REVIEWS FROM JEAN UTLEY
FILE M FOR MURDER
MIRANDA JAMES
Berkley Prime Crime PBO 1/12
A librarian, books, small Southern town, and, yes, well -- a cat. Miranda James' third book featuring amateur sleuth Charlie Harris and his Maine coon cat, Diesel, is head and shoulders above the rest of the pack of cozies out there. That being said, I prefer Charlie in his natural habitat: the library.
Charlie has returned to his hometown to work both at the university library and the public library. He is known around town as the man who walks his cat on a leash and Diesel accompanies him everywhere. His son has also recently returned home and in FILE M FOR MURDER his daughter Laura takes a teaching position at the local university for a semester.
Laura's former boyfriend, Connor Lawton, is also on campus. He is a flamboyant celebrity, and makes sure everyone knows it. Tensions ensue as the play that Connor is writing is also being rehearsed, even as he makes daily changes in the script. When Connor's body is discovered, Laura becomes the prime suspect, although there is no shortage of enemies out there. Luckily, Laura has her father and brother's sleuthing and research skills to keep her out of jail and find the real killer. If I have any quibbles with this story, it is not enough library and book scenes.
I adore the author's setting: a small town with a few interesting characters who are not caricatures. Diesel, the cat, has a strong personality all his own, making him a good foil for Charlie. Charlie is a great character, with flaws and an interesting lifestyle. He has a couple of boarders who figure in the stories, and a girlfriend who runs the local bakery. All the pieces just work in this story and I can't wait for more. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
PARADISE FALLS
JONNIE JACOBS
Five Star February, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59415-378-5
Jonnie Jacobs has always been a favorite of mine with her previous series featuring mom Kate Austin, and the series of legal mysteries of Kali O'Brien. PARADISE FALLS is a standalone suspense novel and equally as good as Jacobs' previous efforts. I'm not normally a fan of suspense stories. I hate waiting for the other shoe to drop. In the hands of a skilled writer, this is not a problem.
Fifteen-year-old Caitlin Whittington disappears while waiting for a ride home from school. No trace of her is found. She is the second teenaged girl to vanish in this small Oregon town in five months. Detective Rayna Goodwin is assigned the case, bringing back memories of her own murdered daughter. Suspects are few but include Caitlin's brother, Adam. The Whittingtons are a blended family and so learn some not-so-nice things about the family members. Caitlin's stepmother, Grace, makes some of these discoveries and reports them to Rayna, further straining the familial bonds.
Not only are the two girls missing but Rayna uncovers a whole other layer of deception. In her search for the truth, everyone finds more truth than they ever dreamed. The ending has an interesting twist, but the story is dark and unhappy. Jacobs writing elevates this standalone far above the pack.
SHEAR MURDER
NANCY J. COHEN
Five Star January, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4328-2554-6
It has been a long time since we had a Marla Shore mystery. This is the tenth in the Bad Hair Day series after a wait of five years.
Marla is a hairdresser in South Florida, about to marry her fiancé, Dalton Vail, but she takes time from her own imminent wedding to be in the wedding of her friend Jill. At Jill's posh affair, Marla finds the body of the matron of honor, dead under the cake table. Jill's sister Torrie is the victim, and they had recently quarreled over an inherited piece of property. Torrie also had a few enemies at work, as well as other family members who disagreed with her views. A mixed bag of suspects, but the plot goes a lot deeper than that.
Interspersed with problems with her own wedding in two weeks, her hairdressing business, the opening of a new day spa, her fiancé and his teen-aged daughter, and her mother, Marla manages to sleuth as well as juggle all the other duties she must perform. I enjoyed the sensation that she was keeping calm amidst all the chaos around her.
Orchid Isle, the fantasy setting created by the author, is a lovely haven in the South Florida landscape. I found myself yearning for a place like this to escape to -- a bit of Paradise, which showed the contrast with the heinous crime committed there. Cohen's writing has grown over this series and I think that SHEAR MURDER is the best of the bunch.
THE WIDOW'S DAUGHTER
NICHOLAS EDLIN
Penguin Trade PBO 4/12
A former Marine surgeon in WWII, now a painter living in San Diego, reads that a novel has been published by a serviceman he knew in New Zealand. For the twenty or so years since the war, Peter Sokol has been trying to avoid any mention of his former life, and any memory of the time he spent in the Pacific.
Sokol was sent to New Zealand to prepare for life in the Pacific Theater in 1943. He found himself in a unit with his nemesis from medical school, Cartwright, who is now his superior officer. They both fall in love with a British expat named Emily Walters who lives with her mother and brother and a servant in a gloomy rundown mansion. Sokol succeeds in marrying Emily and taking care of her family, despite the hatred of her brother and the Maori natives for the military in general. Their chief complaint seems to be that Americans are so naïve to the real world around them. Needless to say, Cartwright tries to discredit Sokol in subtle ways.
When Emily's brother is murdered, Peter is the chief suspect. The twists of the plot bring us some surprises, though the war stories may lead us to some of the conclusions early on. As always in war, people are not always what they seem and the Walters family is no exception. This is not really a mystery, more literary fiction with a mystery in it; though well written and engrossing. The language is really beautiful and descriptive. It is told from a point of view of twenty years later, as Peter finally confronts his demons and allows himself to move on with his life. RECOMMENDED.
