Tag Archives: Currently Reading

Currently Reading

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Rita Todacheen is a forensic photographer, an unusual choice for a Navaho. Navahos avoid death; Rita is photographing the dead every dat. She also sees ghosts, a gift/curse that she has had her whole life. Now she is haunted by a murder victim, Erma, who insists Rita find out who murdered her.

More murders, one of a judge and a family, begin to push Rita onto the path to discovering the murderer.

This has a real Sixth Sense vibe. I found the identity of the murderer fairly easy to figure out and the mystery is somewhat overwhelmed by the ghost angle.

Still, unusual and captivating. Recommended.

Foul Play in La Playa is the fourth and the newest in the Vermont Country Living Series. In this outing, the Buckleys accompany their friends Alma and Sheriff Mills to Mexico for a destination wedding. First, Stella and Nick discover that the previous occupant of their cottage was murdered. Then, barely a few days later, one of the other guests is found murdered.

In certain mysteries, the victim is so unpleasant that the reader thinks he or she deserves it. This is one of those cases. Georgie is a vile woman who ferrets out secrets and then blackmails the secret holder. Naturally, the mystery turns out to be far more complicated than that.

Another winner. I hope Meade continues with this series. It is stellar!

Currently Reading

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First, a shoutout to let everyone know I’ll be at Clifton Park Mall this Saturday, June 21, 10 – 4. There will be a lot of authors there and so a lot of fun.

This week I read two very good books.

The first was the new one by well-established author, Anne Perry. The One Thing More takes place during the French Revolution on the eve of the execution of the King. Celie, born into minor aristocracy, is now a laundress. She is also working with a group trying to arrange the King’s escape. Several other people, including the owner of the house, are not only involved but leaders. But the plans are halted when Bernave, the house’s owner and the leader of the plot, is murdered during an incursion by a mob. Who murdered Bernave and why? Now the house is surrounded by the police, including the dogged Menou. Celie, in an effort to connect with another plotter, has to go over the roofs.

The murderer and the motive are not identified until almost the final page after some pretty hair raising scenes. Perry has not lost her touch. Recommended.

Death upon a Star is Amy Patricia Meade’s newest mystery. Evelyn Galloway travels to Hollywood in the late thirties to work as a script girl for Alfred Hitchcock on Rebecca. On Evelyn’s first day, she meets a kind older actor who had been a silent movie star. They make arrangements to meet for lunch the following day but he doesn’t show. Evelyn can’t let it go and begins her own sub rosa investigation.

Meade’s trademark humor and interesting characters are on full display but the real star is the setting. From the activity in the studio to the long ago stars to Alfred Hitchcock himself, Meade hits every note perfectly. Although not as funny as the Country Living series, Death Upon a Star is charming and fun. It deserves a wide readership. Recommended.

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Game over at Guild Hall in the third in the Vermont Country Living Mystery series. In this outing, the Buckleys are invited to attend at Game Supper at the Guild Hall. Not a sports game supper or a board game supper but a game meat supper. The object is to sample all of the game recipes: venison stew, bear meatballs and the like.

The supper does not turn out as planned. An young man, Mudd Morrison, angry that his ‘gleaned’ meat (read roadkill) is not included, confronts organizer Bessent. He is sent on his way but a short while later Bessent drops dead, poisoned.

Later that night, Stella sees a light at the guild hall as someone searches Bessent’s office.

She begins to dig into the mystery, discovering that Bessent’s game supper has created quite a few enemies, from the exhausted volunteers, to Mudd Morrison, to the environmentalist who is worried about sustainability, even the local priest.

Then, in the middle of all this, Stella’s mother arrives unexpectedly with a catastrophe of her own.

And I can’t forget the talking dog. Yes, seriously. Truly funny.

The Nick and Nora Charles vibe is alive and well, the characters are offbeat but never implausible, the mystery is intriguing. I love this series and can’t wait for the fourth installment. A must read.

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Nick and Sarah Buckley trade their city life on Murray Hill for a rustic farmhouse in Vermont. Barely a few hours after they arrive, they discover a body in the well – by way of blood in the tap water. Since their house is now a crime scene, they must leave. But where can they go? The town is full of leaf peepers and there is not a room to be had.

Offered a hunting camp, with no electricity or running water, they soon realize that if they ever want to return to their house, they are going to have to solve the crime.

