Before I review my latest book, allow me to urge everyone to join he Fresh Fiction contest. You might win a copy of In the Shadow of the Bull
Plus a copy of A Simple Murder, the first Will Rees Mystery AND a gift card to Amazon.
Here is the link: https://gleam.io/Jghrh/eleanor-kuhns-september
With all the publicity I’ve been doing, I’ve only had time to read one book. The Ninja’s Oath by Tori Eldridge.
Lily Wong is a martial arts master. In this fourth one of the series, she travels to help Uncle, the cook in her father’s restaurant. Uncle was a gang member and is a pretty lethal fighter now. His granddaughter has been abducted and he needs Lily’s help in rescuing her.
I loved the descriptions of the setting – Shanghai. An old city of circuitous alleys and crumbling houses within a thoroughly modern city of high rises and affluence.
J Tran, the child soldier who intermittently assists Lily, makes an appearance just when he is needed most.
So fun. Plenty of action, an exotic setting and hitting of romance with the mystery. What could be better?
This week I read the fifth in Charlaine Harris’s Gunnie Rose series: All the Dead shall weep.
The novel begins with a bang; the arrival of Lizbeth’s half-sister Felicia and Eli’s brother Peter. The very next day, a contingent of soldiers arrive in Segunda Mexia. Lizbeth and Felicia realize Peter and Eli have followed the soldiers so of course the women must pursue the men. Lizbeth and Felicia soon come upon the car Eli took, crashed and burning, and with a dead Comanche woman in the trunk. Now in a panic, Lizbeth and Felicia begin to hurry,
I really enjoy this series. It is a both fantasy and a mystery with engaging characters and lots of action.
The second book couldn’t be more different. Missing White Woman, by Kellye Garrett, will be released next April.
Bree is on a romantic weekend with her boyfriend Ty Franklin at an AirBnb in New Jersey. Posters of a young white woman are plastered all over the area. Bree pays little attention as she is too busy trying to lure Ty away from his work on the computer. He promises her a trip to Manhattan if she’ll let him work a little longer. When she returns from her run, he is missing and there is the dead body in the house. The police suspect her.
Garrett is one of my co-panelists on LJ’s Digital Day of Dialog on October 29. More details to follow.
What do we know about the cosmetics used by the women in Ancient Crete and the clothing they wore? Because we have no written records, archaeologists (and writers like me) are forced to rely on interpretations of murals, statuary and other art work.
Cosmetics were commonly used in the Ancient World: Egypt, the Middle Ages, and Asia. In Egypt and Mesopotamia, they were used by both men and women and all classes. Kohl was the most commonly used cosmetic. Kohl was made from galena, a dark gray ore and crushed charcoal, mixed with gum or water to make a paste. Cosmetics were so important cosmetic palettes were found buried in gold with the deceased’s grave goods.
Kohl was used for lining the eyes, like modern eyeliner. It offered health benefits in the form of protection from disease, bugs and sun rays. Red ochre clay was ground up and mixed with water to create a paste to paint on the lips and cheeks.
The murals also show the hairstyle fashionable at that time. Locks of hair were brought over the front of the shoulders. Most of the hair was drawn back from the forehead and decorated with pearls, gold beads or gems. Both sexes wore their hair in this manner.
Note in the graphic above the white ribbon at the back of the women’s necks. This was a sacral knot worn by the priestesses.
Finally, the murals and statuary depict a certain style of dress. All the women wear long skirts, usually ruffled or arranged in tiers, with a short short-sleeved jacket. Opinions vary about what women wore under the jacket. Were they nude or did they wear a blouse? It is difficult to tell from the artifacts available to us.
Below, a statue of a goddess or priestess holding snakes.
Minoan statue
Notice the elaborate belt around her wasp waist. Apparently, tiny waists were also the fashion and tight belts were worn to accentuate it. These wasp waists and tight belts were worn by men as well as by women.
