Tag Archives: Currently Reading

Currently Reading

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I read three wonderful books this past week

I picked up No Comfort for the Undertaker at the Albany Book Festival.

This debut novel by Chris Keeper is really good. It follows a recently widowed Carrie Lisbon, a female undertaker in a time when women simply did not take on such jobs. She has moved in with her uncle in upstate New York. Before she unpacks her things, a bereaved family asks her to lay out their daughter, a child who drowned.

Soon after, she is asked to lay out the body of a young woman whose injuries are not consistent with her husband’s explanation of the death.

The characters are well drawn and there are several side stories happening at the same time as the mystery.

This does not have the macabre elements of Christine Trent’s Lady of Ashes, a great book (and series) itself but is a straight mystery. Highly Recommended.

I also read number 26 in Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight series: Murder on Bedford Street.

Hugh Breedlove approaches Frank Malloy for help in getting his niece, Julia, released from an insane asylum where she has been wrongfully committed by her husband Chet Longley. Although Breedlove seems more committed to promoting his daughter’s entry into society than protecting his niece, Frank and Sarah agree to help him for the sake of Julia and the young son she left behind.

They soon discover there were several mysterious deaths at the Longley home.

These gaslight mysteries are always enjoyable and fun and this one is no exception.

Lastly, I read The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey.

Heather, Brenda and Victoria have been friends since childhood but Heather feels everything is changing. Victoria and Brenda are different, interested in boys and clothes and with a secret Heather doesn’t share.

Then Victoria disappears and her body is pulled out of the quarry. Soon after, Brenda’s body is also discovered in the quarry. No one seems interested in finding the murderer, not the cops or the FBI.

Heather, who has seem something terrible in the tunnels below the town, can’t help but ask questions. She uncovers long dormant secrets that lay bare the corruption in the small town and put her own life in danger.

I couldn’t put this down and read it in one sitting.

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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.

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This week I read the fourth in a series of time travel mysteries by Carol Pouliot.

A bit of background. Olivia Watson and Stephen Blackwell live in the same house – just separated by eighty years. Olivia lives in the house in 2014 while Stephen lives in it in 1934. One night Stephen sees a woman sleeping in bed. She sees him pass in front of her and disappear into a wall. They discover they can cross from one time to another.

In this fourth offering, Stephen and Olivia have embarked on a relationship. They have been invited upstate, to the Onondaga Cabins for a holiday party. While there, the owner of the camp, as well as a newspaper empire, is murdered. Shortly after, the first victim’s son is murdered as well in a particularly cruel way.

This is, in effect, a locked room mystery. Since they are snowed in, no one can get in or out, although his partner Will and Jimmy Bou snowshoe through the heavy snow to assist.

Pouliot is brilliant in portraying Stephen’s partner, Will, and his questions about Olivia. He’s noticed certain anomalies and does an investigation into her – discovering, of course, that the college she graduated from and the paper she worked for have never heard of her. Pouliot handled Will’s questions, and his inevitable discovery of the secret, brilliantly.

Recommended.

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Death Among the Ruins is Susanna Calkins seventh Lucy Campion Mystery. (And I have read the entire series!)

Lucy Campion is a printer’s apprentice, quite a step up for a servant in the Middle Ages. She is engaged to Adam Hargreaves, the son of the family she served, although she is quite nervous about the marriage because of the difference in their stations.

Death Among the Ruins begins with a rag picker approaching Lucy because she has found a dead body. Lucy accompanies her to the ruins, some of the many left by the Great Fire of 1666. It is immediately apparent the rag picker has not told the entire story.

An expensive dress leads Lucite the Mobley family, and the sickly daughter Charlotte. Lucy quickly realizes that all of the family members have secrets. But is any one of them the murderer?

Calkins’ real strength is her depiction of the 1600s in London. The descriptions, the characters, even the writing style puts you right there. Highly Recommended.

I have been a fan of Simon Brett for many years, right from his beginning with the Charles Paris mysteries. Mrs. Pargeter is one of his newer series. Mrs Pargetr’s Patio, which will be released later this month, is number seven.

Mrs Pargeter is enjoying the fine weather on her patio when one of the stones cracks, and reveals a human skull. What to do?

Fortunately, the now deceased Mr. Pargeter knew an array of dodgy characters that will gladly assist Mrs. Pargeter until it is the right time to call the police.

Funny as usual. Even the names: Concrete Jacket. Fixin’ Nixon, Truffler, are amusing. Fun.

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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.

