Tag Archives: Currently Reading

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This week I read two light cozies.

I read A New York Christmas, by Anne Perry.

This mystery features Jemima Pitt, daughter of Thomas and Charlotte. Jemima is hired to accompany Delphinia Cardew, a very wealthy young woman, on her journey across the Atlantic. Jemima and Phinnie are taken in to the Albright home (Phinnie is engaged to marry Brent Albright). But there is concern that Phinnie’s mother, Maria, will reappear and cause a scene at the ‘wedding of the year.’ But the discovery of a woman’s body by Jemima means she is suspected of murdering Phinnie’s mother.

If I were scoring this book, I would assign a B. It includes Perry’s characteristic characterization BUT it is much too short. I felt as if swaths of plot and character reaction were left out.

Enjoyable but not one of Perry’s best.

I also read Mistletoe, Mutts, and Murder by S.A Kazlo.

It is Christmas time and Sam’s parents are arriving for a holiday visit. Her father has always had an antagonistic relationship with Theo Sayers, the man who lives across the street. He blasts Christmas music loudly (to annoy his neighbors?) and his decorations floor the neighborhood with light. When he is found strangled in his snowy front yard Sam’s father, and his best friend are instant suspects. Although Hank, the town’s police chief and Sam’s significant other, tells her not to investigate, she and her cousin Candie, question Theo’s wife Rosa and his boss at the mall. Theo was a mall Santa. As Candie and Sam go forward, they discover quite a few people had reason to murder Theo Sayers.

Very light but a quick fun read, appropriate for the season.

Currently Reading

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With the approach of the holidays and all the busyness surrounding them, I managed to read only one book this week

The Eleventh Grave by Rachel Amphlett is a police procedural. It came up on either Amazon or BookBub, I don’t remember which, and I was interested. Unfortunately, as is my usual pattern, this is number seven in a series. Now I have to go back and read the ones that came before.

On a kayaking trip down the river, two people see a man they assume is fishing by the water’s edge. Seconds later, he falls in and has to be rescued. He is taken to the hospital and appears to be doing well but dies the next day. His clothing disappears from the hospital.

The victim is the developer working on developing and old airstrip, untouched since WWII.This proposed development of an old airstrip causes a lot of argument in the local community. As Turpin and his team turn their attention to the airstrip, one of the buildings is discovered with the door torn off the hinges FROM THE INSIDE. Now more attention is directed at the airstrip and while the police are looking around, a body without his kidneys is found in a shallow grave. This sends Turpin and his team in an entirely new direction.

I really enjoyed the mystery. Recommended.

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Wishing everyone a belated Happy Thanksgiving.

Upcoming event: Pane Discussion at the Poughkeepsie Public Library

This past week I read one book, Shutter, by Ramona Emerson.

This was very good, but also rather creepy.

Rita Todacheene is a Navaho but also a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque Police Force. She is unusual in that the Navaho are forbidden to interact with the dead in case they invite in witches.

But Rita sees ghosts. In some cases, the ghosts lead her to the person who murdered them. Rita does not dare tell people she sees ghosts; the usual response is that she is hallucinating. And for many years, she is able to ignore the ghosts.

But at a particularly grisly accident scene, the ghost of a young woman, Erma, will not allow Rita to turn away. Instead, the ghost pursues Rita, pestering her to investigate the so-called suicide when Erma knows she was murdered.

Creepy but unputdownable. For mystery readers who enjoy a touch of the supernatural.

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This week I read two really good books.

The first is by Victoria Thompson. She previously wrote the Gaslight mysteries. City of Lies is roughly the same period but very different.

Elizabeth is a grifter, a con woman, now going by the name Betty Perkins. When the current con. goes badly, she has to run for her life. Chased by two heavies, she takes refuge in a protest by a band of suffragists. They are quickly arrested and Elizabeth finds herself in a workhouse in Virginia. All of the woman embark on a hunger strike, including Elizabeth. She is greatly changed by her experience and her growing connection to Mrs. Bates and another young woman.

But the mark is still waiting for her to appear so that he can wreak his vengeance.

Highly Recommended.

The second book is a collection of short stories by Elly Griffiths.

The stories include some with Ruth Galloway and Max Mephisto, but others are cozies and a few are barely mysteries at all. But they are all captivating and show Griffiths is a master of the short story as well as the novel. Highly recommended.

