Reviews from DEANNA SPENCER
from her reading room

JANUARY - FEBRUARY  REVIEWS

PUSHING UP BLUEBONNETS
A Yellow Rose Mystery
LEANN SWEENEY   
Obsidian PBO 1/08

Abby Rose is a wealthy PI with a twist -- she finds parents and siblings of those who have been adopted. Abby has devoted her life to helping others find their lost relatives.

She receives a call from police officer Cooper Boyd asking her to identify a victim of a car wreck because her business card was found under the seat of the victim's car. The victim is in a medically induced coma and when she goes to the hospital to see her, Abby hasn't a clue as to who she is.

It doesn't take her long to identify the victim as Deanna Ruhl, a member of a prominent Texas family. As she digs deeper into this case Abby finds that nothing about this women is what she seems. She has been staying with the Ruhl family but under very suspicious circumstances. When the police start an investigation into what they thought was an accident, they find the car had been tampered with before the wreck and someone is out to kill Deanna.

Abby finds Kent, an ex-husband of Deanna, who becomes the prime suspect in the car tampering and maybe worse. But then Kent is run over and killed in the hospital parking lot.

After finding even more dark secrets in Deanna's past, Abby soon realizes that she has found out about truths in the past that certain people want hidden, and she hopes it isn't too late to make things right.

The characters in this book seem very real and come to life as you read. You want to know what is coming next and how each of them will cope as the truth comes out about their lives. I enjoyed this book.

This is the fifth book in the best-selling "Yellow Rose Mystery" series featuring Houston PI Abby Rose. I had not read the earlier books and this can be read alone, but I do plan to start with the first and catch up on this series.

Leann Sweeney was born and raised in Niagara Falls and educated at St Joseph 's Hospital and Lemoyne College in Syracuse, New York. She has a degree in behavioral science from the University of Houston and has worked in psychiatry. Currently a school nurse, she has been writing in the mystery genre for many years.  Leann is married and has two grown children. She resides in Friendswood with her husband Mike and three cats.

- Deanna Spencer

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NOVEMBER - DECEMBER  REVIEWS

MURDER BY SERPENTS
The Mystery Quilt
BARBARA GRAHAM
Five Star  November, 2007
ISBN: 1-59414-590-3

Theo Abernathy's day didn't begin well: she overslept, her hair went haywire, and there was no coffee. When her van wouldn't start the boys were delighted to ride with their Dad, the sheriff, in the official Park County car.

When Theo finally made it to her shop -- Theo's Quilt Shop -- located in the small town of Silersville, Tennessee, things were still going badly.  The cash register was jammed and the store was full. She and her Mother-in-Law work side by side until things are up and running.  Theo runs the internet side of the business and Mother-in-Law Jane runs the shop.

This town is really full of oddball characters that seem to come out of the walls -- one of them being Blossom, who works at Ruby's Dinner. One morning the Sheriff gets a call from her saying there is an abandoned car in the parking lot and she thinks there is someone dead inside. He has had calls from Blossom in the past, but he thinks he needs to check this one out.

When the Sheriff arrives at Ruby's to investigate he is horrified by what he sees. Not only is there a dead body, but the car is full of rattlesnakes. As they start to investigate they find the man is a supposed preacher whose parishioners handle snakes. They have rented the property for the church from Jane.

Things are going from bad to worse with identity theft, drugs, and stolen cars involved Just when they think they are closing in on the culprits, a deputy is shot and the search is on again for the killer of the snake-handling preacher. The case has some very surprising twists and turns.

This is a very different book from what I usually read and I will say that if snakes make you queasy maybe this is not the book for you. With that said, it was interesting with all the twists and turns and I didn't figure out "who done it" till the very end.

Barbara Graham began making up stories in the third grade. Her motto is "every story needs a dead body and every bed needs a quilt".  She is a prize-winning quilter and a partner in a pattern company. Her quilts have been on calendars and in magazines, as well as displayed in shows.  Barbara is married and has two sons. She lives in Wyoming.

- Deanna Spencer

A MURDEROUS GLAZE
A Clay and Crime Mystery
MELISSA GLAZER   
Berkley Prime Crime PBO 11/07

Carolyn Emerson, owner of Fire At Will, finds a customer dead in her shop -- murdered with her own awl. Carolyn didn't like Better Wickline, but she certainly didn't want her dead!

Fire At Will is a shop where customers can make their own ceramics or decorate those already made. After almost five years, Carolyn's shop is doing well and she hopes it will make money for her retirement years.  The shop also has a club called The Firing Squad, where customers enjoy working on new projects and visiting with each other. The shop is always busy.

After the murder, the two prime suspects are Carolyn and her helper, David. David's mother, Hannah, is Carolyn's best friend and a straight arrow. With the main personnel of the shop suspected of murder, Fire at Will is losing business fast and Carolyn doesn't know if she will be able to keep it open.

