Review - Bookplate Special

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Author: Lorna Barrett

Copyright: November 3, 2009 (Berkley); 320 pgs

Series: #3 in Booktown Mysteries

Sensuality: N/A

Mystery sub-genre: Cozy

Main Character: Tricia Miles, owner of "Haven't Got a Clue" mystery bookstore

Setting: Current day - small town Stoneham, New Hampshire

Obtained book through: Library Find

The story opens with Tricia confronting a freeloading old college friend who came for a visit and camped out indefinitely in her living room. Tricia manages to do the unpleasant task of informing Pammy that it is past time she move on. Within a matter of hours after Pammy has vacated she is found stuffed in a trash dumpster behind Angelica's dinner. Apparently Pammy hung out with a group called Freegans which salvage still usable food from trash and Tricia goes on an outing with them to dig for information on a friend she really barely knew. Pammy had also tried to crash a talk by a philanthropist and the clues start to point to Pammy blackmailing somebody. Tricia must figure out who she was blackmailing and over what to figure out who likely killed her.

Perhaps I am unusual, but I don't care for annoying family characters. I get agravated when a character doesn't stand up for themselves, whether it is "family" or not. With that said, the character of Angelica seemed to get a teensy bit less aggravating IMHO. Angelica, Tricia's ever perfect and annoying sister, now runs two businesses, the cookbook store and a dinner - and her cookbook is about to published.  She still thinks the world revolves around her and shows her utter disregard for those who aren't as well off as her (when she didn't work for her money but marry four guys and get their money.) But at least she doesn't bull doze Tricia all of the time in this one - only some of the time.

"Angelica sighed theatrically.  "Yes, Angelica Miles.  Soon to be published, I might add.  Penguin Books, Easy-Does-It Cooking, twenty-four ninety-nine - available on June first."

It was Tricia's turn to roll her eyes.  Much more information than anyone needed to know.

She leaned against the counter stool and listened as Captain Baker took Angelica through the same set of questions.  His demeanor was just so different from that of his boss.  If the circumstances were different, she decided, she might even like him. 

"And why was it you hired Ms. Fredericks?" Baker asked.

Finally, the question Tricia had been waiting to hear answered.

Angelica sighed, looked over to Tricia for a moment and then turned back to the captain.  "I figured it would keep her out of my garbage."

Baker blinked in disbelief.  So did Tricia.

"Of course, " Angelica continued, "I had no idea someone would actually kill her and put her in my garbage cart."

"Wait a minute," Tricia siad, leaning forward.  "What do you mean, 'Keep her out of my garbage'?"

Angelica shrugged.  "She came by every day - after closing, of course - and poked through my cans to see what she could salvage."

A few of the characters lost a little ground it seemed. Tricia's employee Ginny seemed a bit "off" to me this time out, and Angelica's employee Frannie who runs the cookbook store (the prior Chamber of Commerce maven) is uncharacteristically frazzled and scattered. Grace, from a prior book, and Mr. Everett are planning a wedding which adds a sentimental touch. In this installment Tricia's stale relationship with Russ has apparently passed its expiration date and the setup for a new love interest to enter the story is presented.   But otherwise the characters didn't seem quiet as vibrant as I remember from the prior books. Mostly I would like to better understand Tricia. In this book she seems to lack the psychological / emotional element that was present in the first book.

The plot was good, the author let you think the answer was so obvious and then throws you for a loop with that being completely wrong. The climax had a surprise in it I was taken aback by - good job there. A new love interest was obviously being setup but we will have to see how that one plays out - could work nicely or be cliché. Overall it is a good cozy mystery and draws you in to the little town that was saved economically by becoming a "book town" full of book sellers of many varieties.  If you like cozies, you might want to check this series out.

The next book in the series is Chapter and Hearse,which is due out August 3.  I look forward to it.

For your convenience, you may purchase your copy here.

Review: The Oxygen Murder by Camille Minichino

Well it is December 24th and I am posting a review of a mystery book that occurs during the holidays...in New York City.  Think of the city decked out from skyscraper to brown stone with lights and bows.  Ice skating at Rockefellar Center, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), horse drawn carriage rides around Central Park and all the bustle, sights and smells of New York.  This book brought all these sights, sounds, smells and visions vividly to life and I share them here with you.  Happy Holidays my friends! 

Author: Camille Minichino

Copyright: 2006 (Minotaur Books); 256 pgs.