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The book I read this week is a little unusual; it is a Western. I’ve read them, of course. I’ve read many Louis L’Amour. I met Terrance McCauley at the Rensselaer Library. He writes both mysteries and westerns.

I really enjoyed this tale of Sheriff Mackey. Forced to shoot a group of saloon rats and planting them in “Mackey’s garden”, the Sheriff raises the ire of both the local banker who is planning a deal with a railroad baron and also a psychopathic killer. He is determined to punish Mackey for killing his buddies. The bullets fly. Definitely escapist literature.

Lots of fun.

Currently Reading – Now for Something Completely Different

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On the advice of a friend, I read The End of Everything by Victor Davis Hanson.

This is quite different from the novels I usually read.

Hanson takes four societies – Thebes, Carthage, Constantinople and Tenochtitlan – to discuss war and obliteration. His central thesis is that, through naïveté and foolish confidence, some societies are utterly annihilated. Thebes, for example, was destroyed by Alexander the Great, Carthage by the Romans, Constantinople by the Ottomans and Tenochtitlan by Cortez.

Both Thebes and Constantinople believed (foolishly according to Hanson) their walls and fortifications would protect them. Carthage did not realize Rome still held a grudge for a previous war. And in Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs were more interested in capturing their enemies for sacrifice to their Gods than killing them. The Spanish, trained soldiers all, mowed the Aztecs down with their superior armor and weaponry despite their much smaller numbers. The winners then felt they had a right to totally destroy the society, apparently because the loser didn’t just give up.

Although he doesn’t pull this out of his central argument, my takeaway is that each of these societies were destroyed by an invader/conquorer. Although the Aztecs were vastly outmatched by the steel armor and the guns of the Spanish, in the other three cases the military technology was roughly even.

Then my question would be: Should the early American colonists have given up in the face of Great Britain’s might? True, there were factors that gave the early Americans an edge (the distance across the Atlantic, British military tactics that remained unchanged against the guerrilla warfare practiced by the Americans, and the entry of the French on the American side) but we were vastly outmatched. We withdrew from Vietnam, despite our superior military power. And should Ukraine fold and allow Putin and Russia to sweep over them?

Thought provoking.

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This week I read Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce.

This was an Edgar Award winner in the Children’s category. It reminded me strongly of the Enola Holmes books and Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce series. Here’s an interesting fact. Although all the protagonists are young girls (opinionated and very bright, it goes without saying), the Bradley mysteries are considered adult while the Enola Holmes and Myrtle Hardcastles are classed as children’s lit.

Myrtle is a bright twelve year-old with an obsession for criminal justice. In the interest of science, she Observes (she always capitalizes this word) her neighbors. When her next door neighbor, an eccentric older lady who breeds lilies, dies under Mysterious Circumstances, Myrtles sees her chance to investigate. Armed with her mother’s microscope, and accompanied by her governess, Miss Judson, Myrtle sets about proving that Miss Woodhouse was murdered. No one believes her, not even her father, but Myrtle perseveres, putting not only herself in danger but also her father.

I really enjoyed the mystery and Myrtle is a great character. However, a young reader would have to be a very good reader to enjoy Premeditated Myrtle.

Recommended with reservations.

Just a reminder: I will be at Rensselaer Public Library Saturday, 1 to 3. The event is free. I will be giving away a copy of Death in Salem to all who buy a book.

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I read two books this past week. Neither were traditional mysteries. The first one was Her Past Can’t Wait by Jacqueline Boulden.

At a business function, Emily is groped by an important client. Instead of accepting it, she turns and slaps humans causes a big scene. Although her supervisor saves her job, she is suspended for two weeks. During that time, she goes for therapy and discovers a long ago trauma. Her investigation of that trauma leads to a serial predator and almost costs Emily her life.

The second book was Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney.

Daisy Darker was born with a broken heart which has made her alternately scorned and spoiled. When her estranged family arrives on a tiny island in Cornwall for Nana’s eightieth birthday, they all arrive with secrets. Because of the tide, the house will be cut off for eight hours. As a storm rages outside and on the stroke of midnight, Nana is found dead. One by one, each of the family dies. Who can be killing the family?

Creepy and captivating. Perfect for a Halloween Read. I admit, however, that I was not thrilled with the final twist.

WordPress has ‘upgraded’ which means it is more difficult to use and without some of the previous amenities. Bear with me, I am still figuring it out.

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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!