The first book I read this past week was Cliffs, the Journey’s of McGill Feighen by Kevin O’Donnell.
I didn’t realize it but this is the fourth of a series. However, I’ve had no trouble learning the backstory.
McGill is a Flinger, he teleports goods and people from world to world by envisioning a location in his mind. In Cliffs, a planet inhabited by an intelligent avian species, McGill is forced to involve himself in a a deadly plague spreading across the planet. I couldn’t help but draw analogies with COVID. Despite the lethal nature of the virus, the Rahmaians refuse to accept the danger or change any of their ways. Fun but scary too.
I also read Bootleggers and Beer Barons of the Prohibition Era. Entertainingly written, it is a good overview of the Prohibition Era (1920 – 1933). All the major players in bootlegging are here. Fun and informational,
I read two books this past week (outside of the books I am using for research)
The first is Racing the Light by Robert Crais, number 19 of his long running Elvis Cole Joe Pike series.
Cole is hired by a wealthy woman to find her son, who has disappeared. He is a podcaster, investigating such topics as Area 51 and alien abduction. But when Cole begins his search, he discovers the story is not so simple. Josh has gotten involved in something serious and a gang of dangerous strangers are on his trail.
Fortunately, Cole has Joe Pike to help.
This series is neither cozy or noir. Although there are dark scenes, these are leavened with tender moments between Elvis, his lady love and her son Ben. Another winner.
I also read the eighth in the Jane Yellowrock series. This one is called Broken Soul.
Leo, the vampire master of New Orleans, has Jane checking security procedures in advance of a visit by the European vamps. He also has Gregoire teaching Jane the finer points of swordplay. During one such lesson, a creature made of light appears and attacks, not only Gregoire but Leo and Katie as well. What is this strange creature?
In the hunt for answers, Jane discovers Leo is hiding an important and dangerous secret in the lowest level of his compound.
Why do I enjoy these books so much? The closest I can come is that they hold the same appeal as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Like Buffy, the Jane Yellowrock is part supernatural, part mystery, part romance and of course, lots of adventure.
The two books I read this past week were Serpent in Heaven, by Charlaine Harris, and The Precipice by Paul Doiron,
Serpent in Heaven is the fourth of the Ginnie Rose series.
This entry focuses on Felicia, half-sister to Lizbeth Rose. Felicia, who is a descendent of Gregor Rasputin, is one of those whose blood keeps the tsar alive. She is considered a charity case at the Rasputin school for magic users and is thought to have no magical ability. Then she is abducted and gradually, as the attempts to capture her increase, she is forced to rely on her own abilities to save herself as well as unravel the mystery of the kidnapping attempts.
The world created by Harris is amazing. I found Felicia a somewhat less interesting character than Lizbeth Rose but I expect she will grow. The ending of this fourth book felt unfinished so I suspect there will be other entries in this series.
The second book I read was The Precipice by Paul Doiron.
In this entry to the long running series, Mike Bowditch and his girlfriend Stacey search for missing hikers on the 100 mile trail in Maine. Needless to say, the search does not end well.
Bowditch is a fully fleshed out character but it is the setting that really shines. This is exactly how hiking in a Maine forest feels: the sharp climbs up steep hills, the roots that snake across a trail with the bark worn shiny from hiking boots, and always the climbing over the granite that underpins this state.
Since my husband and I spent a week in Paris, and with all the holidays, I have not had as much time to read.However, waiting in airports always provides some time.
I read the newest Owen Archer, The Fox in the Fold, by Candace Robb.
The death of a stone mason, found stripped naked in a field, brings Archer into contact with an old enemy bent on revenge and threatening Archer’s family. Totally immersive. Robb’s descriptions are woven into the story so adroitly that I felt as though I lived during that time. This novel also filled in some of the back story for Owen Archer at the same time it involved Archer’s children. Highly recommended.
Flavia Alba is the adopted daughter of Marcus Falco and Helen Justina. While her parents are away, Flavia is hired to investigate two strange deaths. Her investigation brings her into close contact with several acting troupes. The use of mythology (Greek to Roman) is used to good effect here, Flavia is an interesting detective, strong willed and determined. So far, this is my favorite of the series. Recommended.
I returned to one of my favorite series: Jane Yellowrock
A magic driven wind storm tears through Jane’s house, ripping off the door. One discovers Evan, Molly’s husband, outside and lobbying wind spells at her. Molly has disappeared. So, at the same time Jane is investigating a new vamp in town, she is trying to find Molly, who, they quickly discover, has been kidnapped. Jane finally comes to terms with her mission as vamp killer and she and Beast, given a chance to separate, choose to remain a hybrid. I don’t know how Hunter does it but this urban fantasy series remains fresh and captivating.
