Storymusing: Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

 

Listen for the Lie

by Amy Tintera

One of the things I love most about this book is how there are little revelations in nearly every chapter.

The story begins in Los Angeles where Lucy’s past has just been uncovered and she is fired from her job. She’s also concerned her boyfriend is going to be annoyed that she didn’t reveal the past to him either.

“A podcaster has decided to ruin my life, so I’m buying a chicken.”

You see, Lucy is unable to remember the night she supposedly murdered another girl five years ago. She truly doesn’t know whether she did it or not. She is afraid she did but deeply resentful of the people in her hometown, including her own parents, who assume she did.

“…everyone in my hometown decided I was the one who killed her.”

 I think because of this, and difficulty relating to people, she comes across as a bit of a misanthrope but in a humorous way.

“I stab the knife into the chicken between the breast and thigh. I may have used a bit more force then necessary.”

 All of the characters in this book are delightfully flawed and have their own vices. Ben Owens runs the podcast Listen for the Lie and has solved a few cold cases. He’s a little full of himself. But Lucy’s Grandma is just certain he’s Lucy’s best chance to figure out what happened back then. She pressures Lucy into returning to their hometown in Texas for her 80^th birthday, and to maybe talk to Ben Owens, who is there investigating.

Lucy’s own parents are incredibly flawed in their own right, and though they seem to have meant well, they really screwed up when it came to helping her. When she was discovered walking down a dirt road with blood on her dress and a brain injury, they pressured her time and again, not taking the brain injury seriously.

This book is superbly plotted; the characterization strong and humorous. I loved the short chapters, some of them actually transcripts from the fictitious podcast. The hot and humid  summer setting of a Texas town is woven in simply, but vividly.

I did not want to put this book down. When I was finished with it, I really wanted more from this author. Unfortunately, this is the only book she has written for adults to date, but she does have several YA series. I might just have to check them out while I pray she writes another murder mystery for adults.

Storymusing: I'm Not the Only Murderer in My Retirement Home by Fergus Craig

 

I’m Not the Only Murderer in My Retirement Home

by Fergus Craig

The theme for our club in June was “Antihero.” What exactly does that mean? Well, in broad strokes, it means a hero who lacks the usual heroic qualities of bravery and selflessness. I found the perfect antihero book for me, a murder mystery where the hero is (was?) a serial killer.

Now, Carol has largely left this hobby in the past, but she still doesn’t see killing people as really wrong. She’s done 35 years in prison and just been released to move into a very nice retirement home. (Which she has financed in a rather morally ambiguous way, we later find out, but so have some other people.)

Here at Sheldon Oaks, they don’t know Carol is a serial killer, at least at first. Well, the manager and owner do, but not the residents. Carol makes a few friends for the first time in her life – Catharine, Geoffrey, and Margaret. Oddly, a LOT of the people in this retirement home were in the police or public service in some way. Geoffrey was a police officer, Catharine was a forensic pathologist, and Margaret was actually Home Secretary, which in England means she was responsible for things like national security, policing, and immigration policy.

They all have a little baking club that meets on Tuesday and it’s quite fun.

Geoffrey realizes who Carol is, or rather what she did, and informs the others. Then someone is murdered, and everyone points the finger at Carol. She is enraged and wants to kill again, but she decides she likes having friends and lattes and the only way to get it back is to clear herself by solving the murder.

I really enjoyed the quirky humor in the motivations and reactions of the people – there’s revenge sex and romance. Carol has reasons why she murdered, though the truth is she enjoyed the killing aspect quite a lot. I even liked the ending, which is not what you might expect.

The setting of Sheldon Oaks is rather humorous in itself. It’s a luxury retirement home that has run well for decades but when Giles Temple inherited it, he got ideas. “A sauna, a pool, state-of-the-art DJ decks, a climbing wall.” There was even “a state-of-the-art sprung-floor martial arts studio.” Not really something people in their eighties are looking for in a retirement home. It’s just ripe for a murder mystery.

It’s a relatively short book that read very quickly, at 261 pages. I didn’t want to put it down. I highly recommend it and I would like to read more by this author.

Storymusing: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann

 

Three Bags Full

by Leonie Swann

After seeing the preview in the theaters for “The Sheep Detectives” I came across this book on the return cart in our library. I came to the conclusion that the movie, which had looked so funny and appealing to me, was based on this very book. I checked it out immediately.

I was taken with the cast of characters, sheep like Miss Maple, obviously a nod to Miss Marple from author Agatha Christie. Names like Sir Ritchfield, Zora, and Othello also give the sheep a thoughtful feel with a nod to other literature. Other sheep have more “sheepy” names like Cloud, Heather, and Mopple the Whale.

Set in a village in Ireland, this book is remarkably philosophical while maintaining a fascinating perspective from the sheep view, where sheep think about things like grazing and relate events to what they know.

The air was perfect; a cool wind blew off the sea, the meadow was fragrant. All the same, the whole place suddenly smelled of death, new death and old, almost forgotten death. Maple began to graze.

Grazing is a comfort to her and the other sheep, but much is made of scents in this story. The sheep can purportedly smell human emotions, though that is not so far-fetched. The sour smell of the sweat of someone who is scared, for example. Or the smell of death on the butcher, which petrifies them.

But George, their shepherd, has expanded their world view by reading to them. Perhaps not great literature, but he has shared ideas with them.

Some of the sheep have been out in the wider world, discovering different points of view, like Othello who was forced to fight dogs, and Melmoth, who wandered free for years.

They are all currently part of George’s flock. Then they find George dead with a spade through his chest.

“He didn’t die of an illness. Spades are not an illness.”

The flock begins to question how this came to be and takes up the call for “Justice!”

As they sneak about the village and investigate, we learn more and more about both the sheep and the lives of the villagers, until they are rich and varied characters.

