After enjoying the Michael Curravan series so much, I chose an earlier Karen Odden book to read.
Lady Elizabeth Frasier is returning home from a humiliating third season in London when the train derails. She pulls her unconscious mother from the wreck. They are treated by a railway surgeon, Paul Wilcox. Elizabeth feels an immediate connection although Society would never accept a marriage between an Earl’s daughter and a doctor.
While waiting in the hotel for her mother to recover, Elizabeth assists Wilcox and they become friends. She is shocked to learn the train accident was probably not an accident. Further investigation reveals Elizabeth’s family owns shares in the railroad and the profits directly affect her dowry.
Odden is a good writer and her mysteries are layered. My only criticism is that the ending (no spoilers here) was too rapid and seemed artificial.
Barbara Hambly has been one of my favorite writers for years. She is such a good writer. I read her Science Fiction/Fantasy novels, following her through the Dog Wizard fantasy and James Asher vampire novels to the Benjamin January mystery series.
The Nubian’s Curse is number 20.
The arrival of a woman January knew in Paris to New Orleans raises memories of a suspicious death in a haunted house. Was it really haunted and was the death from a malevolent ghost – or was it murder?
Now the murder of the man on scene in Paris, who arranged to marry the wealthy heiress left orphaned, raises more questions. Ben is asked to investigate.
As usual, the society in New Orleans – the Quadroon Balls, the custom of keeping a placee, a free woman of color who is mistress to a wealthy white man, the casual racism and the slavery, are front and center in these amazing mysteries. Highly recommended.
It is not necessary to read these in order but I would.
This week I read books by an old favorite author and a new favorite author.
First up, Tangled Roots by Marcia Talley.
Regular Readers know how much I enjoy these Hannah Ives mysteries. Somehow I missed this one and I took advantage of the holiday to backtrack.
Hannah’s sister Georgina discovers through DNA testing that she is 25% Native American. When Hannah tests as well, the results are the same. Through her subscriptions to the various DNA/ancestry sites, she sends out a request for matches. No one should be surprised that the she finds far more than she bargains for.
While Hannah is tracking down the Indian connection, Julie, her niece, follows some of the other matches. This search leads to many other matches and a big secret that culminates in a murder. Scott, Georgina’s husband, is struck down in his gardening shed.
Meanwhile, Hannah and Julie continue researching the Lakota Sioux – and meet another branch of the family – and discover the story of a long ago love and murder. Excellent as usual.
The second book was from a new author for me. Down a Dark River by Karen Odden is the first in a new series.
Michael Corrovan escaped the slums of Whitechapel when barely more than a boy. Now a senior Inspector in Scotland Yard, one of the few remaining after a corruption scandal, he is charged with investigating the murder of a young woman found floating in a rowboat. The daughter of a wealthy and respected judge, Rose seemed to have no enemies.
Then another young woman is found murdered and sent floating in a rowboat on the Thames. Then a third. Corravan can find no link between these young women.
At the same time, he is investigating the disappearance of Mrs. Beckford. When he finds her, she is so terrified of returning home he hides her in a hospital until he can investigate further.
Gradually, he discovers the two cases are linked and the murders are the result of a terrible injustice.
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.
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.
After Arge dies, poisoned as she stands at the altar on her wedding day, she returns as a spirit to ask Martis for help in identifying the killer.
Willies, spirits of young girls who were murdered before they married or had children, were a common feature of ancient myth. Sometimes they were good, sometimes not, but almost every myth includes the haunting of the family by these willies, usually for many years. Seven or nine seem to be the usual numbers. It was necessary for the families to perform the proper rituals to prevent disaster.
Fertility – both of people and livestock, was important for the health of the community. One reason for this is the danger associated with childbirth. One estimate I read of maternal death in childbirth was put at between 40 and 50%. Infant mortality was as high, and of course of those who survived birth, a large percentage did not make it to their fifth birthday. But I digress.
In Martis’ case, the spirit of her sister Arge is helpful. The question is this, is the spirit Martis sees truly a ghost of is it the voice of Martis’s subconscious? The reader has to decide.
I chose Arge because, in this way, Martis can have help figuring out what she’s seen and heard without involving someone who might be a suspect.
