With this busy season, I Only managed one book this week. I thought I was finishing the Bucket List mysteries: Number four is Murder in the Tattoo Parlor.
I thought I was finishing this series, only to reach the end and a To Be Continued.
In this outing, our older, but still intrepid detectives become involved in a murder in a tattoo parlor. What are they doing there? Well, Joy, who is engaged to a local sheriff, wants to get his name tattooed on her shoulder. When Charlotte, Francine and Joy arrive at the tattoo parlor, they discover the artist dead. Joy leaves, not wishing anyone to know she was there, but Charlotte and Francine are filmed leaving.
Charlotte’s accident on her motorcycle and Francine’s new job lead to a solution – and the unveiling of several big secrets. Lots of fun. I look forward to the next installment.
In my Ancient Crete series, I describe a sport in which young people run at a bull, grab the horns, and flip over the back. Martis, my protagonist, wants to become a bull leaper in the first book – In the Shadow of the Bull.
In the second in the series, On the Horns of Death, Martis is a full fledged bull leaper.
Below is my imagined picture of what bull leaping might look like.
The bulls used in this sport/ritual were not the domesticated cattle we are now familiar with. Instead, a type of cattle now extinct called aurochs are thought to be ones used.
The aurochs were holdovers from the Ice Age and were much larger than domesticated bulls. From historical reports and excavated skeletons, we know the auroch bulls stood about six feet. They had long slender legs for walking long distances. For the purpose of bull leaping, they had long, thick curved horns.
What happened to the aurochs? We know they were still in existence during the Roman era; they were used as battle beasts in the arenas. The aurochs actually survived until the 1600s, but the numbers were much diminished. Over hunting and loss of range as humans expanded into their habitat. The date given for their extinction is 1627 when a poacher killed the last one on a reserve in Poland.
An effort to rewild Europe has attempted to bring back the Aurochs, among other extinct animals. DNA strands from some ancient cattle strains were combined. The result is called Heck’s cattle and gradually they have been introduced into Europe. Spain just announced a reintroduction in October, 2023.
If you are a writer, especially an unpublished one, add the following program to your calendar. The panel will be discussing our differing paths to publication. This is not to be missed.
Register Here for Zoom link: https://upperhudsonsinc.com/event/mavens-roundtable-my-road-to-publication/
Business meeting for members only at 10:30 am Eastern.
Program (free and open to the public) begins at 11:15 am Eastern. Bethlehem Library, 451 Delaware Ave, Delmar, NY 12054
And now for Currently Reading
I read two more Bucket List mysteries this past week. These are very light and, although not Holiday themed, perfect for this busy season. The skinny dipping Grandmas are mixed up in murder once again
In Murder under the Covered Bridge, the ladies are planning a racy calendar. As Francine and her husband, suitably costumed in Victorian clothing, are acting out the illicit relationship between Francine’s ancestor and coachman, gunshots pepper the covered bridge. When the shooting stops, Jonathan goes out to investigate and discovered a severely wounded man who turns out to be Francine’s cousin William. Why did he crash the photo shoot and what secrets does he hold? A series of misadventures, including a fire and a seance, abound as the ladies stumble their way to the solution.
In Murder at the Male Revue, a male strippers troupe offers the chance for one of the ladies to cross off another item on her bucket list. But at the first performance, Camille is found stabbed to death. The first suspect – her nephew Eric who is the owner of the Male Revue. But as our intrepid women investigate, they discover their neighbors had many secrets and some the murderer was willing to kill for.
This week I read two cozies. The first, Disco Dead by Marcia Talley, is one of my favorite series.
So far, this one is my favorite.
Hannah is asked by a group of retired cops to help solve a cold case involving what they think is a serial killer. Using her skills on Ancestry.com and other family tracking websites, Hannah dives in. Her familiarity with the Navy is also a plus, thanks to husband Paul, and Hannah provides the critical piece to finding the man who has raped and killed young women for decades. Excellent.
I discovered to my dismay that I read these out of order and missed a few so I will have to go back and pick them up.
I began a new series this week with Murder on the Bucket List.
A group of senior citizens, all with sixty items on their bucket lists, are planning to go skinny dipping – one of the items. But their plans are disrupted when one of the ladies smells something funny. A quick investigation reveals a dead body in the gardening shed.