I was a tiny bit disappointed by the ending because I didn’t feel like the sheep figured it out for themselves, but rather had the truth revealed to them. Nevertheless, they did a great deal of detective work getting to that point.

After reading such an exceptional book, I’m a little afraid to see the movie because I know it can’t possibly measure up. No, I’ll have to wait several months and remind myself that a book cannot usually be directly translated into a movie. They are, as it were, different animals.

Storymusing: Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Wait Till Next Year

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

I picked up this book as a sports memoir for my thematic book club. It begins with Goodwin talking about how she used to listen to baseball games on the radio as a child and record information about the game to share with her father after dinner. It was a warm memory of bonding time between the two of them and clearly profoundly influenced her love of baseball and therefore her life.

Wikipedia says, “A sports journalist as well, Goodwin was the first woman to enter the Boston Red Sox locker room in 1979.[22] She consulted on and appeared in Ken Burns' 1994 documentary Baseball.[23]”

The author is very careful to write her perceptions from the perspective of the age she was at the time. She doesn’t intrude with “looking back, I now know….” It makes the book read much more like a novel than a history book.

This is the story of an almost idyllic childhood of an upwardly mobile white community on the south shore of long island during the fifties. Goodwin puts all the neighbors and owners of stores in the framework of whether they rooted for the Dodgers, Giants, or Yankees.

However, the memoir quickly moves into broader reminiscences in the story of her father and the tragic loss of his family when he was young – one brother died at 15 months, another died of tetanus after a street car accident, his mother developed complications from the stress and died in childbirth, then his father seemed to die of a broken heart leaving he and his sister to be divided between relatives. At eighteen he got a job and apartment then brought her to live with him. A year later she died of complications after anesthesia during a dental procedure. For all that he was a very involved father, he never spoke with her about this until much later in life.

There were also the very scary episodes of Angina her own mother suffered while Goodwin was young. She had to watch without being able to do anything but comfort her. It seems to be something she learned from her mother, who was quick to comfort her in the night during thunderstorms. Sadly, her mother had an early complete hysterectomy which aged her body and made her appear old before her time. But her mother read a lot and shared that love with her daughter. Another profound influence on the author.

Goodwin also shares fond memories of her much older sisters who seemed glamorous and worldly, almost more like aunts. She gives a broad view of all the people in her family, on her block, and in her community. She places her almost idyllic childhood in the larger context of the 1950s and gives us the perspective of what was going on in society through the lens of her childhood and baseball. From civil rights struggles to the advent of the atomic bomb bringing drills at school and home, plus the struggle of trying to keep children safe from polio, it was a time of upheaval. There are family trials and tragedies as well.

When it comes to polio, there was a great deal of concern at that time because they didn’t know how it was spread. She depicts public service announcements and parents making restrictions to try to keep kids safe. One sister had it when she was three and was nursed at home by hired nurses around the clock and eventually recovered with only a leg brace for a year, while a playmate ended up paralyzed.

There were lighter developments as well, such as the arrival of television. The first family to get a television became the host of block watching sessions. Then, as bigger televisions arrived, the children and families went to different houses for regular viewing sessions.

This book is utterly fascinating, so well written, evocative of time and place, as well as the history of our nation through the lens of Goodwin’s childhood on Long Island. It is an extremely engaging and illuminating weave of elements. I don’t think I can recommend it enough. A five star read. 

 

Storymusing about The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols

 

The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective: A Mystery

by Jo Nichols

The Marigold Cottages are owned by Mrs. B, Golda Bakofsky. She and her husband, who is no longer living, built them years ago and now they seem to be her sole source of income, though she is very generous in what she asks people to pay.

She is also very selective about who she rents to. There are five people – Sophie, Hamilton, Ocean, Lily-Ann, and Nicholas. Sophie is still skittish from a horrible stalking situation in college. Hamilton has agoraphobia and never leaves his apartment. Ocean is a single mom of two, a teen daughter and a fourth-grade son, who teaches art. Lily-Ann is an elegant and organized proposal manager for a transport company who has left her husband. Nicholas works in the city planning department.

Then Mrs. B adds in an ex-con named Anthony with very badly drawn tattoos and Sophie creates a group chat with her former small group of neighbors., just in case of anything.

A few weeks later, “anything” happens – a man is murdered in the yard and Anthony is taken in for questioning by a detective who assumes it’s very cut and dried.

Then Mrs. B convenes a meeting and asks the small group of neighbors to help clear Anthony of the crime. When that doesn’t happen fast enough, she confesses to the murder and is taken into custody.

Now they have to clear her too.  

It turns out the murdered man was checking out the cottages with the intention of buying and developing the property with another local man. But just who killed him and why?

Of course, each character has their own little idiosyncrasies and even secrets. They are very distinctive and the story is told in alternating very short chapters following each in turn. I find this type of ensemble cast very enjoyable and it keeps the pace driving forward as little bits of information are revealed.

The humor is very evident, from Mrs. B’s dotty old lady act at times to Hamilton’s random fact additions to the group chat. Even the way Nicholas refuses to get involved with the other tenants is humorous. It’s nearly impossible to pull out just one little bit so I highly recommend you give this one a try if you like humorous murder mysteries.

Jo Nichols is actually a pen name for a husband and wife duo, which is often means good writing to me. All the books I know of that were written by spouses are well done.

I definitely want to read more by this duo.

Storymusing on The Black Wolf: A Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novel by Louise Penny

 

The Black Wolf

by Louise Penny

Our theme for my book club in February was “Enemies” and this book fits that bill to a T. The question of just who the enemy is, and if there are multiple, reverberates throughout the book.

This is the 20^th book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series. Most of the series builds on previous story lines, but Penny does a great job of building in back information so that you won’t feel adrift if you pick up this book out of order.