Series: #8 in Periodic Tables mysteries

Sensuality: N/A

Mystery sub-genre: Amateur Sleuth

Main Character: Gloria Lamerino, retired physicist: a middle-aged plus size Italian brainiac scientist

Setting: Christmas vacation in New York City

Part of a Challenge: Fall/Winter Mystery Reading Challenge

Obtained book through: Library

Gloria is newly married to equally Italian Matt Gennaro, Revere Massachusetts’ homicide detective. Matt has a law enforcement conference in the Big Apple so Gloria and best friends Rose and Frank make a holiday vacation out of it. While in town they have dinner with Matt’s niece, Lori, a documentary filmmaker. The next morning Gloria is tasked with returning Lori’s prescription sunglasses and finds a dead body in Lori’s apartment. The dead girl was Amber, Lori’s camerawoman on the current Corporate Environmental violators’ documentary who also worked for a Private Investigator photographing naughty deeds. It doesn’t take long before Amber’s penchant for blackmailing people reveals multitudes of suspects.

Back home in Revere, Gloria is often a “consultant” with the local police but the NYPD probably won’t be so hospitable to her sleuthing. So Gloria has to get her information via Matt using buddies in the NYPD and filtering her findings back through Matt. Lori is most likely in danger and the tension is maintained believably.  The viewpoint is mainly through Gloria's eyes but we get several sections told through Lori's eyes with her fears and guilt bubbling over.

I absolutely loved Gloria, a middle aged intelligent independent woman who is more comfortable with science magazines than fashion rags and wears a bit larger than size 6 with all the incredible Italian food she eats. The plot is nicely developed and played out, New York during the holidays is wonderfully brought to life (I must do NY at the holidays sooner than later!!! Next Year?) The characters are painstakingly and lovingly breathed to life.

I longed for a sign of life, some sound other than the creaking machinery of the old cage. Where were the alleged eight million citizens of the nation’s largest city? Not to mention the hundred thousand or so tourists supposedly passing through JFK every day….The old elevator took forever, fitting and starting its way up, past two other red metal doors, each with its own blend of scuff marks. I saw graffiti-lettered FAGETTABOUDIT twice and wondered what daredevil wrote it, swinging around, hovering over an open shaft. Here and there bleached-out streaks hinted at unmentionable stains. At the fourth floor, the cage jerked to a stop landing me across a narrow hallway from the threshold to Lori’s apartment, the large metal door of which stood open.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matt and I walked arm in arm up Sixth Avenue toward Fiftieth, where we were to meet Rose for ice-skating (her) and spectating (us). We’d already seen the Rockefeller Center tree, illumined by Rose’s detailed knowledge of it. She knew exactly how many lights (thirty thousand) adorned the spruce, and how big the tree was (seventy-one feet tall, weighing nine tons.) And just as she was the historian of Revere, she’d recounted for us the tree’s lineage, grown this year by a family in Suffern, New York. How she did all this research without the Internet, I couldn’t fathom.

The clues are there and though I suspected who was the murderer I had missed the clue. Well done! The ending was well thought out and satisfying. In short, I have to collect all of the books in the Periodic Mystery series. Sadly there were only eight in the series and Ms. Minichino is now busy writing the miniature mysteries.  Don't you hate finding something you just love to find out it is no longer being made?

For your convenience, you may purchase a copy here.

Until next Monday (and another author interview), I wish you many mysterious moments!  Stay warm, safe and healthy out there my friends - and please don't drink and drive during this holiday season.

Review: Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn

Author: Carola Dunn


Copyright: 1994 (Kensington); 256 pgs.

Series: #1 in Daisy Dalrymple mysteries

Sensuality: N/A

Mystery sub-genre: historical / cozy

Main Character: Honorable Daisy Dalrymple, daughter of a Viscount

Setting: Winter – 1922, English country estate, country recovering from WWI

Part of a Challenge: Fall Winter Mystery Reading Challenge

Obtained book through: Library Find

Daisy is a new breed of royal, blazing her own trails as she takes a job writing feature articles for Town and County. Her lineage gains her entry to places other writers couldn’t even dream of. Case in point, Earl Wentwater opens his estate for Daisy to do an article on the estate and a few juicy stories – by their standards. Daisy is sharp and observant and she realizes there are many emotional undercurrents working at the estate. When an unwelcome guest, Lord Astwick – the brother of a Marquis, is found dead bobbing in a hole in the frozen lake on the estate property Daisy photographs the removal of the body. After Daisy develops the photos and shows them to the handsome Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Fletcher it is clear there are axe marks that created the hole and the notion of an ice skating accident are ruled out.