Finally, I read Pyramids of London. I picked it up as a ‘Best of” and it really is. The world building is simply amazing and besides the fantasy story, there is a murder mystery. Host is a new author for me but I will be reading others by her.
The murders of the Tenning children’s parents out them into the care of their aunt Adrienne. To investigate the murders, Adrienne sells herself to a vampire god-king. But she is inadvertently claimed by a totally different vampire and that totally changes the trajectory of her investigation..
This is a world where the Roman and Egyptian god-kings rule. Rome is beginning to take the lead because they own the energy source fulgite. Tiny Prytennia has to utilize every strategy at their command to survive. I did not see the end, or the final twist coming. Highly recommended.
I read two cozies, plus another Jane Yellowrock, this past week.
I continue with the Marcia Talley series – except I accidentally skipped number 3 and had to go back. I am glad I did.
In Occasion for Revenge, Hannah’s father begins dating a woman named Pauline, a woman who both Hannah and her sister Ruth despise. They are also dealing with their father’s alcoholism. (I know this sounds heavy but Talley has a light touch.) Then Pauline is found murdered and Hannah’s father disappears. Recommended.
Doggone Death is the second by S.A. Kazlo.
At a hooker’s workshop (that’s rug hooking), a difficult woman dies in Jamies’s arms. So, she is instantly suspected of the murder. Of course, she begins investigating. The murderer tries to warn our intrepid heroine off, including by poisoning her beloved dog Porkchop. Fun and frothy.
Finally, I read the next in the Jane Yellowrock series, Blood Trade.
Jane heads to Natchez on a job for the Master of that City. Naturaleza, vampires who treat humans like cattle and drain them, are killing humans. When Jane arrives, she finds these vampires are unlike any she’s ever seen before. Silver does not kill them and they scuttle like insects. What is going on?
Jane is also dealing with an appeal from an old friend who grew up in the children’s home with her. Misha’s daughter is desperately ill with leukemia. Misha risks meeting with vampires, some of them the Naturaleza, and now she has disappeared, leaving her daughter in Jane’s care.
I seem to be on a short story path right now. I read Chesapeake Crimes: they had it coming, a collection of short stories by members of the Chesapeake chapter of Sisters in Crime. I bought it at the 2022 Malice Domestic.
I am not normally a huge fan of short stories but I enjoyed every one of these. Standouts include Volunteer of the Year by Barb Goffman and Safe Sex, Vampire Style by Helen Schwartz.
Have Stakes, Will Travel, by Faith Hunter, is a collection of longish stories.
The first entry, written by Beast, fills in some of the holes in Jane Yellowrock’s past. All of her usual characters are included. and we see even more of Molly, Jane’s witch friend, and her husband Evan.
The collection concludes with an excerpt from Death’s Rival. I did not know that – until suddenly the story ends. Now I was hooked and so I have begun reading Death’s Rival.
Jane is sent on another job by Leo Pellisier. A sickness is attacking the vampires. Leo asks Jane to collect a blood sample from one of the afflicted. Jane is attacked as soon as she gets off the plane and again as she leaves the wounded vampire’s lair. Beast’s quick thinking, and an emergency shift, save her life. Another winner.
I usually blog on Thursdays but, although I began my blog, life took over and I did not finish it. I did, however, continue reading.
I finally finished reading Shadowlands by Matthew Green. Besides Skara Brae, there were several cities destroyed by climate change. I thought the description of Dunwich where the towns are literally washing into the sea particularly engrossing. We have had that happen in New York and California.
Green usually give a fairly lengthy history of the particular towns. Winchelsea, for example, had vineyards and exported wine during the Medieval Warm Period. The little Ice Age put an end to that. The end of their viniculture and the silting up of the harbor finished off a thriving city.
Not all the villages were lost to the changing climate. Some lost their industry and their population soon followed (Trellich). Some, like Caper Celyn, were taken by the government and flooded to make reservoir. (Since Caper Ceylon is in Wales and the reservoir was for Liverpool, particularly egregious.) In the 1930s, the residents of St. Kilda’s were evacuation from their island home, never to return. Villages near Norfolk were commandeered by the Army during WWII, and never returned to the original inhabitants. And, of course, the Black Death finished off quite a few.
Fascinating.
I also read Easy Pickings, a fan novel based on Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock fantasies.