The Firing Squad decides something has to be done, since the sheriff thinks Carolyn is guilty and he isn't looking very hard to find other suspects. They decide to do a little detecting on their own and help clear Carolyn's name. When they start closing in on new suspects, Carolyn has a close brush with death. Now it is imperative this murder is solved soon or everything is going to be shattered, including Carolyn.

A MURDEROUS GLAZE is the first book in a new series and has lots of interesting things about clay crafting as well as tips on how to make things at home. The mystery and meeting the characters is enjoyable.

- Deanna Spencer

GOODBYE SHE LIED
An Esbeth Walters Mystery
RUSS HALL  
Five Star  November, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59414-606-2

Esbeth Walters had retired from teaching math in Austin, Texas, and moved to the small, quiet town of Fearing, Texas. In her mid-seventies, she has become quite the amateur detective -- much to the previous Sheriff's dismay. She has even managed to get him out of office, which did not endear her to his friends. The new Sheriff is not very happy with her either.

Her neighbor, Boose, arrives at Esbeth’s door early one morning needing her help -- his Mother has been evicted from the assisted living center after someone  bilked her of all her money.  Boose and his siblings had saved to pay for her care. He wants Esbeth to investigate.

At the same time, a man is killed in an auto accident that has been labeled a suicide and his wife wants Esbeth to prove that it was murder, not suicide.

As Esbeth starts looking into one case she finds there are things that connect both cases. People are dying in the assisted living center just three or four days before their Medicare runs out, making room for new residents. And during this time there has been an influx of strangers in the small community. Some of these strangers are even connected to the mob.

As Esbeth gets closer to the truth, things start to come together to show how both cases are closely related.  Esbeth needs to find out who is killing these people before it happens again.

There are great characters in this book (Esbeth reminds me of several people I know) who get in all kinds of trouble when they just want to help out. Nursing homes are not all bad but, as this book shows, some are way beyond the term bad. The book brought a lot of emotions to the surface for me -- laughter at all the crazy things Esbeth got into trying to be an amateur sleuth, and sadness for the awful things that can happen to people. I enjoyed this book very much.

Russ Hall lives on a lake in the Central Texas Hill Country. He has had ten books and numerous short stories published. A veteran of over twenty years in the publishing industry, he now spends as much time as he can hiking, fishing and writing. He won the Nancy Pickard Mystery Fiction Award.

 - Deanna Spencer

BEWARE FALSE PROFITS
EMILIE RICHARDS   
Berkley PBO 11/07

Aggie Sloan-Wilcox was certainly not the usual type for a minister's wife.  She could throw a rip-roaring holiday party host wonderful open houses, be seen in the local bar -- and she has found the nude body of a dead woman on the parsonage porch.  She often said she wasn't called to serve -- just married into it.

Her husband Ed has served in three different churches and one thing she has learned -- the church is a demanding master.  It took all their time morning, noon and not even the nights were exempt.

When one of their friends offers them a chance to go to The Big Apple and stay in his apartment for a weekend, they take him up on his offer.  But Aggie knows the time they have alone is too good to be true.

The couple receive a call from home that Joe Wagner, director of Helping Hands, the food bank, has gone missing.  Aggie discovers his secret life -- as a female impersonator -- while she is out walking around their borrowed apartment, looking at posters in club windows.

Ed and Aggie return home without finding Joe and in time for the Food Bank's annual fundraiser.  Things get worse when the mayor's wife drops dead at the fundraiser.  The missing Joe, and the Mayor, are on the suspect list, and the financial scandals that show up at the Food Bank put Aggie in the middle of trouble once again.  She is already well known at the local police station for her antics.  She needs to find out what is going on before things get any worse, and her life is put in danger.

I really enjoyed this book as I did the two previous books.  It certainly can be read as a stand-alone, but it is more fun to read the books in order as you see the progression of the characters and how their lives change.  It is filled with humor and has a great plot with lots of mystery.

Emilie Richards has written more than fifty books.  Most of her books are not mysteries as such but have a touch of mystery included.  Emilie is the mother of four and the wife of a minister for over thirty years.  They have traveled extensively.

- Deanna Spencer

I am a life long resident of Kentucky, graduated from Bardstown High
School and attended Eastern KY University.  
I am an avid reader and book collector, first editions whenever possible. I also enjoy cooking, 
needlework, and genealogy.  My husband and I have been married for 50 years and have one wonderful daughter. 
I was a stay-at-home Mom and did substitute teaching. My husband was in law enforcement.  
We are now enjoying our retirement, and being able to do the things we want.

Deanna Spencer E-mail: vada @ mindspring . com
(when using this e-mail please close the spaces between all the words
and symbols before pasting it in your mail program.)
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