In the last book, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his senior agents Beauvoir and Lacoste thought they had uncovered the extent of a terrible plot to poison the water of Montreal and arrested the responsible parties. But is there more? Did they get the right person? Was that even the end game?

The three are in agreement, We have a problem.

As Gamache’s deafness and the ringing in his ears continue to plague him, clouding both his communication and thinking, he has just two notebooks and a few numbers on a tattered map of Quebec to lead him forward.

The three dig deeper into the evidence they have and what it means. They discover there are deeper layers beneath the dark web of the Internet. Down deep where the conspiracies thrive and multiply, there is more danger than they could have anticipated. And more meanings in the notebooks and map that a young biologist left behind for them.

Chief Inspector Evelyn Tardiff  is clearly meeting with crime boss Don Joseph Moretti and he is clearly involved in every bit of crime his syndicate can control, but where does she really stand?

The prime minster seems to know more than what he is saying and a friend in the U.S. military is also struggling with what to tell them without becoming a traitor to his own country.

Thankfully, Gamache is surrounded by the warmth and love of all his friends and family in the Quebec village of Three Pines. There is definite comic relief here from the elderly poet Ruth Zardo and her swearing duck, Rosa. There’s a parallel quest for clarity in the form of painter Clara Morrow as she attempts to create a painting that captures the moment just before something momentous happens.

As Gamache’s hearing suddenly becomes clear like a moment of insight, the revelations come in fits and starts and backtracks, like a rabbit running around a snowy hillside.

For me, this book tethers us in the village of Three Pines as it explores the darkest part of what conspiracy theories and power brokers are doing. I love the style and pacing of the book. It’s a relaxing read even though the story has a great deal of tension.

I would highly recommend it and I even might read it again, or at least listen to it on audio.

Storymusing - Glory Be: A Glory Broussard Mystery by Danielle Arceneaux

 

Glory Be: A Glory Broussard Mystery

By Danielle Arceneaux

I admit I picked up this book based on the cover and the title, not knowing much about it. It just looked good. I enjoy novels set in the Southern part of the United States and this did not disappoint.

Glory Broussard felt real and relatable, from her tired body due to years working labor intensive jobs to her tired mind from the various difficulties life has thrown at her. She has a number of prescription pill bottles on her bedside table, though she doesn’t often take them, another sign of depression sometimes.

I was amused to find that Glory is running a thriving business as a bookie through a local coffee house. I loved how she insists her clients observe the niceties before sliding the money across the table in an envelope, discreetly. In contrast, she is strongly invested in her church.

Glory is in the coffee shop when she hears that her best friend, Sister Amity Gay, has been found dead. The police seem all too willing to declare it a suicide but there are many red flags that Glory latches onto.

Thankfully, her daughter, a sharp lawyer, is in town. Glory is glad to have her help with the investigation into Amity’s death, not so happy to have her sorting out her house so that it doesn’t get condemned after someone anonymously tells the town it’s a health hazard.

The settings are well chosen and described – including the coffee shop, Glory’s house in town, a house in the country owned by a well-to-do drug lord, a nominally desegregated country club, the church, and an old, abandoned mill.

Most characters are well developed with back stories of their own. Elements are brought to light at appropriate intervals that illuminate each character in a well-planned trajectory. Of course, the murder of Glory’s friend Amity makes Amity a focal point as Glory wonders what her friend was caught up in that led to her death and what Glory might not know about her life. But Glory herself, and her daughter, are revealed through thoughtful interactions with a variety of people plus well-chosen flashbacks.

Racial disparity is a major theme here, with how people are treated when they are victims of a crime and the lack of opportunities for many people. There’s also the insidious nature of the drug culture and the difficulty of getting out of it and staying out of it. An interesting theme for me was the question of why people belong to a church, the connection to others, both emotionally and networking. Another major theme is people craving connection and love.

There is naturally going to be conflict when someone is investigating a murder and Glory is definitely not conflict averse, though she can be politic when she wants to be. There’s a subplot conflict with her sister over Glory’s house that ups the conflict quotient.

There’s a saying that easy reading is hard work to write. This story read extremely smoothly and was easy to take in. The pacing is perfect, keeping the story moving without overwhelming the reader with facts. The overall impact is a cozy read that is relaxing while still tackling some harsh realities.

I will definitely want to read more by this author.

“Danielle Arceneaux is the winner of the Lillian Jackson Braun for her debut mystery, GLORY BE, which was reviewed and chosen as a best mystery of the year by The New York Times and The Washington Post.” – from https://www.danielleatwork.com/new-bio

Storymusing: The Author's Guide to Murder: A Novel by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

 

The Author’s Guide to Murder: A Novel

by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

This novel was unexpected and ended up being funnier than I thought it would be. I was looking for a murder mystery, liked the title, and needed something for my drive home from work, so I just jumped in.

The book takes us to Kinloch Castle in Scotland where Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead in a somewhat scandalous tableau. Bit of a wild name, I don’t know many people named for Saffron and Presley always makes me think of Elvis.

Three American authors are at the castle, ostensibly as a writing retreat to cowrite a novel. Sounds like a fun way to spend some time!

I loved the way the three are revealed a little bit at a time. At first, they seem like caricatures of genre writers – Cassie Pringle is a sweet Southern writer of cozy mysteries, Kat de Noir is a sharp and sexy erotica writer, while Emma Endicott is a very proper writer of historical novels. They claim to be best friends.

“We bonded instantly.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. They barely tolerate each other, and they have no idea of the deeper secrets each is carrying. I enjoyed how their relationships developed and their back stories are revealed to each other, building their friendship over the course of the book. The way each was involved with the murder victim is a developing thread as well, with some things not revealed until close to the end.

Cassie is the only one who is happily married, though that happiness is shown to be in jeopardy as the plot progresses. However, Emma and Kat are both single, leaving lots of room for romance with a couple of local men. That too begins rather prosaically. One ends that way too, for my money, but the other takes an interesting turn.

