The Mapping of Love and Death: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear

The Mapping of Love and Death: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear
Published February 2011 by HarperCollins Publishing
Source: the copy courtesy of the publisher and TLC Book Tours

Well, this is embarrassing! As you may have noticed from the icon on my sidebar, March is Maisie Month and in honor of that bloggers on the tour for the latest Maisie Dobbs novel, Elegy for Eddie, aren't reading just that novel but one or more of the previous eight Maisie novels. I committed to two, the new one and the seventh, The Mapping of Love and Death. And then I promptly wrote down the wrong dates for the reviews of each book. So this weekend I was happily reading Elegy for Eddie in preparation for my review of it today. Oops - for some reason late yesterday I finally actually looked at the tour information and realized I had read the books out of order. I promptly switched books and I'm about half way through The Mapping of Love and Death this morning. I'll be finishing the book today and will have my full review up this evening.

**My Review**

In The Mapping of Love and Death, private investigator Maisie Dobbs has been hired to investigate a mystery involving an American cartographer killed during World War I. Wealthy son of British ex-patriot Edward Clifton, Michael Clifton has only just bought some land in California with the certainty that oil will be found there when Britain announces war with Germany. Feeling a duty to his father's homeland, Michael immediately leaves for England leaving behind the truth behind his land purchase.

Sixteen years after he went missing, his body has been discovered, along with some letters from a woman who his parents would like Maisie to find.But there is more to the story that even his mother isn't aware of; Michael's father is convinced that Michael was murdered. When Maisie's clients are brutally assaulted in their hotel room, Maisie's investigation takes on a much greater sense of urgency.

Jacqueline Winspear fills her Maisie Dobbs books with a wonderful supporting cast including her devoted father, her beloved mentor, her employee, Billy, and her best friend Priscilla. Clearly these characters have developed throughout the series but Winspear does a fine job of giving the reader enough information to get up to speed with the relationships but doesn't burden readers with background that could take away from the story line.

I'm sure these mysteries fall into the "cozy" mystery genre but I feel like there is more depth to the Maisie books that I typically find in so-called cozy mysteries. These characters carry a lot of very palpable pain. But Winspear doesn't let her stories get bogged down in that pain or the mystery, bringing plenty of humor to the books as well. I was also impressed with the way Winspear managed to keep the investigative portion of the book moving forward while retaining the real life stories of the characters. There is also much to be learned about the time period, and in this case cartography, without getting weighed down in her research.

I'm sorry to have started so late in the series. I'll definitely pick up the next book but I'm not sure I can go back to the beginning knowing so much already about what will happen to the characters. I will, however, be looking forward to the tenth book!

Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd

Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd
403 pages
Published January 2010 by HarperCollins
Source: the publisher and TLC Book Tours

Remember when you were growing up and your mom told you not to talk to strangers? Adam Kindred would have done well to remember his mother's advice. Unfortunately for Adam, he didn't. Instead he made the mistake of striking up a conversation with Dr. Phillip Wang in an out-of-the-way Italian restaurant. When Adam discovers that the Wang's left a folder behind, he does what any good person would do. He finds a phone number for Wang in the folder, then calls and offers to return it. But when Adam tries to do that, his life is turned upside down.

When Adam arrived in London, life was looking good. He's well off financially, respected in his field of climatology, and about to be offered a dream job. Within a few hours, he finds himself homeless, penniless and on the run from both the police and a murderer.

Boyd fills his book with a large cast of supporting characters including Ingram Fryzer, chairman and CEO of the company that Wang worked for; Ivo Redcastle, Ingram's brother-in-law and a general thorn in his side; Rita Nashe, the policewoman who will become entangled in Kindred's case; Mhouse, a hooker who saves Kindred after a beating in more ways than one; and Jonjo Case, ex-military hit man for hire. Boyd does a fine job of filling in the story of each of these characters, giving each of them dimension, without losing track of his story.

More difficult for him to control is, in fact, his story. Boyd has a lot he wants to talk about in the book, including climatology, pharmacology, big business, homelessness and even cult religion. He appears to know what he's talking about on each of these subjects but sometimes it got the best of the story when Boyd got too heavily into educating the reader. Still Boyd is able to keep the tension high and the reader guessing.

