REVIEWS FROM MICHELE A. REED
Michele Bazan Reed's story "Cash Rewards" appears in CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE FATHER AND DAUGHTER'S SOUL.
It was originally published in CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE WRITER'S SOUL, in 2000.
Through an editorial glitch, you'll need to look for Michelle, not Michele, and Bazan,
her maiden name, in honor of her father.
A TRICK OF THE LIGHT
A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
LOUISE PENNY
Minotaur Books September, 2011
Artist Clara Morrow is terrified to enter the Musée de Art Contemporain in Montreal for her first-ever solo show. But the vernissage, the exclusive opening for critics and friends, goes swimmingly, and the after-party she and her husband, Peter, host at their home in Three Pines is a hit. Until the next morning, when a dead woman in a striking red evening dress is found in Clara's garden. To make matters worse, Clara knew the murder victim. She was once a dear friend of Clara's who cruelly betrayed her years ago, making Clara a key suspect.
When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté de Quebec's homicide team comes to Three Pines to investigate the murder, he finds no end of people who had reason to hate the woman enough to want her dead. A famous art critic, she used her power to destroy the careers of dozens of artists. Her cruel wit and biting criticism ruined not only careers but lives as well, as the mortified artists took her words to heart and doubted the very thing that defined them - their artistic talent.
Gamache learns that artists, who create worlds of great beauty on canvas, inhabit a real-life world where ugliness and cruelty abound, and nothing is as it seems on the surface. It may all be just A TRICK OF THE LIGHT.
As in her earlier books, Penny gives us much more than a perfect village cozy, with an expertly plotted mystery and character portraits that bring the remote Quebec villagers strikingly to life. Each of her books ponders deep mysteries of the human spirit, and this one is no exception. She takes the reader on an exploration of the soul, considering such questions as "Do people ever really change?" and "Is it possible to forgive someone who has wronged you terribly?"
Inspector Gamache continues his own inner journey, facing demons both public and private, as do his team members, especially Inspector Jean Guy Beauvoir. Longtime readers will relish the opportunity to revisit the characters of Three Pines and the thoughtful, troubled Chief Inspector, and newcomers to the series are in for the reading treat of their lives.
Louise Penny is an artist with words and A TRICK OF THE LIGHT is a true masterpiece.
THE POTTER'S FIELD
An Inspector Montalbano Mystery
ANDREA CAMILLERI
Translated from the Italian by tephen Sartarelli
Penguin Trade PBO 10/11
Inspector Salvo Montalbano is awakened and called out into the cold and rain to a grisly find - in a field of mud, the dismembered remains of a man are found stuffed into a sack.
The mud is clay, and the victim's last resting place is famous for supplying potters with their raw material. Montalbano recalls the Bible verse where Judas' fee of 30 pieces of silver is used to buy a potter's field in which to bury foreigners. Surely someone betrayed the local mob and paid the ultimate price.
When a local woman reports her husband missing - a man with ties to a prominent don - the solution seems obvious. But as Montalbano has learned in a long and wearying career with the police, nothing is obvious.
Further complicating Salvo's life is the unusual behavior of his second-in-command, Mimì Augello, making everyone's life miserable at the station. It could just be that playboy Mimì's recent marriage is causing him stress -- he has never been known for prolonged bouts of fidelity. But when Mimì insists that the boss turn over complete control of the investigation to him, something smells fishy to Salvo.
Salvo must deal with betrayals on many levels as he slogs his way through the mystery.
As usual Camilleri delivers a stellar performance. His Inspector Montalbano, weary of the bureaucracy and near retirement, still has the heart of a top-notch cop. In between leisurely meals at his favorite restaurant or prepared by his housekeeper, he digs up clues and traces down threads.
Series fans will enjoy the world-weary inspector's complaints, the verbal antics of the clerk Catarella and Salvo's fantastic meals.
Like a potter designing an intricate pot, Camilleri has fashioned something quite enjoyable in THE POTTER'S FIELD. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
COFFIN MAN
A Charlie Moon Mystery
JAMES D. DOSS
Minotaur Books November, 2011
It's Friday morning and weary nurse's aide Wanda Naranjo is just looking for a chance to kick off her shoes and relax after a long night shift. But she comes home to find out that her ne'er-do-well boyfriend, Mike Kaufman, hasn't fixed the leak in her kitchen sink, and her sixteen-year-old pregnant daughter, Betty, is headed off to catch the bus for a session with her high-school counselor. Wanda kicks Mike out and calls a plumber, but he never shows up, and soon enough Wanda realizes that her boyfriend and daughter are also nowhere to be found. To complicate matters further, the counselor has gone on a long weekend trip and is not holding office hours that day. The worried mother calls the sheriff, demanding that part-time sheriff and Ute tribal investigator Charlie Moon be assigned to the case. Charlie fixes the sink, and he and his best friend, Sheriff Scott Parris, set off to find the pregnant girl.
In the meantime, Charlie's Aunt Daisy Perika has problems of her own. The elderly shaman has lost her "ghost eyes" -- she can hear dead people but she can't see them anymore. She devises a plan to test out her failing powers by wandering through the largest cemetery in Granite Creek to determine if she can see any "haunts". Daisy takes along Sarah Frank, the Ute-Papago orphan who has set her cap for Charlie Moon. But Sarah meets a new man in the park adjacent to the cemetery - Capt. Erasmus Boyle is a sweet-talking gentleman who complains of a woman living above him who keeps him awake all night singing lullabies to her child.
Charlie and Daisy will have even more mysteries to solve as Wanda goes missing too, and the cemetery custodian is murdered in his quarters. It will take all the tribal investigators' skills and all Daisy's magic to tie the threads together.
Before the book winds to its conclusion, readers will have the chance to learn about Ute culture as they enjoy plenty of Doss' creative wordplay, hilarious situations and endearing characters. Fans of the series and newcomers alike will enjoy this playful, fast-moving mystery. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
- Michele A. Reed