The authors do a marvelous job of doling out the clues and information as the story progresses to keep the readers guessing. I can safely say I didn’t have a clue who the murderer was, which is the way I prefer it.

The setting of a castle and a Scottish village was interesting, and I thought rather well developed, based on my watching of BBC television, but then maybe people in Scotland would disagree or even take umbrage. It worked for an American who has never been there.

Overall, I’d call this murder mystery by three authors about three fictional authors highly entertaining.

Storymusing: Against the Currant - A Spice Isle Bakery Mystery by Olivia Matthews

 

Against the Currant: A Spice Isle Bakery Mystery

by Olivia Matthews

I needed a nice light read and the cover of this, plus the title, appealed perfectly. It doesn’t hurt that two of my favorite cozy mystery authors, Mia P. Manansala and Raquel V. Reyes, wrote endorsements.

Lyndsay Murray is holding the soft opening of her family-owned Spice Isle Bakery in Brooklyn, which serves West Indian pastries and main course food when a local baker and businessman, Claudio, shows up to try to intimidate them into closing. Lyndsay and her elegant grandmother are minding the front of the store while her parents and her brother handle the baking. Lyndsay assertively tells Claudio to go tend to his own business.

Unfortunately, Claudio soon turns up murdered and Lyndsay’s bracelet is at the scene. The police seem to think that Lyndsay is their absolute best suspect. She is distraught, certain that if she doesn’t figure out who did this she will end up on trial and her bakery dream will go up in flames, crucified in the court of public opinion.

Things I loved about the story – there was lots of flavor and color through the descriptions of food and clothing. Lyndsay’s grandmother, who also works in the bakery, always seems to have a beautiful outfit put together. Her mother and father are also there, though mostly shown through their fears for their daughter and about how fast everything is moving. They aren’t comfortable with her applying for a festival, though her grandmother and brother, Dev, are all for it.

A humorous thread running through the story is that while Lyndsay is a good cook, providing main dishes like curried chicken, she’s not a very good baker. However, her grandmother is giving her lessons and she does improve through the book.

Another neat thread is Lyndsay’s kickboxing. She’s mainly in it for exercise but it serves her in self-defense and confidence, but she’s not too sure when a former classmate encourages her to enter a competition.

Because this is a new series, there’s a lot of time spent introducing us to the characters and neighborhood, so the story moves relatively slow. But that impression could also have been influenced by how I was reading it over the Thanksgiving holiday. It might have gone faster if I had bigger chunks of time to devote to it.

I also enjoyed the cast of characters but at the same time kept confusing two of them. There were so many people coming into the bakery to buy baked goods and meals. Again, that may have just been my brain and the disjointed way I was reading the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely pick up another to read. I’d love to hear a version on audio.

 

Storymusing: My Friends by Fredrik Backman

My Friends

by Fredrik Backman

A patron at the library where I work had told me for years that I should read A Man Called Ove. I said sure but I put it off, thinking it would be very literary and possibly boring. Man, was I wrong. It was one of the funniest and most beautiful books I’ve ever read. (Albeit a lot of dark humor, which I very much appreciate.)

My husband and I both loved it, then we watched the movie, and that was fantastic. (The one with Tom Hanks is good, but if you love Backman’s writing, watch the Swedish film with the subtitles. It’s worth it.)

I’ve read a couple other books by Backman since then, and loved each one. I haven’t read all he has written, but this book, My Friends, is so painfully beautiful and so funny, that it may well beat out A Man Called Ove for me. I have read it with excruciating attention, not skipping a word, and in short bursts to make it last.

There is a piece of advice for writers that is purported to come from film writer Joss Whedon which says, “Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke.”

For my sensibility, Fredrik Backman has created the perfect blend of heart-breaking stories with humorous and heart-warming interactions and moments of beautiful connection between people. It’s almost a tall tale, in some ways, but gritty and real in others. In that way, it reminds me a bit of Big Fish.

The story begins with Louisa, who is nearly aged out of her foster home, and has run away while grieving the loss of her friend Fish. Fish, “fled from reality, down into bottles, out into the fog.” They kept each other safe for a long time, but “…the most dangerous place on earth is inside us,” and so Louisa determines that “Fish was murdered by reality.”

Louisa goes to an art show to see the piece of art that has captured her imagination for years, a painting that everyone says is of the sea, but she knows it’s really a painting of something else entirely. There she runs straight into the story of the painting and a couple of the people who are part of it. She runs into the artist, literally, but it is Ted who she ends up taking an amazing journey with. As they travel, he tells her story after story about the friends in that picture.

I adore the narrator’s interjections as well. “Adults really are out of their minds.”

As writers we are often admonished to make sure we show instead of telling the story. Backman is the type of master who can take a rule and break it in just the right way.

So many times, while reading this book, I have had the urge to write a note to the author, just to thank him for writing this book. I doubt he’ll ever see this blog, but I do thank him for this book. It is the type of book that tells beautiful truths through fiction. I will be buying it for Christmas, for whoever of my family and friends that I think will read it.

We also have an author talk with Fredrik Backman in our Library Speakers Consortium listing that you might enjoy. https://libraryc.org/ssclibrary/22473 

 

Storymusing: Five Humorous Murder Mystery Reads

 

The Game is Afoot

by Elise Bryant

September was a great month for reading mysteries, I’m amazed at how much reading I did. I picked up the first cozy mystery on a whim, mostly based on the cover art. I am pleased to say that I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.

It is a cozy mystery, but there is real depth and layers here. I loved the main character’s humorous way of looking at things and the mom perspective was very relatable for me.