Jane and a character from another series, the Walker Chronicles, are transported to an alternate New Orleans. Leo Pellisser is not the vamp master of the city in this reality. With Lazarus, a demigod/magic user named Lazarus, Jane and Joanna must discover why they were brought here and solve the problem.
Lots of fun. It is quite short so it goes quickly.
Finally, I read Shadowlands by Marcia Talley.
Hannah and Paul agree to take ballroom dancing lessons with Ruth and her husband to be. Jay and Kay, who run the studio, are professionals. They are training one team for an upcoming competition and they ask Ruth and Hutch to also compete. Before they have a chance to even begin training, Ruth is attacked in the parking lot and left with a broken leg.
This was a disappointment. The setting, the world of competitive dancing, was fascinating. But the murder does not occur until more than halfway through the book and the ending seems rushed.
The first book I read this week was Book Four of the Jane Yellowrock series, Raven Cursed.
Jane is working security in Asheville, N.C. for a vamp parley. The vamps in Asheville want to set up their own territory. Evangeline Overheat, Molly’s older sister, has agreed to facilitate the parley. But a group of campers are attacked by something supernatural, and Jane realizes the two werewolves she didn’t kill have followed her to North Carolina and are on the hunt.
Then Lincoln Shaddock does not turn up at the parley and Evangeline begins changing, growing younger and prettier. What is going on?
Action packed and fun.
The second book I read was A Truth to Lie For by Anne Perry, the fourth Elena Stands mystery.
Elena is called into service again, tasked with pulling a scientist working on German warfare out of Germany. Elena calls upon her old friend for Jacob and they successfully find the scientist. But when they try to take him out of Berlin, traffic jams and roadblocks send them south to Munich. Just in time for the Night of the Long Knives; Hitler’s strike against Rohm’s brownshirts.
At the same, a young Gestapo officer, Hans Beckendorff is trying to navigate the politics of working for the Reich, and for an increasingly unhinged Hitler. In the end, he is forced to make a life-changing decision.
I had a few criticisms. The ending seems rushed. Perry relies on a few phrases over and over (I really got tired of ‘surprisingly good coffee’.) It is not really a mystery, more a thriller.
But here’s the thing. Despite the absence of blood and gore (a constant feature of the Yellowrock novels), A Truth to Lie For is absolutely terrifying. Maybe because the reader knows what is coming in the next few years, but I felt a sense of dread throughout. I was truly scared at several points in the book.
I went back to two of my favorite series this week: the Hannah Ives series and the Jane Yellowrock series.
Through the Darkness by Marcia Talley starts out with a scary premise: Hannah’s ten month grandson is kidnapped. No ransom demand arrives and the family is left to imagine the worst.
It comes at a particularly terrible time: Hannah’s daughter Emily and her husband Dante are in the process of opening their own luxury spa. As their marriage begins to fall apart, Hannah begins to investigate on her own, despite the resistance from the cops and her own brother-in-law.
This part of the mystery was great. Very captivating. BUT, the death towards the end seems tacked on, as though Marcia was told to add 50 pages. Although this was less than perfect, I enjoy this series and will continue.
The story continues almost immediately after the previous book. Campers in North Carolina have been found slaughtered. Although it appears the murders were done by the vampires, Jane scents the werewolves. The fact that only the males have been killed, while the women have been taken convinces Jane that the weres are still trying to turn females for mates.
At the same time the grindylow is tracking the wires, Turning humans is forbidden so the grindy is tasked with killing the malefactors.
Riveting as usual. I can only wonder that Faith Hunter is able to continue this series with every book exciting and fascinating.
The first book I read last week was The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves.
Vera Stanhope and her team are back. In this mystery, five friends bonded since high school, meet for their five year reunion. One of them is found dead, an apparent suicide although Vera quickly determines it was murder staged as a suicide,
Since Vera is convinced that the answer to this murder lies in the past, she questions the friends and all those who were connected, no matter how tangentially. As expected, Vera solves the mystery , resulting a shocking twist at the end.
Beginning writers are told to place the murder within the first chapter. Ann Cleeves, however, spends several chapters exploring the characters. And still, her mysteries are captivating.
The second book I read was the third Jane Yellowrock book, Mercy Blade.
Werewolves are coming to New Orleans and threatening to wrest control from Leo Pellisser. The seeds of this enmity lies in the past, 1916 to be exact. Jane’s boyfriend, Jake LaFleur is missing. When Jane searches for him, she quickly discovers he is in serious trouble.
And who or what is the Mercy Blade. Jane can see he is a magic creature but exactly what is he?
I really enjoy this series as I do the Marcia Talley Hannah Ives. The two series could not be more different but both are so fun.