Note to the reader: keep a dictionary handy. Boyd has a extensive vocabulary and is not afraid to make the reader work to read the book. He also is well-versed in the details that make London very much a character in the book. I was sucked into the book immediately:

"Let us start with the river - all thing begin with the river and we shall probably end there, no doubt - but let's wait and see how we go. Soon, in a minute or two, a young man will come and stand by the river's edge, here at Chelsea Bridge, in London."

Mr. Boyd's skill with words has earned him awards and another fan in me. To learn more about Boyd and his other works, check out his website. For other reviews, check out these other stops on the TLC Book Tour. Thanks to Trish and TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour.

The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk: Nancy Drew Mystery Stories by Carolyn Keene

The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk: Nancy Drew Mystery Stories
220 pages
Published February 1940 by Grosset Dunlap
Source: I have no idea--this one just appeared on my daughter's bookshelf. It has my sister's name in it so clearly it was hers at some point but I don't know how it got to my house. Or how an edition actually published in 1940 ended up in the hands of a child of the 1960's.

Teen sleuth Nancy Drew is preparing for a trip to South America. She and her friends Bess & George (a girl--this was the 1940's after all) are planning on traveling with a group from a private girls' school.  But just before she leaves a number of things happen that begin the mystery wheels turning. A cat gets left on Nancy's doorstep. A mother of one of the girls from the school stops by and demands that Nancy not go on the ship (again--it's the 1940's; no airplane for these girls), and a young man runs into Nancy's car. Unrelated? You might well think so unless you've read a Nancy Drew book before. Then you'll know that all of these things will sooner or later tie together.

The girls decide that even though they won't go with the group from the school, they will not be deprived of their trip Suddenly Nancy figures out where the cat from and it just so happens that the woman who sent the cat has gone off to South America; she then agrees to act as a chaperon once the girls arrive and the girls are off and running. A mishap with a trunk that Mr. Drew has bought Nancy for the trip causes the girls to have to leave earlier than planned leaving them plenty of time for more odd things to happen. The stepfather of the girl who was to have nothing to do with Nancy comes into the picture, a girl Nancy is supposed to befriend at the behest of her father seems to want nothing to do with her, and that pesky trunk continues to cause problems. Things really heat up once the girls arrive in Buenos Aires with more and more mysterious characters and danger.

Of course, this being Nancy Drew and a book written for girls ages 8-12, you know that there is no real danger and that in the end, Nancy will solve the mystery. I was pleasantly surprised to discover, however, that even though a lot of the clues were available to me, I really wasn't able to put all of the pieces together and figure out how all of the mysteries tied together. The language was a bit stilted by today's standards, the kids were a bit too clean cut, and a lot of things clearly date the book. But the story itself holds up, with plenty to think about and a lot of action.

I quite enjoyed the juxtaposition between Nancy and Stephanie Plum which I finished just before this one. You could hardly find two more diverse characters or two more beloved characters!

Four To Score : A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich

Four To Score: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich
368 pages
June 2010 by St. Martin's Press
Source: my parents

The back of this book's blurb starts out: "Stephanie Plum, Trenton, New Jersey's favorite pistol-packing, condom-carrying bounty hunter, is back..." Well, not exactly. Stephanie's definitely back but even though she owns a gun, she rarely carries it and even then it almost never has bullets in it. Which is actually the least of her problems when it comes to her abilities as a bounty hunter.

Stephanie works as a bounty hunter for her cousin Vinnie, a bail bondsman. She's 'helped" in her work by her friend and co-worker, Lula (an ex-hooker and "two hundred pound black woman with blond baloney curls), her Grandma Mazur (who packs a really big gun, a really big attitude and a eye for a good looking man) and, in this book, Sally (a transvestite musician who stands 7-feet tall in his heels and wig).

In this book, Stephanie's on the trail of Maxine Nowicki, who's skipped bail after stealing her boyfriend's car. Should be a piece of cake. But as so often happens with Stephanie, it quickly become obvious that there's more than meets the eye to this case. Maxine is one angry ex-girlfriend, her ex- seems to be hiding something and someone is maiming or killing everyone involved with Maxine. Throw in a lack of clues and an arch-enemy who's also hunting Maxine and Stephanie's life soon becomes more than a little complicated.