Mavis is divorced but working hard to co-parent their daughter, Pearl, with her ex, Corey. Corey, has been a bit of an absentee dad but he has made big changes in his life, like working hard on his own mental health. It’s a very affirming depiction of a divorced dad and a welcome change from the deadbeat dad image that is so common.

Mavis has some work to do on her own mental health and well-being. Her job has been taking advantage of her for about eight years now and when she gets totally fed up, she quits in the middle of a meeting. She knows that’s not the best way to go about changing jobs, but when she crunches the numbers, she finds it will be okay untilshe finds a new position.

The voices are each individually distinctive and very believable.

The conflicts were many and varied. Sometimes a little over the top, but still believable. As with her boss, who passes her over for promotion and keeps explaining how she’d “love to pay you a million dollars but….” As if any kind of raise is tantamount to a million dollars. (Grrr.)

There was conflict with other mothers, including the one trying to sign her up for a pyramid scheme and the ones who didn’t appreciate her catching one of them in an illegal situation in the last book.

She has conflict with the ex because she doesn’t want him butting in to her life or taking off again, which she suspects might happen.

She’s even in conflict with her dad over his planned podcast.

Each conflict is appropriately resolved at the end of the story, but not necessarily in the way you might expect. I especially loved the new understandings she comes to with her father and her ex-husband.

The writing style is humorous, breezy, and the pacing is brisk. The overall impact is an entertaining and fast-paced read with an interesting mystery. I would highly recommend this book and definitely will read more from this author.

Others I’ve read recently—

The Ex-girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao

Our book club picked the theme “spicy” for September, and this book has spice in spades. Kathryn Hu thinks she has the perfect boyfriend. For example, he shows up with donuts for the entire lab to make up for it to help her smooth things over one day. Then one day she thinks she hears him practicing proposing to her. She bursts out of the bathroom, only to find he is proposing to a different woman. Yikes!

Kathryn and Olivia bond then find there’s a third woman! The three of them

decide to trash his apartment – bringing frogs, because he’s deathly afraid of them, and smearing poop everywhere. They do this, but then they find Tucker’s dead body in a closet. Yikes again!

The three take off, but Kathryn goes back to clean it all up, to keep them from being connected to the murder. Enter the hunky cop.

There are SO many great twists and plot points in this book, it’s a perfect funny murder mystery. There’s maybe even a little too much going on.

But the biggest problem I had with this was the repetitive and obnoxious interludes of the podcast “A Dish Best Served Hot.” To be fair, I don’t know if it would have hit me the same way if I’d been reading it instead of listening to it. Plus, the character is supposed to be obnoxious, I believe. If I’d been reading it in hard copy, I probably would have started skimming those parts.

I’ve also read some other great books this month.

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto – fantastic! I adore the main character and the way she has of bringing people together. Even better than the first book in the series.

 The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell – a mystery set in an American version of The Great British Bake-off. The characterizations were fantastic, and the plotting was tight. I couldn’t put it down.

Then I picked up Mother Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon which has been riveting, and I LOVED listening to it in the car. Couldn’t wait to get back to it every day.

Honestly, I’m amazed I read so much in the past month. It’s mostly down to the books being riveting. I hope you give one a try.

Storymusing: The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett

 

The Twyford Code

by Janie Hallett

The theme for our book club in July was “something from your to be read pile.” A friend had recently read The Twyford Code and spoken so enthusiastically about it that I immediately added it to be my “to be read” file and picked it up for this month.

Smithy is out of jail after a prolonged incarceration, and still on probation. He has a crappy job and his adult son doesn’t really want any contact with him. He begins to record his thoughts on a mystery that started years ago when he found a book by Edith Twyford on a bus and took it to school. His teacher snatched it up and began reading it to the class, telling them there was a code in it. Then she disappears on a class outing and Smithy never let go of that mystery. Now he’s determined to get to the bottom of The Twyford Code and find out what happened to his teacher.

In the beginning, I confess I had some trouble settling into this book, due to the format. It is told through the guise of audio recordings by Steven “Smithy” Smith on an old smart phone his estranged son has given him. Those recordings have been transcribed by an automated process, complete with phonetic spellings of some words or outright misspellings. One simple example is Kos in place of ‘cause, Or the word “mustard” in place of “must have.” Those were not hard to figure out, in context. “Bore Moth” in place of Bournemouth took a bit longer.

I think my trouble getting into the beginning goes a little deeper than that though. Because the entries are someone talking into a phone using a voice recording app, the story is being told to us instead of action being described.

Further, there are places where a conversation is recorded between Voice 1 and Voice 2, back and forth. In writer’s group, we call this “talking heads” — two voices carrying on a conversation but no physical actions or setting to ground the reader. You can’t really picture it in your mind.

I’m really glad I stuck with it. This turned out to be a fascinating mystery with plenty of action and many twists and turns. There are revelations upon revelations regarding Smithy’s family and his previous work with a crime family.

The twist at the end was magnificent. I would highly recommend this one.

Storymusing Book Review: Pranks, Poitin, and Pucas by Rowan Dillon

 

Pranks, Poitín, and Púcas: A Skye O'Shea Paranormal Cozy Mystery (The Skye O'Shea Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series Book 3)

By Rowan Dillon

Skye O’Shea inherited a lovely old pub in Ireland from her Gran, in the coastal town of Ballybas, but she also inherited the task of protecting the town from the Good Folk.

But the renovations seem to spark with trouble. It doesn’t help that Skye seems to catastrophize but that’s part of the nature of preparing for the worst that comes with surviving trauma in life.

The writing style draws the reader onward with the trials and tribulations of finding your place in a new country, along with renovations, and permit applications to run a bar.

Little things seem to keep happening – wiring sparking up, her new friend exhibiting very odd behavior, and creepy guys in stores.

Along with the usual problems, Skye has an abusive ex who shows up to let her know SHE can’t live without him, but Skye is pretty sure she can.

