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This week I read two books.

This title, written by Jacqueline Boulden is the winner of several Indie awards.

At a corporate function, Emily Archer, tired of the sexist comments and harassment, slaps a man who gropes her. Since he is an important client of her company, she is immediately threatened with dismissal. Her boss manages to keep that from happening but she is suspended. Therapy reveals a long ago trauma.

Now sensitized, she is made uncomfortable by the behavior of a new hire. This evolves in the reveal of a sexual predator, and puts her life in danger.

Although not a whodunit, engrossing. Recommended.

I also read the new mystery of Donna Leon.

I’ve read all of Leon’s books and greatly enjoyed them but I found this one disappointing. The book starts with a bang. The members of two gangs are arrested and brought into the station. When the father of one of the boys, does not pick him up, Griffoni walks him home. At the same time, Brunetti is asked to vet that father, Dario Monteforte, for a job.

Monteforte, lauded as a hero twenty years previously, was never awarded a medal. Why the contradiction?

The case becomes even more serious when the forensic scientist, Enzo Bocchese, is attacked in his apartment.

I found this book confusing. The two halves don’t mesh well and it felt to me as though two different stories had been mashed together. Leon’s writing is, as usual, lovely and her characters are wonderful but I felt the story was disappointing.

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The third of Amy Myer’s cozies, Marsh and Daughter’s murder mysteries, Murder in Hell’s Corner, finds Georgia and her father investigating the murder of Patrick Fairfax, a revered WWII pilot.

As Georgia and Peter investigate, especially looking into a close knit group of pilots who knew Fairfax, they realize that he was not as universally admired as his family believed.

Was the murderer one of his many women? Or one of the other pilots? Or his business partner? The solution, and the twist at the end, is surprising.

What I found captivating, though, was the descriptions of WWII. The relentless bombing by the Germans, the loss of friends and comrades that occurred almost hourly, the sheer scale of a war pounding at this small country. Like Foyle’s War, it is a reminder that England was almost destroyed and was metaphorically hanging by its fingernails.

Highly Recommended.

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On a Bookbub recommendation, I bought the set of Marsh and Daughter mysteries by Amy Marsh.

So far, I have read the first two and begun the third.

Georgia and her father, a retired police detective, research cold cases. Anything that piques their curiosity – a little bit of supernatural here – and then write books solving the mystery.

In the first one, The Wickenham Murders, a young gardener Davy Todd is accused of murdering Ada Proctor, the Doctor’s daughter. But so many parts of the story don’t make sense. The villagers don’t want the Marshs poking around but there is that strange music indicating someone doesn’t believe Davy was guilty. Then Georgia discovers Davy’s old sweetheart, still alive, and convinced of his innocence.

In the second book, Murder in Friday Street, a rock musician, Fanny Star, is murdered when she returns to the village to give a concert. Although her partner is accused of the crime, serves time and is murdered almost immediately upon his release, Georgia and her father don’t believe he was the guilty party. Suspects abound but the investigation into ‘the gang’, the friends of Fanny when they were kids, leads to the solution.

These are darker than Agatha Christie but, like her mysteries, show that murders happen even in cozy villages.

Terrific!

Age and Athletes.

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The Olympics are associated with Classical Greece, where these games officially began.

But there were contests of athletic skill before that. And women participated. At least we know they did in Sparta. (Some of the writings by men in other areas were shocked by the freedom of Sparta’s women.)

Since the murals and frescoes in Knossos seem to display both male and female athletes, I chose to believe the young women in Minoan Crete also engaged in races and other games of skill.

And with the Summer Olympics are going on now, I’ve reflected on the athletes who are competing.

I’ve gotten more than a few questions on the youth of my protagonist. (Martis is 16.) Here’s my question: do you think a forty-year old has the stamina, the speed, and the fearlessness to run at a charging bull?

Even in the 2024 Olympics, the athletes tend to be young. One of the skateboarders is 11. Another competitor is 12. There are quite a few teenagers competing. DHINIDHI DESINGHU, a swimmer from India, is 14 years old.

Hezly Rivera. American gymnast, is 16. After Kamila Valieva, a Russian figure skater, won at fifteen (and then lost the gold because of a doping scandal) the age for competing in figure skating has been raised to 17.

The ‘old’ athletes in their late twenties are referred to as though they have one foot in the grave and the other on a roller skate. Simone Biles, arguably the best modern female gymnast, is the oldest competitor at 27 since the 1950’s. She’s referred to as a ‘veteran’ and ‘experienced.’So, a 16 year-old athlete is not an outlier at all, even now.

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I’ve been a big fan of Victoria Thompson for many years. Murder on Madison Avenue is book 25 in her popular Gaslight Mysteries.

Malloy is approached by a distraught Mrs. Bing who wants a divorce from her husband but won’t explain why. Mr. Bing is the owner of a automobile company, an EV too – a really interesting part of the book. Curious, Malloy and Sarah attend the car show to get a read on Mr. Bing.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. Bing is found murdered, run over by on of his very own cars.

