo. Red from the cochineal beetle. And, perhaps most interested and valuable, purple from the shell of the murex sea snail. Thousands and thousands of shells have been found, speaking to a large operation. Because so many shells were needed to make the dye, purple was very expensive. Hence the name, royal purple. It was too expensive for the common folk, right up through the Middle Ages.
Where is green? Although green is all around us in nature, it is a very hard color to find as a dye. Using green plants does not usually give a green color and if it does, the color is not permanent.
Green usually has been made by dyeing blue and overdyeing yellow. When it was discovered by the painters, green contained arsenic. Napoleon is supposed to have died from arsenic poisoning from the fumes coming off his wallpaper.
Now that Malice Domestic is over, I can review the books from the panel I moderated: the importance of setting.
Heather Weidner almost needs no introduction. The author of several series, Twinkle, Twinkle au Revoir is the latest in her Mermaid Bay series. And a funny book it is too. The Love channel (a thinly disguised Hallmark Channel) comes to town to film a new movie. Ruby, the owner of the B&B, is being driven crazy by all the quirks of the actors. But business is booming is the Christmas Shop run by Jade Hicks.
Then the body of an annoying reporter is found and someone tries to murder the male star, Raphael Allard. Laugh out loud funny.
Peril at the Pool House is also written against the setting of a beach community. Helen Morrisey, a realtor/detective, has sold a Victorian beauty to Elliot Davies and wife Allison. Elliot is running for office and holds his kick-off in the house.
But rumors that the house is haunted appear true when strange events begin happening at the house. Then the body of his assistant is discovered in the pool house, bludgeoned to death.
The case takes a turn when Helen discovers a connection to a cold case.
A twisty mystery and good characters make this one shine.
Hammers and Homicide by Paula Charles takes place in a hardware store – a pretty unusual setting. Dawna is struggling to keep her hardware store going after the death of her husband. The job gets much harder when she discovers the body of a murdered man in the store bathroom. Warren Hardcastle was not popular in town but now Dawna is one of the suspects. Dawna and her daughter April jump on the case.
A touch of the supernatural makes this one a little different. Funny and fun.
Finally, Cathi Stoler’s book is a little different. She wanted to become a spy as a child and that shows. Nick Donahue’s significant other Marina are drawn into a complicated mystery that starts out simply enough with the death of a horse. The location moves from New York City to Dubai to Kentucky as Marina and Nick, a professional gambler – now there is a profession you don’t see very often – investigate.
This series has a real Robert Ludlum – Bourne vibe. Enjoyable.
Malice is one of my favorite conferences. This year was no exception. I had a great time in the Malice Go Round. Twenty tables, eight people and two minutes at each table to describe my books. )No pictures from that. A participant barely has time to breathe.) A shout out to my wonderful tablemate – Jacqueline Bouldin.
I also moderated a panel on the importance of setting. ( am on a Saturday morning, ugh.) But quite a few brave souls attended.
My wonderful panel consisted of Heather Weidner,, Cathi Stoler, Judy Murray and Paula Charles.
Since these are all funny ladies, we had a great time.
We all signed afterwards. Very pleased to see several people from the panel audience and from Malice Go Round turn up and ask me to sign some books.
I also attended the panels for all the nominees. I have not read everything – but I will.
What is Andi Grace to do? When she visits her long time friend Peter, she finds his dead body on the floor. And when the police arrive, they find her, with a heavy paperweight in her hands.
Andi Grace insists she would never hurt Peter. When her parents were killed in a hit and run – a crime that was never solved – she quit school to care for her siblings. Peter provided advice and help. She would never hurt him.
Although the Sheriff, a man Andi Grace attended school with, warns her to keep her distance, she knows she is the prime suspect. She feels she had to keep investigating to clear her name.
Fortunately, she has the help of hunky Marc Williams, a lawyer turned boat-builder, who was also Peter’s friend.
Andi Grace is a dog walker by trade, and dogs play a large part in this cozy. Light and fun.