This is the setting I use for In The Shadow of the Bull, a mystery set in Bronze Age Crete. Martis’s preference for more comfortable clothing, and only a loincloth when she is bull leaping, is frequently mentioned. As she grows up, she too adopts the tiered skirt with its tight belt and the short-sleeved jacket.
Chertsey Park is the fourth in the Sophie Burgoyne series by G. J. Bellamy.
In this outing, Sophie and her intrepid crew focus on the evil Stokely. Servants are requested from the Burgoyne Agency, giving Sophie and the others an opportunity to spy on Stokely.
Sophie’s investigations lead her into danger – from the police as well as from Stokely’s crew. While following one of his thugs, Sophie almost witnesses a murder, coming upon the body seconds after the murder has occurred.
When she is questioned by the police, Sophie refuses to give her name or any other pertinent information and ends up in a cell. Penrose has to give her a false name and spring her from jail.
This series is many things: a mystery, historical fiction, a spy thriller and it is all wrapped up in a cozy package.
First, a note. I will probably not post on Monday. I will be attending Bouchercon in San Diego. I hope I see some of you there.
The first book I read this week was Exiles by Jane Harper.
Aaron Fulk travels to southern Australia for the christening of an old friend’s baby. One year ago, Kim Gillespie tucked her sleeping baby into the carriage and disappeared. Several people claimed to have seen her walking around the festival grounds or riding the Ferris wheel. But no one has seen her since. No one saw her leaving by the front entrance or the back. The local cop is stumped.
As Aaron finds his way into the tight knit group, he discovers that all of them have secrets. The group is more fractured than it appears from the outside.
And Raco, Fulk’s good friend, is sure something is off about Kim’s disappearance. He keeps looking into it.
But it is Fulk, who comes to it with fresh eyes, who realizes the truth, not only for that case, for another cold case involving a hit and run. These cases also bring about a life changing decision for Aaron Fulk.
Although I found the beginning a little slow moving, by the time I was halfway I couldn’t put this book down. A great read!
The second book I read was Lies: Secrets can kill by Linda Lovely.
When the body of Dirk Black was fished out of the Mississippi River, The corrupt small town sheriff, Chief Dexter vows that Black’s wife Catherine will hang for the murder. She swears she’s innocent, and Dexter’s associate says he’ll help her. But Cat has plenty of secrets of her own, even if she didn’t murder her husband.
Some of the common tropes of detective fiction are present here: the corrupt small town sheriff, the beautiful blonde with secrets and the small Southern town. But the thirties setting and the appealing style shine. Recommended.
I am currently in the middle of Fatal Legacy by Lindsay Davis.
This is the eleventh book in the Flavia Alba series and I have enjoyed all of the previous ones.
Flavia Alba is the adopted daughter of Didio Falco (a very good series of its own.)
Both father and daughter work as informers and are hired in the same manner as private detectives.
In this one, Flavia is hired to confirm the father of the bride is a freedman and not a slave. It seems simple at first but as she investigates, it rapidly grows more complicated. The owner who freed the man in question is dead and no one can find a will. As Flavia delves deeper, questions multiply, turning on the ownership of an apricot orchard and a rabbit farm.
I have not been able to read this at my usual breakneck speed because Flavia’s investigation is so complicated. Adultery, a possible rape, a possible murder, all are stirred into Flavia’s original investigation.
One of the questions I’ve been asked consistently is why Martis is so young. Martis is a fifteen year old-aspiring bull leaper, When her sister dies at the altar on her wedding day, and Martis is told by her sister’s spirit that she was murdered, Martis takes on the responsibility of investigating.
Isn’t a fifteen year old too young? We would certainly think so. But the average lifespan then, and through most of human history, was only about forty.
This is a somewhat misleading statistic since the average lifespan was brought down by maternal death during childbirth. Illness and accidents, and of course war injuries, account for significant mortality. Still, a few of the bodies disinterred from graves, even from this time, indicate some people survived to their sixties or even their seventies. But that was not common.
All of life’s milestones were earlier. Women married in their teens and were grandmothers in their thirties. Many of the seasoned warriors described in the Iliad were barely in their twenties.