The investigation quickly centers on the husband of one of the ladies and two local celebrities – car racers. Laugh out loud scenes sprinkle the mystery. Lots of fun.
In my quest to read the entire Marcia Talley series, I finished Done Gone this week.
Hannah and her husband are alarmed when their neighbors disappear, with dinner still on the counter, and the cat unfed. Then Hannah receives a phone call from Trish. She sounds scared but promises to tell Hannah everything and arranges to meet in the parking lot of the local mall. As Trish is explaining. a gunshot shatters the window and hits Trish in the head.
She is brought to the hospital, still alive but barely. Hannah, using the few clues Trish has given her, begins to investigate. Georgina’s new man (her husband died in a previous book) assists. Another excellent read.
I also read Murder in Williamstown by Kerry Greenwood, the new Phryne Fisher mystery.
I am a long time fan of these mysteries but I had mixed feelings about this one.
Phryne’s adopted daughters, as part of a school program, volunteer at the local institute for the blind. Jane, who is good with numbers, is asked to look at the accounts. When she does, she finds a pattern of embezzlement. Phryne becomes involved. This case takes up a significant part of the first half.
On a date in Williamstown, Phryne finds an opium pipe. Lin, her long time lover, advises her to let this alone. Then a Westerner who loves all things Chinese, is murdered and a group of men prevent Phryne from pursuing him. The Lin’s wife asks Phryne to search for her missing sister. This was by far the most interesting mystery in the book.
Finally, Phryne is dealing with a stalker.
The focus was diffuse and the more interesting mystery involving drug smuggling and the missing girl did not, in my opinion, receive the attention it deserved. So, a mixed review from me.
This past week I read the most recent book in a series I love: the Sebastian St. Cyr series. Who cries for the lost.
When hostilities flare up in Europe with Napoleon’s escape from Elba, Sebastian frets at being kept home. He is convalescing from a wound that occurred in the previous title. A headless, handless body is pulled from the Thames and the evidence leads to Alexi Sauvage, Paul Gibson’s lover. Fearing that Gibson will be pulled into the accusations against Alexi, Sebastian begins looking into Sedgwick’s life. Sebastian quickly discovered that there are many who would have wanted the cruel and faithless man dead, including his wife, his mistress, the governess he seduced and many others.
Another excellent mystery. I did not see the twist at the end.
The second title, although completely different, was equally as good. Murder at the Jubilee Rally by Terry Shames is the latest in the Samuel Craddock series.
A motorcycle rally has come to town, upsetting the locals with the possibility of mayhem. Sure enough, a body is found behind the stage. The body turns out to be that of a local convenience store owner. Who would have wanted to murder a pillar of the community?
At the same time Samuel is investigating, he is hosting (and dealing with) defiant and rambunctious teenager who tests his patience to the utmost.
From the preponderance of female figures on seals and in frescoes, archaeologists believe Crete worshipped a Supreme Goddess, probably a fertility Goddess from Neolithic times. (Similar to Astarte.)There is some dispute whether the statuary depicting women with snakes in their hands are representations of the Goddess or Priestesses engaged in a ritual.
note the tiered skirt, the short-sleeved jacket and the tight belt around the waist.
Besides the Supreme Goddess, there was a pantheon of Gods and Goddesses. Poseidon, the God of the Oceans and Earthquakes, is one. (He was adopted by the mainland Greeks with almost no change.) Dionysus is another God, a very old one. A vegetation God, he is the God of wine as well as the Master of Animals. Unlike the Gods and Goddess of Classical Greece, Dionysus is not immortal. He is born each spring, grows to manhood throughout the year, and dies in winter.
One particularly interesting feature of Dionysus is his birth, in a cave and nourished by nanny goats. Sound familiar? The Cretan Zeus, a relative latecomer to the pantheon, is ascribed the same birth story. In Classical times, the same tale is told of Zeus’ birth, (although with a myth about the Titans surrounding it.) Zeus, of course, was elevated to the major God for the Classical Greeks.
The Goddesses are more complicated. Were they individuals or aspects of the Supreme Goddesses? Maybe a mix of the two? Aphrodite is connected to the Bronze Age and her name is pre-Greek. Artemis was a virgin, and the hunt was sacred to her, just as the Classical Greeks believed. Hera was another important Goddess. Shrines to her have been found in Crete. She was responsible for childbirth, a task she shared with Artemis. In the Classical Greek pantheon, she was reduced from being an important Goddess in her own right to Zeus’s jealous wife.