Accordingly, they begin speaking to their neighbors and soon discover the victim was almost universally loathed. And the locals; well, quirky does not begin to describe them. But Sarah and Nick persevere.

This cozy has a real Nick and Nora Charles or Hart to Hart vibe. It is laugh out loud funny. A++. Highly recommended.

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First, I want to give a shout out to the Poughkeepsie Barnes and Noble for hosting the mystery panel yesterday. The four of us: Jode Millman, Nancy Bilyeau, Tina deBellegarde and myself engaged in a lively discussion about writing, and of course about our books. Thanks again to Barnes and Noble.

This week I read The Sacred Bridge by Anne Hillerman.

Jim Chee is struggling to decide his path forward. He loves his job but worries he has given up his dream to become a haitaii, a medicine man/shaman. He takes a hiking trip in the back country to clear his head, aiming for a sandstone bridge that is sacred to the Navahoes. While there, he discovers a body floating in a man-made lake. Because he discovered the body, he is asked to remain an extra week and investigate.

At the same time. Bernie (Manuelito) has her own problems. She is worried about her mother’s increasing forgetfulness. And, while she is traveling home, she sees the murder of a man on the highway. Trying to discover the man’s identity, and the reason behind his murder. draws her into a case of her own and a very dangerous undercover operation at a hemp farm.

Anne Hillerman describes the setting as carefully as her father did and the mysteries are very good. She is a worthy successor to this series involving Leaphorn, (the Legendary Lieutenant), Jim Chee, and Bernie Manuelito.

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All I can say about this book is Wow. It is not for the faint of heart.

Haymitch turns sixteen on the day of the reaping. He is not chosen but one of the young men tries to run away and is shot dead by a Peacekeeper. Because this is the fiftieth anniversary, the Capitol is choosing double the number of kids: two boys and two girls. The love of Haymitch’s life tries to go to the victim. When Haymitch attempts to go to her aid, he is ‘volunteered’ for the reaping. His companions? Louella, a delicate girl, Wyatt, an obsessive oddsmaker, and Marilee, the most stuck up girl in the Seam. Louella and Haymitch become allies, but after their arrival at the capitol, these two form a reluctant group with the other two, despite their reservations.

District 12 is the poorest and the least of all the districts. They have no mentors at first, they are assigned a costumer that is addicted to toad venom and their costumes are old, used coal miners uniforms. Haymitch defies Snow and right away is marked for death in the arena.

The arena, full of poisoned water and lethal creatures, as well as the other tributes, weeds out eighteen tributes the first day. But District 12 has formed an alliance with most of the other districts and Haymitch involves himself in a resistance movement designed to destroy the arena. That, of course, is far more challenging that he expects.

Anyone who has read the Hunger Games knows Haymitch not only survives but is the victor. I was curious to see how Collins would manage to work that out. The price of his victory, and Snow’s unending vengeance, certain explains Haymitch’s retreat into alcohol.

Gripping, unputdownable, and absolutely heartbreaking. I can’t even watch a trailer for Survivor. It’s the sanitized version of the Hunger Games. This book leaves me with the question: how desperate for power, how cruel, does a society have to be to kidnap children (and they are. The youngest is 12.) to fight other people’s children to the death? How vindictive to program the lethal creatures to target a particular kid? To set the arena for maximum death? And to take revenge on the victor when a disliked tribute wins?

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I pre-ordered the new Finlay Donovan book: Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave.

Like her previous books, this is a mix of mystery, humor and romance. Finlay’s neighbor, the nosy Mrs. Haggerty who documents everything going on in the neighborhood. Then a body is discovered in Mrs. Haggerty’s back yard. Although she is cleared, her house remains a crime scene. Mrs. Haggerty’s nephew drops her off at Finlay’s, leaving her to sleep in the spare room while her elderly neighbor takes the master bedroom. Finlay and her best friend Vero want to stay out of this investigation – but when Finlay’s ex Stephen becomes a prime suspect, they have no choice.

And Mrs. Haggerty has secrets of her own. Finlay watches her leave the house late at night to hand deliver notes. Wha-a-a-t?

Lots of fun.

This is another book I picked up at the Suffolk Festival. I’ve read several of the other series by Christine Trent: the Lady of Ashes series and the Florence Nightingale mysteries and enjoyed them. St. Clement’s Bluff is a change of pace.