The other factor is that any bull leaper would have to be young: fast, agile and strong. Even now, with all the benefits modern health has to offer, sports figures in their forties are a rarity. I make a point of emphasizing that most of the bull leapers age out of the sport by their late teens. At fifteen, Martis is already facing the end of her career as a bull-dancer.
I met Tessa Wegert at the Severn dinner during Thrillerfest. I usually try to read the books of fellow writers I meet.
I read Death in the Family. And it was creepy.
Shana Merchant is a cop who recently relocated to upstate New York. Shas only recently returned to work after a traumatic experience in New York. With her partner Tim, she is called to a private island to investigate the disappearance/murder of a young man.
This was truly creepy. I plan to read the next in the series.
After that dark and creepy book, I wanted to read something lighter. I chose one of my favorite authors: Marcia Talley,
The crime is always late in the book but the reader remains captivated nonetheless.
Hannah and her sister plan to take a sister cruise. Georgina’s 14 year old daughter Julie is added. Everyone is having a good time when Hannah learns of the disappearance of a counselor on a previous cruise. As she looks into it, Julie is abducted. Although they find her unharmed, Hannah is now sure a predator sails these cruises in search of young victims. Although these seem like cozies, Talley is skilled at revealing the dark underbelly without getting too noir.
I read a true cozy last: Cookin’ the Books, by Amy Patricia Meade,
Tish Tarragon is setting up a cafe (with all things literary themed) in a small town. She is asked to cater a library event for 300 people. At this event. the Director Binnie Broderick dies – poisoned. Worried about the success of her business, Tish sets about donating home baked goodies to all and sundry, picking up clues as she goes along. Tish unmasks the murderer, natch.
This is very well written and cute, but a little too light for my taste.
The Game of Fear, by Charles Todd, is the 24th in the Ian Rutledge series. The Inspector is sent to Essex to investigate reports of a ghost. Rutledge’s good friend recalls there was an airfield there during the war (WWI) and a mysterious death.
Rutledge at first wonders if Lady Benton is seeing things but when he meets her, he changes his mind. Now he wonders if it is a prank. But he soon finds there are many unanswered questions about Captain Nelson’s death. Then Rutledge himself sees something mysterious.
As he investigates, he realizes this case connects to events during the war (an omnipresent theme) and to a fugitive accused of killing his family.
Another winner from the duo of Charles Todd and his mother. Now that she has died, the continuance of this series is in doubt and that is a shame. A wonderful series.Game of
My schedule for blogging is out of whack because my husband and I were on vacation in Alaska. (More about that later).
I finished the Dark Queen by Faith Hunter.
Jane Yellowrock is promoted to Dark Queen by Leo Pellisier just as the European vamps arrive. Naturally, there are betrayals and wheels within wheels. During the epic battle, that the last few books have been heading for, it looks as though the New Orleans contingent will lose and the Europeans will win the United States.
Jane also meets a long lost brother, and she is not sure how she feels about that. More about her past is revealed.
This episode in the long running series ends on a cliff hanger so I now am looking forward to the next one in the series.
I also read the first in a new series for me: Secret Agency, by G. T. Bellamy.
Sophie Burgoyne is the daughter of a poor vicar. Knowing that she has to make her own way in the world, she starts an agency for hiring domestic servants. At first, the fledgling business is so slow Sophie is afraid she won’t be able to pay her bills. But a meeting with an old friend offers her another pathway. This new business quickly spirals into an investigation into an attempted murder, several successful murders, and espionage.
This was absolutely charming. I have already ordered the second in the series.
The third book I read was Marcia Talley’s The Last Refuge.
When the main female lead in a reality show withdraws because of illness, Hannah jumps in. The reality show is supposedly set in 1774 and while Hannah enjoys the clothing, she, and all the cast, struggled with the lack of modern amenities. They are supposed to be living as they would in 1774.
The murder occurs late in the book and the murder and the mystery are not the focus here. Nonetheless, a captivating story. Talley never disappoints
