Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Dark and Stormy Day

It was a very rainy Sunday and an ideal day for finishing my cozy mystery - "Killer Keepsakes" by Jane K. Cleland. I like the fact that the heroine really uses her education in antiques and appraisals to help solve the crime her employee and friend is suspected of committing.
Josie Prescott's receptionist, Gretchen, is due back from her vacation but when she doesn't show up and can't be reached by phone, Josie goes to her apartment and discovers a dead body! She quickly comes to realize that she doesn't know very much about Gretchen. She tells the police that she might be able to use the man's unusual belt buckle to help figure out who he is. This leads to other clues until finally the mystery is solved. Who is Gretchen? Did she do the dastarly deed? Read the book to find out.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin

Are the two skeletons found at Glastonbury Abbey really King Arthur and Queen Guinevere? King Henry II would very much like them to be to help his little tiff with Wales. The Welsh strongly believe in Arthur and if he can prove Arthur's dead, he knows some of the fight will go out of the Welsh. Of course, it won't be Henry proving this fact. It will be his Mistress of the Art of Death, Adelia Aguilar. She and her household need to leave the fens because she's been questioning the deaths of infants found in the rivers. The abbot is sure that it is desperate fathers with too many mouths to feed. Henry sends her off to Glastonbury which has recently suffered a massive fire which burned the Abbey and the town. The Abbot and those of his monks and lay brothers who remain are living in what was once the abbey kitchen. Adelia and her companions are lodged in the Pilgrim Inn with a crabby landlady and her meek husband. The inspection of the remains is difficult since all they have are bones, and not complete bones. They haven't any kind of equipment to aid them in dating the bones so they must improvise. I was a little worried that the author was going to introduce some kind of "whoo whoo" element into this story of a very rational woman but my fears were unfounded. There is a hint of another story in the works so I have something to look forward to.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Adversary by Michael Walters

I read this author's "The Shadow Walker" last year and enjoyed the Mongolian location. I'm sorry to discover that everywhere is being so Westernized, even Ulan Baatar. I mean, I think Outer Mongolia and I think of yaks and round tents and people living wild - but apparently cell phones are everywhere, as are lattes and burgers.
The trial of a major crime lord has fallen apart when someone intimates that certain evidence has been forged - it had, but only police officers should have had any knowledge of what and where. Muunokhoi, the crime lord, seems to have connections in very high places. Nergui, the former head of the Serious Crime Team, has been assigned to look internally to discover who's in the crime lord's pay. The pace is slow for half of the book but really picks up at the end. Leaves me hoping for another book from this author.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Beginning of a new series

I've enjoyed Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple mysteries and am happy to report that this new series is a lot of fun - "Manna from Hades". I like the fact that she tells us upfront that this is set in "a fictional village in a fictional world lurking somewhere in the 1960s and '70s". We needn't try to find the villages on any map. Eleanor Trewynn is a widow living in the small Cornish fishing village of Port Mabyn. When her husband was alive they spent their time traveling around the world as ambassadors for LonStar, a charitable organization like Oxfam. Now she lives above the shop and does the collecting for the charity. When a young man is found dead in the store room, her troubles begin. Her neice, Megan Pencarrow, is a Detective Sergeant with a grumpy boss, Detective Inspector Scumble, who doesn't approve of women in the police force and Eleanor quickly becomes a thorn in his side - it's his own fault since he won't let her finish a paragraph or statement without interrupting. Nick, the artist who has the shop next door and Jocelyn, the pastor's very competent wife, round out the characters we become most familar with - besides a smart Westie named Teazle! My only complaint was that I wished the author had let Eleanor use her martial art prowess to surprise the bad guys and the Detective Inspector - or "That Man" as Jocelyn referred to him.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

More light reading

I enjoyed Rosemary Harris's Pushing up Daisies and her Big Dirt Nap wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. I kind of wanted to smack Paula Holiday for being so stupid and her friend, Lucy, is an idiot who doesn't deserve to have anyone come to her rescue. Lucy has enticed Paula to join her at the Titans Hotel for some spa-like relaxation and to view the rare corpse flower blooming - the thing stinks like a long dead body! Apparently people are willing to view and smell these things! Instead of a relaxing weekend, Paula finds herself stood up by Lucy and hit on by a guy in the hotel bar. The fun really starts when she's hauled out of bed in the early hours to identify the body found by the dumpsters - the guy who she was talking to in the bar. Of course, she ends up trying to solve the murder and locate her goofy friend. I guess I was in the mood for silly women because I finished the book.
The second book was by Ann Aguirre Blue Diablo. I was disappointed that it wasn't a Jax novel but this one gripped me within the first few pages - a good thing, since my motel was hosting a sorority prom and the participants were awfully noisy about 2:00 am. This kept me awake and content for an hour.
Corine Solomon has a "gift" for holding objects and knowing the history of the person who last held the object. She has hidden herself in Mexico City after fleeing from her lover, Chance. She felt he only valued her for her gift. Now he's found her and asks for her help in finding his mother Min. This is something she is willing to do for him. Ann Aguirre has the ability to give her characters real lives and powerful emotions. I care about all of them - except the really bad guys. Look forward to the next book.