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.

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.

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.

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.

A week of reading

With a week off for my birthday I had time to bead and read. I managed to do plenty of both. I got an Easter egg beaded (I'll get pictures on here as soon as I can) and several books read.
First up "Cream Puff Murder" by Joanne Fluke, one of my favorite light cozy authors. She always makes me hungry and makes me laugh. I just wish that she'd finally choose between Norman and Mike, her two beaus. I'm for Norman because he "gets" her sense of humor, is very caring and considerate. Mike is stupid enough to let pretty girls take advantage of him and not realize that he's hurting Hannah. This time she catches him in a lie. The latest pretty girl is the newest murder victim. Found with the tray of cream puffs Mike had gotten from Hannah - what a jerk. Lots of good recipes, plenty of laughs and a mystery solved.
Next up was a book recommended by Teresa Shane, "Defending Angels" by Mary Stanton a new mystery paperback series with more than a touch of the paranormal. Brianna Winston-Beaufort has inherited her uncle's law practice but needs to find temporary quarters until his office has been remodeled. The temporary space she finds is in an all-murderers' cemetery, her first case involves a local businessman who manages to call her several hours after his death. It takes awhile to discover that she and her sister are the only ones who see the special people who help her - her landlady, her secretary, clerk and handsome PI - since they are all part of the Celestial Court.
I was on a paranormal kick it seems because both of the other books I read had that element to them. "Hounding the Pavement" by Judi McCoy is about a dog walker who can literally talk to her dogs. When she discovers the body of one of her customers and no dog, she becomes very worried about the dog. There's a cute police detective and her own dog is a real sassy mouth. Fun read, light.
"Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun" by Victoria Laurie wasn't one of her best but it passed the lunch hours for me. M.J.Holliday has been suckered into using her abilities for a new TV show about people's possessions that are supposedly haunted. Most of the aren't but someone sneaks a very nasty dagger into the show and all hell literally breaks loose. She meets a new medium, Heath (not Seth as the book jacket states)and together they have quite the adventures and make money doing so.

Lamentation by Ken Scholes

Reading through my past several posts I've discovered that I've been starting with the same line - "I really love/like these..." Time to get the brain out of storage and start anew.
I was leary of this book because of all the advance praise from well known science fiction authors. Sometimes these books just don't live up to the hype. This one did. And - it's the first of five! Let's hope they're all this good.
Set in a land with several nations held in peace by the Androfrancine Brotherhood, the world is badly tilted out of whack by the destruction of the Androfrancine city of Windwir by an ancient weapon of terrible destruction. Gone are the people, the city and the vast library the Order has accumulated. The story is told through several people - a device I was worried would be tiresome but flowed quite nicely.
Rudolfo is Lord of the Ninefold Forest Houses and leader of the Gypsy Scouts and the Wandering Army. Petronus has hidden himself away as a simple fisherman and will return as Pope to bury his dead. Nebios is a young man about to take his first archeologicl journey with his father only to watch as everyone he knows dies in an instant. Sethber, the Overseer of the Entrolusian City States, is the fat cat gloating over the destruction and the start of his plan to rule all of the lands. Lady Jin Li Tam has been her father's pawn in the game of statecrat he plays but she will soon find her own way and worth.
The twisting plans within plans within plans got very confusing and in the end I just went with the flow and didn't try to anticipate an outcome. I was very taken with the metal man, Isaac, who was programed to destroy Windwir and then found his way with the beginning of a new library.

Of witches, vampires, pixies and weres

White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison

I really love these books but there is so much to keep track of and so many characters that I sometimes have to concentrate to remember who did what in the past to whom that makes it necessary for the current actions!
Rachel is still mourning the death of her love, Kisten, a vampire and still angry that she can't remember the incident because Jenks, her pixie friend and partner, spelled her thinking it would help her pain. Now there's a new threat in Cincinatti, a banshee has had a child and the child needs emotions to feed off - violent ones will do nicely. She needs to find the banshee before she kills. Of course, this is the first time in eight years that her brother has come back to visit her and her mother and he doesn't like the life she's living! Then the witch community decides to shun her - could life get any better?