Raleigh is devastated by her husband Grant’s death. When she finally begins to recover, and reads Grant’s will, she is shocked to discover he has left her a house on St. Clement’s Bluff. None of his family seem to know anything about it.

When Raleigh visits it, she finds an old house with its history as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The house is totally empty, except for one room that is filled with beautifully carved furniture. Raleigh begins to investigate.

She gradually meets nearby neighbors, including a fisherman, Kip Hewitt who saves her from a half-hearted suicide attempt.

Well-written, and with a clever mystery, but the real draw are the characters.

Recommended.

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The two books I read this past week, to my surprise, addressed the same topic, – the collapse of democracy – but the presentation couldn’t be more different.

In Enemies Domestic, by John Dedakis, the United States government is threatened from within.

Lark Chadwick, newly pregnant, is chosen by POTUS to serve as liasion with the press. An obnoxious reporter, discovering Lark’s pregnancy, asks if she will have an abortion and then spins her “I don’t know” into yes. Lark is subsequently abducted by two people who plan to hold her until the birth of the baby. Lark escapes, the two are arrested, but the situation worsens. The President is arrested for treason.

Dedakis takes current events and draws them out into a logical, although somewhat implausible scenario. A terrifying dystopian mystery. Recommended.

The second book I read, And Intrigue of Witches, follows Sydney Taylor, a black woman with a mane of bright red hair.

Suddenly laid off from her D.C. job, she goes home to Robbinsville, only to be offered a job searching for an artifact. Part Treasure Hunt (think National Treasure with Nicholas Cage), part historical fiction, part fantasy, the story veers into a hundred years battle between good and evil. The Daughters of Hathor are witches, and the rightful rulers. When the Opposition is in power, dictatorship, cruelty, and violence are the result.

Magic, time travel, and of course murder are all mixed together in a novel that resists classification. The inventiveness behind the tale is breath taking. But this story will not be for everyone.

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Last week I read two of the books I picked up at the Suffolk Author Festival.

Orphans Amelia and Jonah Mathews have parlayed her modest psychic talent into a comfortable life. But a head injury increases that talent far more than she is prepared for. When she wakes from her coma, and sees a ghost for the first time, her reaction lands her in the notorious insane asylum Blackwell’s Island.

While Jonah searches for his sister, Amelia attempts to survive. Finding an ally in new doctor, Andrew Cavanaugh, they discover a terrible murder for hire conspiracy.

Highly Recommended. I hope Murphy continues this series. The characters are appealing and the story is un-put-downable.

The Bronze Compass begins with a bang as Lily, an American spy in Nazi Germany, watches as her contact commits suicide rather than be taken by the Gestapo.

A harrowing flight, with no food or resources, through Germany to safety behind the American lines ensues. Lily does find some help along the way, particularly from a stray horse, but her success rests primarily on her own resourcefulness.

This was an exciting suspense/spy novel. My only criticism is that Butler devotes several chapters at the end to wrapping up all the story threads. These final chapters dilute the excitement of the bulk of the story, and could probably and more effectively been condensed into an epilogue.

Recommended with that caveat.

early F

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Revenge in Rubies is the second in the Harriet Gordon Mysteries.

When the young wife of a British officer is murdered in her bedroom, the military closes ranks to keep Inspector Curran out. Harriet realizes her friendship with the victim’s sister-in-law might prove useful and she calls upon the bereaved family to offer comfort. Other murders quickly follow and both Harriet and Curran are soon in the killer’s sights.

Both of them must deal with their own demons before they can solve this mystery.

Another winner from A. M. Stuart. I love this series. Highly recommended.

I also read Dance of Bones by J. A. Jance.

Big Bad John Lassiter is convicted of the murder of his best friend and partner Amos Warren and sent to prison. Thirty years later his daughter, who he has never met, wants the case reopened. Brandon Walker is reluctant but agrees to look into it and finds that there is more than a reasonable doubt that Lassiter is innocent.

A parallel story involving Lani, Walker’s adopted daughter, intersperses the main story. The stories and rites of the Tohono O’odham tribe are a big part of this half of the novel.

The two stories meet, separate, meet separate again and again, finally joining for a blowout ending.

This is the first that draw J.P. Beaumont and Brandon Walker together in one book, which is interesting.

Recommended with reservations. There are a lot of characters. And, with the tribal stories, and the two halves of the mystery all happening at the same time, it starts to get a little confusing. But there is no doubt there is a lot going on and it keeps a reader’s interest.