Long but great fun.

More about Bouchercon

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I am home from the San Diego Boucheron. a bit jet lagged and tired. The blog is late going out since, when I arrived home in a storm, I discovered we had no power and no Internet. We limped along on generator and only just got the power back.

Bouchercon panels. – My first panel was the one I participated in. 20 panels in one. The audience put in questions that we then had to answer off the cuff. Not easy. Questions ranged from whether we authors outlined to what did we think of paranormal or romance in out books. Since none of us write either, this was a tough question.

My jacket was purple, not blue, by the way.

Besides the author interviews, previously discussed, I attended several panels. A historical panel, of course, with Susanna Calkins, Richard Korea, A.E. Wasserman Frances McNamara and Vanessa Riley. I found the panel on dealing with rejection interesting and helpful. Just for fun, I went to the panel on Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, the so-called Ghosts of Honor. Lots of Fun.

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I read only one book: Dredemere Castle by G. J. Bellamy. This was the third in the Sophie Burgoyne series and it was fun!

Sophie and her bank of spies are hired to attend a large party at Dredemere Castle. A meeting between an Egyptian official and a British official to discuss Egypt’s autonomy is slated to occur at the same time as a large house party. Flora/Gladys takes the part of a lady, purporting to be wed to Lord Landlord, Ada is her maid and Sophie takes the part of chauffeur. It is expected by both the Home Office and the Foreign Office that Stokely will attempt to interrupt the talks and cause an international incident. Several of Stokely’s cronies are already in place; a known jewel thief is also on site.

Fun. But be warned: it is very long.

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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.

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I finished Fatal Legacy, the new Flavia de Luce, and it was amazing. To recap: she’s hired to prove a so-called freedman is just that, not a slave. The determination of this is tied up with the question of who owns an orchard. No one can find the will from the original purchaser.

Well, the case grows more and more complicated with many characters and several plot threads. The elopement of Costa Sabatina with the young heir of the opposing family, gives Flavia the break in the case she needs to finally understand what happened and what the dispute is truly over.

A long ago murder, adultery, and the original question of who among the cast of characters is free are all parts of this intriguing story. Highly Recommended.

The second book I read is Death of a Fox by Linda Norlander.

This is the fourth in the cabin in the woods mysteries. In this one, Jamie is hired to write the memoirs of an elderly woman living alone in the ruins of an old TB hospital. Jamie quickly realizes that the job is bigger than she thought because of the number of secrets Nella is hiding. As Jamie reads through them, though, many of the secrets are revealed. This is a really interesting part of the book.

Two of Nella’s cousins have arrived, supposedly to care for Nella, but Jamie soon discovers they are looking for money. Judd, Bella’s half-brother, spent his later years grousing about how much Dr. Fox owed him, No surprise when one of the cousins is found dead in the old hospital.

To make the matter more complicated, Jamie’s husband Andrew turns up with plans to take half her cottage or otherwise squeeze money from her.

Originally, Linda Norlander saw this as a series of four. I have really enjoyed all of them and I hope she finds a way to continue. They are very enjoyable cozies with a appealing protagonist and an unusual setting.

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I read two Terry Shames books back to back. Both are Samuel Craddock mysteries.

The first was The Last Death of Jack Harbin. Jack is a severely disabled vet; blind and confined to a wheelchair. Who would would want to murder someone so disabled? The mystery is compounded by the death of Jack’s father, just a week or so before Jack. The funeral pulls together several people from the High School and Craddock slowly unravels the threads. As usual, the mystery is excellent and Craddock is a great character.

The second in this series is Dead Broke in Jarrett Creek. The town is in a terrible financial situation. They are broke, so broke they cannot afford a police force. When banker Gary Dellmore is murdered, Craddock is pulled into becoming a temporary police chief so he can investigate.

Dellmore was not a good banker; he is a little too free about spreading details of people’s finances around. As Craddock investigates, he finds that Dellmore cheated on his wife and engaged in dodgy business deals. Craddock begins to wonder what else Dellmore was engaged in. Whatever if was, it cost him his life.

The mysteries by Shames are delightful.Last Death of

Finally, I read The River by James e’toile. And independently published book, it is not available on Amazon.

On a vacation to Jamaica, two young girls disappear. The father of one and the mother of the other fly to Jamaica to find them. They barely arrive before being menaced by a thug known as the Haitian. The two parents forge on with their investigation anyway. The Haitian cannot allow that to happen.

The story is captivating and fast moving. The style needs some help, however.

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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.