Of course, it’s only going to get worse as Samhain draws near.

The descriptions are lovely, like the town of Bantry that Skye visits with her friend, Jess. “Bantry’s charm unfolded in a lively mix of colorful shop fronts painted in rich reds, bright yellows, and sea-blues….”

The pace is lively and I couldn’t wait to get back to the book at lunch every day to read a little more.

I would highly recommend this charming series.

 

I’ve also read, or am reading, a few other books.

I’ve just finished Acqu Alta by Donna Leon, which brought Commissario Guido Brunetti back in contact with some interesting characters and some scary ones against the backdrop of a rainy season called Aqua Alta that raises the water level ominously in Venice. It’s a perfect setting and I just adore this character, a thoughtful policeman who is also a loving husband and nurturing father.

I’m also listening to another Martin Walker, The Resistance Man, bringing me back to the delightful Dordogne region of France with Chief of Police, Bruno. Life is good for Bruno but politics and affairs of the heart bring complications for him.

Lastly, I’m reading The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett. It’s an unusual stream of consciousness book from the perspective of a semiliterate former conman written under the format of audio files he records into an old phone given to him by his adult son. There are misspellings based on how transcription software often gets things wrong and it has been very interesting so far. A little bit conspiracy theory, a little bit mystery, and a little bit thriller. I wasn’t sure about the book at first, but it has held my interest and I can’t wait to see where it goes. 

Storymusing - A Colorful Scheme (A Pen & Ink Mystery Novel) by Krista Davis

A Colorful Scheme: A Pen & Ink Mystery Novel

by Krista Davis

Our book club theme for June was “Secrets & Lies.” This one fell solidly into that category, but with a fairly lighthearted manner, at least as much as murder can be. The cover itself is a “Color-It-Yourself” cover. I’m thinking I might do a little coloring this weekend now that I’m done with reading the book. (But I also like to pass books on, so maybe not.)

Our amateur sleuth is Florrie Fox, a bookstore manager and coloring book creator. She lives on the grounds of the Maxwell Mansion, and her boss, Professor Maxwell, also owns the bookstore.

As the book opens, her boss is getting remarried in a lavish wedding. Little bit of a hitch, the bride is missing. Florrie soon finds her under very odd circumstances. But the party gets underway, with the wedding as a surprise to most of the party goers.

The surprise for the party throwers is a dead body in the swimming pool, come morning. It’s one of the guests and there’s a little more to his death than drowning.

The book has a warm tone with details of the surroundings and dress and food of a wedding. But there are also secrets abounding, from the innocuous, to those simply made up in the minds of people like the wannabe reporter, Cara, and understandably suspicious police officers.

As with any cozy mystery, there’s a second body drop. This one is more immediately identifiable as a murder, and somewhat gruesome. The bumbling nature of the police officer investigating is a tiny bit overdone, imho.

There’s a light romance too, as Florrie is dating a handsome police officer named Eric. There’s even a butler named Mr. Dubois, but I was impressed with how fully his character is treated as a person instead of simply window dressing.

It’s a very privileged world, and the author does gloss over the financial aspects of running a business, especially one that seems as busy as this bookstore. Do people still leave keys outside where anyone could find them? I’m sure some do, but it seems a bit convenient.

I really did enjoy this story and it would make a lovely light, summer read for anyone. I recommend for cozy mystery readers. 

 

Storymusing Review: Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

 

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

by Jess Q. Sutanto

I was perusing our library’s cart of returned mysteries when I came across Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. It looked good, and the book recommendation on the cover from Elle Cosimano, another favorite humorous mystery author, clinched the deal.

Vera Wong runs ‘Vera Wang’s World-Famous Teahouse’ in San Francisco. Unfortunately, the teahouse has gone out of fashion and she only has one customer left. Vera is a lonely widower whose only son is too busy to spend time with her. She texts him frequently, though he doesn’t often respond, and thrives on her routine of walking daily and searching the internet. Surprisingly, it isn’t an online scam that brings trouble to her door.

One morning she gets up and goes downstairs to find a man named Marshall has broken into her teahouse and died on the floor. Vera isn’t too happy with how the police handle the situation and decides to investigate on her own. She starts by placing an obituary for Marshall in the paper to draw the guilty party back to the scene of the crime.

Her plan works and four people show up— Rikki, Sana, Oliver, and Julia, carrying her daughter Emma. Rikki says he is a reporter for Buzzfeed and Sana says she runs a true crime podcast. Oliver is most clearly Marshall’s twin brother. Julia is Marshall’s wife, though he left her the day before.

It is less of a mystery to the reader about why these people are here than it is to Vera, because we hear the story from their perspectives as well. (It also makes it seem unlikely that one of them is the killer, in my opinion.)

As I read further in this book, there were a few things that required a suspension of disbelief. Primary is that Vera makes these amazing teas, seeming to know exactly what you need, but she only has one customer. Not one other tea lover has found her and become a fan, telling other tea lovers they know about it? That seems a bit odd. Tea drinkers make up a hefty percentage of the population.

That being said, I still loved this novel. The writing just drew me in and allowed me to suspend disbelief.

And you can’t help intensely disliking the person who was murdered. The mystery of who murdered him plays a lean second fiddle to the master machinations of Vera as she maneuvers people into talking about themselves and the relationships she helps bring to life.

I recently came across a post in a book forum asking for books that feel like a big hug. As strange as it may seem to put a murder mystery in this category, I think it applies to this one.

I began to wonder if this was even a mystery? About two thirds of the way through, though I knew Marshall was a jerk, I wasn’t sure he was murdered. He certainly could have been, but it might have been an accident, and I had real trouble believing that any of the people Vera considered a suspect, could actually have killed Marshall.

Well, I definitely didn’t see the truth that came out in the end. I highly recommend this book.

