I read two unusual books this past week

Vera Wong runs a failing tea shop in Chinatown with only one regular customer. Then, one morning, she discovers a dead body lying on the first floor. The police come and are not grateful she tried to help by drawing an outline around the body with a Sharpie!

Other people arrive to view the location with the body, all, it turns out, with a connection to the dead man. And all, Vera decides, suspects in his murder. An artist, an app created, the dead mans’s wife and his brother.

But the mystery unreels differently than Vera, or the reader, expects.

The murderer is someone totally unexpected. Well plotted, with interesting characters (especially Vera!) and a heart warming conclusion. Highly recommended!

The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt is almost uncategorizable.

After a lifetime of emotional abuse levied upon Harriet by her father, he disappears. She is left alone in a shadowy house with am amazing garden, Harriet’s refuge. The roses, the ivy respond to her, comforting her.

Then Inspector Stokes arrives to question her. He clearly suspects her of murdering her father and besides, she is not a proper lady. To escape Stokes, Harriet marries Mr. Comstock – and jumps from the frying pan into the fire.

A plot against Harriet mixes with a little magic. Recommended.