To complicate matters, Bing’s first wife, who he abandoned but never divorced, shows up. Her story is that when Bing abandoned her, he also took their daughter Pearl, and Nora Bing wants her back.

Now, hired by the second Mrs. Bing to discover the murderer, Malloy and Sarah investigate.

As always, the characters and the setting are fascinating. I knew what was going on, though, from very early in the book. I suspect most modern readers would. But I did not guess the identity of the murderer. B+. Recommended.

Ancient Beauty Standards

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Every era has its own standards for beauty. In the Middle Ages, the high forehead look was popular. In the artwork, all the women have protuberant abdomens, a definite no-no now. In the United States, a round-shouldered, pale appearance was considered beautiful, a little weird since that look is a symptom of advanced TB. Very white skin was valued in the Elizabethan era, a look achieved by the liberal application of white lead.

The ancient Greeks also had standards. Symmetry of facial features was one. (That is valued now as well, think Denzel Washington.) Pale skin was another admired trait. The theory is that since people who worked outside were tanned, those who had the leisure to stay inside were the wealthy – the elite. Of course, that standard has changed since it is the elite now who have the leisure to tan.)

Physical fitness, especially for men, was particularly valued. Just look at the statuary and the pictures. And, of course, it was the Greeks who began the Olympics.

One of the admired traits I found surprising: the unibrow was apparently considered beautiful. That definitely is not the case now!

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Since I am watching the Summer Olympics, my usual reading has taken a hit. I am about half way through Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead.

The previous book in the series ended with a cliffhanger: Finlay sees a proposed hit on her husband with a bounty of $100,000. She is pretty sure Theresa is not behind it since she is in jail for her connections with the Russian mob.

Since Finlay is nothing if not impulsive, she not only looks at the hit, she responds to it. The coded response comes to both Finlay and ‘EasyClean”, saying whoever murders Steve first will get paid – and she wants it done by Christmas.

Finlay and her nanny/friend begin investigating and are in Steven’s trailer at his business when someone firebombs it. The discovery of a body in a storage unit rented under Theresa’s name further complicates the case.

Like the first in the series, it is funny. But also full of contrivances. Finlay does a lot of foolish things, impulsively and without thought. I would give the series a B to a B+. It’s funny and the story keeps moving but I find Finlay’s thoughtlessness and impulsivity annoying.

Partners in Crime Podcast

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I had a wonderful time talking to Gina Hott about both my Bronze Age Crete series and the Will Rees/Shaker series. We discussed, not only the stories, but also my research and some of what I discovered.

One example of a funny story: during President Washington’s first term, John Jay was dispatched to Great Britain to work out a treaty. (Great Britain still did not recognize the new United States as its own country and continued to lay claim to forts and to impress American sailors.) The Jay Treaty was very unpopular. The newspapers of the time pilloried Jay (God damn John Jay and God damn all the people who won’t damn John Jay.) Jay was burned in effigy all through New York and Pennsylvania.

Here is the link if you missed it.  https://youtube.com/live/BAlVQsAe3FM 

Also, keep an eye out for a new Fresh Fiction giveaway. In August I am giving away the first novels in each of my series plus an Amazon gift card.

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I wanted to read something very different and somewhat exotic. I picked up Auntie Lee’s Deadly Delights: a Singaporean mystery.

This was truly exotic, from the strange and unusual food to the Singapore setting. But, as I have said so often, people are always the same. (I frequently feel that the murder victims are so unpleasant it is no surprise when they’re murdered and, in fact, I wonder why it took so long.) If anyone deserved murdering, it is Mabel Sung and her son Leonard. There is no shortage of suspects but suspicion immediately falls on the caterer, Auntie Lee, who prepared traditional foods for the buffet, some of which require soaking to remove cyanide. (Really!)

Auntie Lee, who knows she is innocent, embarks on her own investigation. Fortunately, Inspector Salim has eaten at Auntie Lee’s cafe numerous times and he does not believe Auntie Lee is definitely guilty. The game is afoot!

This is a cozy police procedural with a lot of humor. The unusual setting is certainly a plus but the personality of Auntie Lee is the real charm here. Really fun.Recommended.

Currently Reading – a good beach read

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Murder in the Bistro; a Maggie Newberry mystery, by Susan Kieran-Lewis, is number 9 in the series. I bought it after seeing an ad on Bookbub.

There is a lot going on in this mystery. It really gives the reader of the stresses of a young mother with young children, married, and in the French countryside.

Maggie’s husband Laurent is busy with the grape harvest and is having trouble with some of the gypsy pickers. At the same time, her friend Grace, and Grace’s two children, are staying at the house. The youngest, Zouzou is fine but Taylor is a difficult thirteen. Grace is trying to get her business off the ground – but the photographer is more interested in shooting photos of Maggie’s youngest, Mila.

Then another American in the village, a chef trying to open a bistro, is murdered and Laurent’s partner is accused. The victim is so poisonous the reader is unsurprised when she is murdered, but there are other unpleasant characters in the village. The reactions of the locals to Maggie sure don’t encourage moving to a village in France.

But – I loved the book. I plan to go back to number one and read them in order. Recommended.