Storymusing Review: The Wormhole Cafe by G.H. Monroe

 

The Wormhole Cafe 

by G.H. Monroe

Our book group theme for April was "Travel." We allow our members to interpret the themes as broadly or loosely as they like. Time travel seemed like a good option to me.

The Wormhole Café. I've been looking forward to the release of this book since I read the first draft nearly ten years ago. I do know the author from my writer's group, but I will stand by my assertion that this is a very fine example of the genre. (I even know the closet in our local coffee shop where the wormhole is set.)

At one point, I accidentally left my copy at work and really wanted to continue reading at home. I thought to check our library Hoopla database and was very pleased to find it was there. Yay!

The characters are well rounded and engaging, drawing from a diverse group in a large town. Their voices are strong and distinctive. I could picture these characters easily.

Stacy, the first of our known time travelers, and is a teenager. She goes into the past where the vast majority of our characters reside. She’s had a hard time in her young life and is self-reliant, but she could use a friend. Enter Tess Yancey.

Tess is a part-time barista at a coffee shop and a part-time receptionist at a law office. Her  voice is pitch perfect for a good-hearted young woman with some self-assurance. Her chosen mission into the past is not for herself, and it’s not an emotionally easy one.

I LOVE the progression of the lawyer character that Tess works for, Gabe Denkenberger. He's a good guy though a bit pragmatic, in ways both slightly sleazy and noble.

There’s also Chief Corbett of the police, a little world weary, and has been fighting the good fight for decades. He’s a thoughtful person who wants to see justice done. But he also has something he wants for himself, and it’s not money.

There are a host of other characters that play small to moderate roles. Monroe did a wonderful job juggling and balancing then tying together all the varied story lines. 

Those story lines touch on some of the horrors of present day society. There is also suspense and even a mystery or two that are being solved.  There has to be a reason for these people to time travel and try to change the past, after all. But even the most horrific of the events only lasts two pages in the book. Then they become a motivation for the characters.

Nathan Jobe came home to find his family had been murdered. This broke his heart and mind. Tess Yancey is determined to stop it. But who killed Nathan’s family? Likewise, Chief Corbett could never forget the case of a child who disappeared. Who took her? His investigation will show him that he didn’t even have all the pieces.

And like life there is so much more to this novel than those story lines. There are relationships and friendships built between the characters that build through their interactions. It is a briskly paced story of many layers.

There are a small handful of typographical errors, but it really didn't impede my enjoyment of the story. I would have liked a little more spacing between the lines of text and a little more space in the gutter of the book, but I wouldn’t miss this book over that.

In the end, it is a very uplifting book. 

Storymusing Review: A Fatal Feast at Bramsford Manor Darci Hannah

 

A Fatal Feast at Bramsford Manor

A Food & Spirits Mystery

by Darci Hannah

Our theme for March was “Feasts and Feasting” at my thematic book group so I went to our handy Hoopla catalog and searched. This cozy mystery popped up and it sounded both intriguing and relaxing.

Bridget “Bunny” McBride is a chef on a food network. She loves her job but her boss is a bit jealous of her popularity and offers her the opportunity to have her own show – Food & Spirits. She’s led to believe it will be a travel show where she will work with the food of the place she is visiting and her co-host will handle the “spirits.”

Her obvious assumption is that spirits means alcohol. Of course, it has another meaning. One which Bunny is not okay with. You see, Bunny died in a boating accident in her home country of Scotland when she was about eighteen, but was revived. Her twin brother did not survive. 

It isn’t until she arrives at a meeting about the upcoming show that she learns what is really going on. She will be making meals to entice the “spirits” into manifesting while her co-host, ghost hunter Brett, tries to get proof of their existence. 

This is the last thing Bunny wants to be involved with, but she is in too deep to back out now. She is particularly unhappy to learn their “psychic medium” Giff is no medium at all, but an actor. Her own gran actually is a medium, so Bunny knows how real and serious this is. 

Bunny goes with the team to Bramsford Manor in England and throws herself into the cooking, determined to avoid the ghost side of things. Of course, they stick her in the very bedroom where the “Mistletoe Bride” is purported to manifest.” (That was a bit of a plot hole to me since the ghost hunting team should want to set up and monitor equipment in there.)

It becomes even more serious when a present day inhabitant of Bramsford Manor is murdered with one of Bunny’s chef knives, and Bunny becomes a suspect.

One of the really bright spots in this book is Bunny’s gran, who she calls to bail her out when she is arrested as the main suspect in the murder. Gran arrives and helps set things to right, getting the show back on course.

Another thing that I really liked about the book was that while Bunny can be a little overwrought she doesn’t just lie down and take it, she fights back.

Overall, this is a fun romp of a paranormal cozy mystery. More than anything, this story reminds me of Scooby Doo, where the whole “gang” is investigating the murder.

The mystery is well developed with a real investigation going on and lots of good interaction between the characters, as well as misdirection.

The actual writing itself could use a little more editing, but it didn't keep me from enjoying the story.

The writing and the reader on the audio can be rather melodramatic, but it certainly held my attention. I don’t think I’ll listen to another one right away, but I would certainly come back to it when I need something light to take my mind off other things.

Storymusing Review: Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

Death at La Fenice: a Novel of Suspense

Comissario Guido Brunetti #1

by Donna Leon

I find it funny that the author only wrote this book as a joke then put it aside before submitting it to a contest and winning. Now it’s the first book in a long running series (33 as of 2024) that has been made into a television series.

Comissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice police is called in to investigate when the world-renowned conductor Helmut Wellauer is found dead partway through an opera.

I really liked the organic way that Brunetti followed leads and pursued avenues of investigation with very few leads. He has questions, he gets answers, and those lead to new questions. He knows how to handle people and uses, not exactly psychology, but knowledge of human nature. He observes, and he remembers.

