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.
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.
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.
I met Mindy Quigley at Malice Domestic and, as usual, following my practice of reading something by every author I meet. I read Six Feet Deep Dish.
And what fun it was too.
Delilah O’Leary can’t wait to open her gourmet pizza restaurant in beautiful Geneva Bay, Wisconsin.. This has always been her dream. But the day before opening, her wealthy boyfriend dumps her, leaving her with an armful of bills.
Then, on opening night, Delilah finds her aunt’s caregiver Jeremy shot dead – and her aunt holding the gun.
To make matters worse, the detective, Calvin Capone (yes, the great grandson of THAT Capone) closes the restaurant while the investigation is ongoing. Needless to say, sparks fly between Delilah and Capone.
Written in a snappy style with several engaging characters – Delilah’s Aunt Biz is my favorite – this cozy is a treat.
I read two books this past week, but will save the one for Heather Weidner. She is on the panel at Malice Domestic that I am moderating. I will blog about all four of those books at the same time.
Speaking of conferences, I read the first in a series of my table mate at the Suffolk Mystery Festival.
Home is where the murder is
is the first in the Hometown Mysteries series.
Tessa Tresswell returns to Idaho after a twenty year career in the armed forces. Although Tessa is struggling to adapt to civilian life, she enjoys working on fixing cars with her Aunt Edna. Her family hopes she will stay, but Tessa isn’t sure.
Then Tessa finds a dead body in the park. She doesn’t know Augie That but her family does; he claimed that their property, including the garage and the store, was half his.
To make matters worse, the sheriff just happens to be Tessa’s high school love.
When Aunt Edna is arrested, Tessa knows she will have to investigate and make sure justice is done.
Lots of fun at the same time it deals with a serious subject: returning vets. Highly Recommended.
I finished the L.A. Chandlar series (so far). I read the Pearl Dagger.
Lane and Finn continue their search for the heir to the Red Scroll gang – Daphne – following her to London. Lane meets Finn’s family and together they uncover the secret behind the accident that almost killed Finn.
A meeting in a pub also reveals the secret behind the pearl dagger.
I hope Chandlar writes a fourth since there are still loose ends remaining.
Lots of fun.
I also read The Murder in Trastevere by Jen Collins Moore.
Fran, an expat who has lived in Rome for ten years, has made it her mission to meet all the new expats. Her parties are legendary. But now her husband is divorcing her and running off to California with his new girlfriend. Now Fran is throwing a party for Rowena, who has achieved a promotion. But Rowena, a vegan, dies from poison and Fran is the prime suspect.
And someone is trying to kill her. She is pushed into the street right in front of a bus.
Finally, realizing she has to take charge of her own investigation, Fran begins to look into Rowena, her husband, her assistant and more. Along the way, Fran discovers who her real friends are.
Nicely framed around Frans study of Caraveggio, the investigation takes Fran all around Rome. I did not see the solution coming. Highly recommended.
The Gold Pawn in L. A. Chandler’s second Art Deco mystery, after The Silver Gun, and continues the story of Lane Sanders.
Lane continues investigating the mystery of her parents, as well as of their deaths. To do that, she travels to Rochester to visit her childhood home. But, once there, she experiences such a powerful and negative emotion that she rushes back to New York City. A banker, Mr. Hambro, has disappeared. Fio wants Lane to look into it.
Meanwhile Finn, on assignment in Great Britain, is learning more about Rex Ruby and the Red Scroll gang.
The action bounces back and forth as both Lane and Finn piece together the dangerous mobster and the possibility of an heir to him.
Lots of fun. I admire Chandler’s ability to keep the story light and amusing while underpinning the mystery with a serious nod to Jeyll and Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Circles of Death by Marcia Talley is the twentieth book in her Hannah Ives series.
Noel, a young friend of Hannah’s, appeals to her for help. Noel and her sister both took a DNA test and discovered that, not only are they not sisters, but they are not related at all.
Hannah uses her genealogical skills to begin tracking down relatives of Noel’s. With those relatives, they can begin finding someone who might be able to shed some light on the mystery.
At the same time, Noel and Hannah look into the poisoning of several eagles nearby and discover a farm that is using a banned pesticide. The man Hannah suspects of using that pesticide is murdered, his body floating to her dock.
The twin investigations lead to a long ago murder. Although the identity of one of the murderers is not difficult to figure out, the identity of the other was a total surprise.
I’ve read that this might be the last of the Hannah Ives mysteries. I am sorry to hear it. I so enjoy spending time with her and her family and friends.
As I begin preparing for Malice Domestic, (I am moderating a panel on setting ), I read a book by a featured author. Peril in the Pool House by Judy L. Murray, is the third in the Chesapeake Bay series.
At an open house party, thrown for the announcement of Eliot Davies’ candidacy as well as a welcome to their old, thoroughly renovated house, the body of Eliot’s campaign manager is found stabbed to death in the pool house. Who could have wanted this woman dead?
Helen Morrisey, the realtor who sold Eliot and his wife the house, and sometime detective, begins to poke around. Although warned off by her off and on love interest Joe McAlister, Helen knows Eliot and Alison have sunk every penny into the house – turned into a B & B – and they’ll lose everything unless the murderer is found.
Helen is an engaging detective with an unusual Detective Club. It is an imaginary one including such luminaries as Jane Marple and Nancy Drew.
I enjoyed this so much that I will go back to the first one and read all three. Lots of fun.
I also read The Paris Mistress by Mally Becker.
This is the third of the Revolutionary War series. I have enjoyed all of them but this one is my favorite so far.
Becca, along with her mother Hannah and mother-in-law Augusta, travel to France to meet Daniel Alloway. Becca and Daniel plan to marry in France. Almost immediately, Benjamin Franklin asks Becca and Daniel to listen and report back. Franklin knows there is a spy in his household reporting to England. Reluctantly, the couple agrees.
The visit goes from bad to worse. The body of the young man, Jude Fenimore, who’d traveled to France on the same ship with Becca, is found dead on the roof of Franklin’s house. The magistrates in France refuse to allow Becca and Daniel to marry (all for frustrating bureaucratic reasons) and Daniel is attacked.
Now Daniel insists Becca, her mother and mother-in-law return home before something else happens.