DUE OR DIE
JENN MCKINLAY
Berkley Prime Crime PBO 3/12
It must be said: I am a sucker for mysteries involving books, libraries, publishing, bookstores and authors. In DUE OR DIE, library director Lindsey Norris is attending a Friends of the Library meeting when Carrie Rushton is elected president of the Friends. It was a bitter fight, but Carrie was the director's choice.
While the meeting was going on, someone shot Rushton's husband. She is accused of the crime and Lindsay and the Crafternoon Club believe the accusations. They decide to investigate, but before they can, a nor'easter buries the small Connecticut town in freezing snow and ice. Lindsay's beau, Michael Sullivan, is available to rescue her from some tight spots, and helps her solve the puzzle. A large portion of this story is the growing relationship with a puppy who is dumped in the returned books slot at the library and who is adopted by Lindsay. Heathcliff adds some life to the librarian's existence and Mrs. Cole, another librarian and a sourpuss, adds contrast to the niceness of the characters.
Jenn McKinlay writes these cozies with charm and substance. The characters don't talk down to the reader and they are not all sweetness and light, which can be cloying. The setting is small town charming with a human underside. I like this book and I RECOMMEND it to readers who enjoy well-written cozies.
BLOOD IN THE WATER
JANE HADDAM
Minotaur Books March, 2012
The great Armenian-American detective, Gregor Demarkian, is back again with a new case. In Waldorf Pines, a wealthy nouveau riche suburb of Philadelphia, Martha Heydrich has disappeared. Her husband, Arthur, has found two bodies in a burning pool house. One is presumed to be Martha's, the other her lover, Michael Platte, a local teenager. Arthur is arrested for the crime but released when the DNA proves the other body was a male.
At this point, the local police are stumped and hire Demarkian to consult. He is in the middle of remodeling a house with his new bride, Bennis, and has just lost a friend - one-hundred-year-old George Tekmanian, and is at loose ends. This case is what he needs to pull him out of a depression and a quest for the meaning of life. As usual, the descriptions of life on Cavanaugh Street are amusing and interesting - a view of a lifestyle different from ours. These are high points in the books.
Demarkian is best when he has obscure cases with odd clues and a lifestyle very different from Cavanaugh Street. The gated neighborhood in Waldorf Pines is that opposite, with plenty for the ex-FBI detective to comment on. The neighbors become the supporting cast and possible suspects as Demarkian discovers all their secrets and foibles.
The ending has a twist, surprising me, though in retrospect I should have figured it out. The clues are there for us to figure out. This twenty-seventh in the series is a good solid read.
WITH FULL MALICE
BRENDA HILL
Five Star April, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4328-2572-0
A newly released parolee is gunned down outside of his favorite steakhouse in Southern California by an unknown gunman. There were few witnesses but an elderly woman was seen with the body before vanishing. First on the scene was food critic Madison Young, whose fear of violence goes back to the brutal deaths of her parents while she was hiding in a closet at age six. Her grandmother, Ella, took her in and raised her and the two women adore each other. Dexter, a cop, has been close to the two since the crime and tried to protect them from the aftermath of the killings.
An engraved card signed 'The Ruby Red Society' leads us to a meeting of said organization. All the members are nameless and one case at a time is presented to the members. We suspect that some of the people we meet during this story are members but they are not revealed until the very end of the book. Another criminal is targeted in Yuma, Arizona, and we see the killer act.
Cop Dexter has a new problem, the pending release of Michael Bates, the killer who was convicted of the deaths of Maddie's parents. Following the clues to the killing of the parolee, he becomes convinced that the killer was the elderly woman. As he follows the clues, with the help of Maddie and her grandmother, he uncovers what may be an outlandish plot -- and Maddie and Ella may also be involved.
Surprisingly, this story takes some fresh twists and turns. People are not what they seem, but there is a great deal of respect and love in their somewhat questionable actions. Brenda Hill's characters discover just how strong they really are, and the ending even holds an element of surprise.
NO COOPERATION FROM THE CAT
MARIAN BABSON
Minotaur Books March, 2012
Aging actresses Trixie and Evangeline now live in a leased penthouse in London's Docklands. Trixie's daughter Martha has moved in to finish testing recipes for a new cookbook, thus setting the scene for a comedy worthy of the Slapstick era. The cast of characters is large and quirky and their interactions provide a visual image of hilarity.
Martha is the second choice for author of the cookbook, the first, Melisande, having died in a strange way after a cooking demonstration. Later it was found that Melisande, the wife of famous explorer Banquo Fitzfothergill, died of nut allergies. Jocasta, the book editor for both Melisande and Banquo's tomes, is a suspect. Now Jocasta is hiding out in the penthouse with Evangeline and Trixie.
Enter the Three Graces, Banquo's strong willed sisters; plus Mick and Tom, Banquo's assistants; Nigel, advisor to Trixie and Evangeline; and Teddy, former owner of Cho-Cho-San, a cat newly adopted by the actresses (you knew there would be a cat here somewhere, right?). Each time a new recipe is tried, more and more people seem to appear to try it. Chaos ensues, including a power outage, an evening at the theater, and many people barging in and accusing people of various things. As sheer entertainment, this book has it all and yet never overdoes the action. This book is a tasty treat, the seventh in Babson's series featuring the actress/sleuths.