Daisy gets involved in the investigation when she acts as scribe for Inspector Fletcher while he questions the house full of family and a few guests, effectively making her a liaison between the working class Inspector and the privileged class. She starts to notice how her heart quickens when the inspector enters the room. Who killed the reprehensible Lord Astwich is important but inspector Fletcher also finds himself wondering whether the Honorable Miss Dalrymple could ever see him as an equal and thus perhaps go on a date.

Alex came to a decision. “I’m going to ask a further favor of you. Do you by any chance take shorthand?”

“Yes, sort of. That is, I learned it and I worked for a while as a stenographer, but being in an office all day was simply frightful.”

“You’ve forgotten it?” He asked, disappointed.

“Not exactly. I use it when I’m making notes for my writing, but it’s not quite Pitman’s any longer. I don’t think anyone else could read it. I can, as long as I transcribed it before I forget what it says.”

He laughed. “I’ll risk it. It’ll be better than nothing. I want to interview people while they think I believe the drowning was accidental, but my officers won’t be here to take notes for some time.”

“You want me to do it?” She sounded astonished and not a little excited, her eyes sparkling.

A charming mystery novel. Daisy Dalrymple is a great heroine, level headed, observant and a good judge of character. She wants to help the family out because she has grown fond of the Earl and his new wife in a short time. The murder is not chilling but the killer must be ferreted out even if it is a member of the Earl’s family or the Earl himself, which provides some political land mines for Inspector Fletcher. The plot is not particularly elaborate but the story is nicely told. A light read debuting a series that brings the 1920s culture and uniqueness vibrantly to life. The murder solution is believable and the resolution is different.

For your convenience, you may purchase your copy here.

Until Monday I wish you many mysterious moments.

Review: Murder Inside the Beltway by Margaret Truman

Margaret Truman was the only daughter of President Harry Truman. She used her knowledge of national politics and Washington D.C. to write the Capital Crimes novel series. Ms. Truman died January of 2008 and this is her twenty-fourth and last book in the series.  Since this past Tuesday was election day, even if for local issues this year, I thought it would be apropos to see how easily politics can be criminal!

The novel opens with the murder scene of high-paid prostitute Rosalie Curzon (savagely beaten then strangled). Her murder creates a quiet panic among her high-powered clients when the local police discover she had videotaped her clients and the police start systematically investigating each of them. But early on there is a suspicion that one videotape may be missing.

The story is told primarily from young detective Matt Jackson's viewpoint as he deals with his demeaning and racist superior - a twenty-three year veteran, Walt Hatcher. A secondary plotline is Matt and his coworker, Mary Hall are romantically entangled and Walt can't stand a mixed couple so the pressure is on. Walt Hatcher's view point gets several chapters to get us into his anger-filled, often drunk and physically ill head.

Rosalie Curzon's murder soon becomes intertwined with a bitter presidential campaign between incumbent President Burton Pyle and his "shoe-in" opponent Robert Colgate. When the daughter of Robert Colgate's closest advisor and Washington power player is kidnapped things begin to spin out of control. Was there a video tape of opponent Colgate with the murdered call girl and what is it worth in a bitter campaign struggle? Will Detective Matt Jackson's education in Sociology help in unearthing information to solve the tangle of vice and dirty politics to save the kidnapped girl. Margaret Truman proves she knows how vile politics can be when power is the ultimate motive.

Detective Jackson and his racist boss are the most fully realized characters. Mary Hall could have been fleshed out a bit more, she was a likable character but didn't seem to come to life enough. Robert Colgate is painted as a hypocritical smooth politician, which speaks so much to our political scandal-filled time that it works in spite of its cliché status. Walt Hatcher is finely portrayed as the angry and hardened boss who is facing failing health, which he may have brought on himself. Colgate's political advisor, Jerry Rollins, is given several chapters which highlight the intricacies of Washington politics. Even Robert Colgate's wife gets a few chapters that give us a peek into how hard presidential campaigns are on the spouses - and how the wives have secrets too.

The end has a surprise twist, for the murderer is not as obvious as the reader may think. The climax is well done and will stick with you a while. The plot is nicely layered and even the wrap up gives a few surprises. All in all a solid police procedural mystery with just enough grit and grime without feeling like you wallowed in the gutter yourself.

Obtained book through: Library



For your convenience, you may purchase a copy here.

Part of the Book Blog Carnival

Until next Monday I wish you many mysterious moments.