Britomartis meaning Sweet Virgin or Sweet Maiden, was worshipped by the fishermen. Her other name is Diktynna for the nets the fishermen used. I took her name and used the second half, Martis as the name of the protagonist in In the Shadow of the Bull and the sequels.
What about the Minotaur? Was the bull-headed man a God?We know that bulls were very very important in Ancient Crete. The statuary and frescos of bull leapers and the many representations of bulls is proof of that. But, was the Minotaur sacred? I choose to believe that the Minotaur was a creation of the Mainland Greeks, representing something they did not understand – rituals involving masked priests.
As excavations and study of this amazing culture continues, I’m sure we discover more about their religion.
This week I read two books, and they couldn’t be more different.
Jane Harper’s The Dry is the first using Aaron Fulk as the protagonist (followed by Exiles.) I read them out of order but it didn’t matter.
Aaron returns to his small Australian town for the funeral of his childhood friend, Luke. When young teens, their good friend was found drowned – murdered and Aaron has always been blamed for the murder. Some of the townspeople, in fact, still blame him.
Aaron plans to leave immediately after the funeral, but he is sucked into investigating Luke’s murder. As he does so, he slowly unwinds the events of that long ago summer, and the identity of his friend’s murderer.
Amazing!
The second book is Joanne Fluke’s Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder.
When Mayor Bascombe is murdered, Hannah’s sister Andrea is the primary suspect. She was involved in a very public argument with the mayor that ended with Andrea slapping the Mayor and knocking him to the floor.
Since the Mayor is unlikeable, Hannah is sure there are other suspects in town.
Hannah’s investigation is interspersed with meals, recipes included.
The mystery is very light but the recipes look interesting and fun, as usual.
On March 8, the Mavens of Mayhem will host Murderous March, a conference for both readers and writers.
I will be on the first panel on Saturday: Creating the Reluctant sleuth, with several other authors.
Panel 1Panel 2 – Female PIsFinding an agent of a publisher -query letters and your pitch.Impact of settingThe title says it all.
Registration information will come out soon. Typically, the Mavens also schedule Master classes that pinpoint a particular writing issue, taught by a well-known author or expert. More about the Master classes in a few weeks.
I missed a few Mondays because I went on a vacation to Europe. I always find it interesting to walk the streets of France, Germany, or any of the Scandinavian countries. Houses built 500 or even 1000 years ago are still in use. Humbling. Because of my passion for history, I take many excursions. (Although I admit I quickly tire of the plethora of churches).
But I digress. I read three books while traveling. On the plane to Amsterdam, I read Storm Watch by C.J. Box.
On the trail of a wounded animal, Joe Pickett comes upon a small nondescript building in the middle of the woods. The building is humming with fans and, stuck into one of them, is a man with the top of his head sheared off. Joe takes pictures and then heads home, to avoid the blizzard settling down on the mountains. But when he shares the photos with the Sheriff and they investigate, they do not find the dead man. Murder mixes with cryptocurrency, Chinese spies, and political corruption. Another winner!
I also read Murder off Stage by Mary Miley.
This is the fifth Jessie Beckett Roaring Twenties mystery. Jessie has gone from a vaudeville actor to a movie script girl who works with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. In this offering, Jesse and her good friend Adele Astaire attend a play. Unfortunately, when the actress shoots the actor, he falls down dead. The actress is immediately assumed to have murdered her colleague, but Jesse isn’t convinced. She just can’t figure out how this murder, and several others as well, were committed. Jessie is almost murdered herself before she solves the case.
I’ve read all five and enjoyed them. Miley says this one will be the last – sadly. I thought this one was the best so far and I wish she would continue the series.
Finally, I read Footprints to Murder by Marcia Talley.
To help out a friend, Hannah attends a Big Foot convention, populated by true believers. The descriptions of the characters are captivating even before the body of the murder victim is discovered. There are no shortage of suspects, the victim is nasty to all and has humiliated several of the attendees.
Is there really such a thing a Big Foot? Certainly some people firmly believe. Even without the mystery, this would be a charming novel. I have only a few left in this series and I will be very sorry when it ends. I feel I know Hannah and her family.