Brunetti’s forthright pursuit of truth is a wonderful foil to some of the other characters. Wellauer’s widow is significantly younger than he, but she seems to have truly loved him. And yet, there is something off about her reactions. Likewise with the star of the opera, Flavia Petrelli, and her companion, Brett Lynch.

Brunetti delves into Wellauer’s actions during the war in order to better understand his character, and learns some dark truths.

These questions lead him to Clemenza Santina, a former singer who worked with Wellauer long ago. I really felt the bitterness of the old lady having lost her family and being all alone. Perhaps part of that is the setting – the cold damp of her little apartment with the narrow hallway leading to a chair where she sits covered in old shawls.

There is subtle humor as well, as in the description of the doctor who confirms the conductor is dead at the opera “She pulled in a deep breath of smoke and glanced down at her watch. Mickey’s left hand stood between the ten and the eleven, and his right was just on seven.” A doctor at the opera smoking and wearing a Mickey Mouse watch? Okay.

One of the most interesting images to me was that of Brunetti walking through the streets of Venice in a thick fog and having to reach out to know where the wall is. I imagine that a lot of people could end up in a canal over time due to intoxication.

What led to the death is barely hinted at fairly early on, but we don’t really know until very close to the end. Also, who exactly killed him is a surprise and yet not. I had begun to suspect about halfway through.

I would highly recommend this as an atmospheric and well written police procedural. I’ll definitely read more in the series.

 

Storymusing: The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie, plus!

 

This month for our Thematic Book Club, we went with the theme “Replay.”

I happened to be listening to an episode of a favorite podcast, Shedunnit with Caroline Crampton, and she was featuring mystery books published every ten years from 1925 to 2025. She mentioned The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie and then Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers.

My mind said, “Eureka!”

The Secret of Chimneys is a book I read many times in my teen years. The latter I’m not sure I read, but I have adored Dorothy L. Sayers ever since I took a detective fiction course in my junior college days.

I hopped onto our Hoopla app and searched for The Secret of Chimneys. There were no fewer than FOUR audiobook versions of the story. I clicked on each, checking out the ratings and who the narrator was before settling on one that had a good rating. (Age can also be a factor in the quality of the recording.)

What about Gaudy Night? Was that also available? It was. Just one recording, but I grabbed that too.

The Secret of Chimneys was published in 1925, but it has a modern style of fast-paced storytelling with lots of chipper dialogue. Even a hundred years later, the humor brings the word romp to mind. I kept thinking of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, as he’s being intimidated by the Nazis, and says, “Are my eyes really brown?”

Many of Agatha Christie’s books feature a detective of some kind, like Miss Jane Marple or Hercule Poirot. However, there are a few standalone novels such as The Man in the Brown Suit and The Secret of Chimneys.

In this vein, we start the story with Anthony Cade who is working as a tour guide in Bulawayo when he runs into his old pal, Jimmy McGrath. McGrath has a commission to deliver a politically charged memoir manuscript to the publisher in London for a whopping 1,000 pounds. But, he wants to go off and do something else so he subcontracts the job to Anthony. Oh, and by the way, can Anthony drop off these letters to one Virginia Revel? The poor girl wrote some indiscrete messages and Jimmy feels she should have them back. Considering the amount of money Anthony is about to make, how can he refuse?

Little does Anthony realize, there is more than one party who wants to get hold of that memoir. There will be several attempts at getting the memoir before he can get it to the publisher. Likewise, there is far more to the letters than meets the eye.

Anthony and Virginia are soon deeply embroiled in a complicated little plot and on their way to a house in the country called Chimneys where we meet a host of funny characters including the lord’s daughter, referred to as Bundle, who drives fast enough to make her dangerous.

Really, this is a just short of a farce. I loved the whole thing and now I remember why I read it through so many times as a teen. The audiobook enhances the experience and I may listen to it again before I lose access. If you haven’t read this book and you like golden age murder mysteries, grab a copy. You won’t regret it!

Gaudy Night was an interesting book but it weighs in at a whopping 450 pages. Perhaps it could have been shorter but it slowly develops the relationship between Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Whimsey while Harriet investigates an increasingly dangerous series of destructive pranks and poison pen letters at her old university. It delves deep into the difficulty of getting an education as a woman in the 1930s and hints at the coming world war as the world was in the grips of a depression, with one working man going so far as to suggest that what England needed was a Hitler. It’s a far ranging literary mystery and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I actually ended up reading four different books this month. I finished The Dark Vineyard, book two in the series by Martin Walker, set in the Dordogne region of France. From the solid Chief of Police, Bruno, with his concern for the well-being of the people in St. Denis over the letter of the law, and the beautiful descriptions as well as the solid pursuit of truth, I can’t recommend this enough. I found it interesting that though there is some very dangerous sabotage of a GMO farming facility and fields, the murder does not happen until quite far into the book. An unusual choice, but it suits the style of story. It’s a very methodical and relaxing read with excellent setting and characterization.

The fourth book I finished in record time — The Little Lost Library by Ellery Adams. It’s a much lighter cozy mystery, heavy on dialogue with very sympathetic characters. There’s a sad story behind this one but one of the main premises of this series is the healing power of books, so that makes sense. The main character, Nora, runs her own bookstore. She takes books to a recluse named Lillian on a regular basis but doesn’t realize the extent of Lillian’s book hoarding because she is never allowed inside the house. There’s a lot Nora doesn’t know about Lillian and the book reveals all the secrets contained in the house bit by bit. It was a lovely, fast paced cozy mystery that I would also recommend to any fan of the genre.

All in all, it was a fabulous month of reading in hard copy, ebook and audio. What more could I ask for?

Next month’s theme is Elementals, as in Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. It’s a pretty broad theme so I’m sure I’ll find some good mysteries to fulfill the mandate.

Happy Reading!