When someone douses her car in gasoline and it "accidentally" catches fire, followed by someone fire bombing her apartment, Stephanie needs to find a safe place to stay. A place where she won't have to worry that someone else will be put in danger. Enter Joe Morelli, cop and on-again, off-again love interest. Soon Joe's family is convinced that Stephanie is pregnant and that the two will soon be married. But these two can't even stay "on-again" for more than a few days. Luckily Stephanie also has Ranger, super bounty hunter and super hunk who's more than willing to help Stephanie...in any way she might need.

Stephanie is all-Jersey and Trenton and the surrounding area always play a huge part in these books. It's part of what makes it so fun to read the books. But the regular cast of characters is what really makes the books. Grandma Mazur is my favorite--she's just so sassy! I've read the first three books in this series and have dropped in here and there further into the series and Evanovich always delivers exactly what the reader comes to expect. I suspect if you read too many too close together, they'd really start to get old; the unpredictable soon becomes predictable, the relationships never seem to develop and no one really seems to "grow." But when I pick one of these books up, I enjoy knowing that I'm going to be chuckling throughout the book and that things will never get too heavy.

Murder Takes The Cake by Gayle Trent

Murder Takes The Cake by Gayle Trent
288 pages
Published March 2011 by Simon & Schuster Adult
Source: the publisher

Daphne Martin's just moved back to her hometown after an ugly divorce and she's trying to get her cake decorating business up and running.  But finding the dead body of town busybody Yodel Watson when she delivers a cake to Yodel's house is not the best way to get your name out, particularly when someone begins spreading rumors that Yodel may have been poisoned.

When Yodel's daughter, who lives out of town, contacts Daphne and asks her to go back into Yodel's house to get a diary out for her, a diary that the murderer may have been after, Daphne agrees.  But once the book is in her hands, she can't resist the opportunity to find out just what's in the book that makes it so interesting.  What she finds in throws her for a loop--gossip about her mother that Daphne is just as eager to learn more about as she is to find out who murdered Yodel and clear her own name.

In the process, Daphne will meet up with an old beau, a wealthy woman with an entire wing of her house devoted to her prize-winning guinea pigs, and a whole assortment of the usual/unusual small town inhabitants you'd expect to find.

Trent has the makings of an interesting story here and has set up the characters nicely for future titles in the Daphne Martin Cake Mystery series.  Unfortunately, even a cozy mystery needs more tension than Martin was able to build, particularly in light of the fact that she kicked the book right off with the discovery of a body.Although there seemed to be any number of people with a reason to dislike Yodel, none of them seemed to have enough reason to want her dead. 

It may now be official; while I adore cozy mysteries, it appears that foodie mysteries may just not be my thing.  Every time I came to a part of the story where the cake decorating business became the focus of the story, my interest really started to flag.  Just as it seemed to in Joanne Fluke's Cream Puff Murder, the food scenes seem to detract from the story line for me, making the book feel like two different stories.  The emphasis in this one did seem to be more about the murder than the food than did Fluke's book and I did enjoy the plot line focusing on Daphne's relationship with her mother.  For fans of foodie mysteries, I do recommend giving this one a try.

The Night Season by Chelsea Cain

The Night Season by Chelsea Cain
336 pages
Published March 2011 by St Martin's Press
Source: the publisher and FSB Associates

Memorial Day, 1948: the railroad town of Vanport Oregon is washed away when a dike breaks and the warning to evacuate is received late. Afterward, fifteen bodies are recovered and fourteen people are never found.

Present day: Rain has been coming down for days and warm temperatures are causing massive snow melt to wash into the Willamette River.  Portland, Oregon is bracing itself for a major flood. Thousands are down on the waterfront filling sandbags but otherwise the city is quiet. As the waterways fill and wash away land, a skeleton is uncovered by a jogger.  Reporter Susan Ward believes it may be related to the Vanport flood sixty years earlier.

Detective Archie Sheridan is called in to investigate a body found in an amusement park. The police immediately recognize the body as that of a woman presumed to have drowned.  But how did she get from the river on to the carousel?  Hours later a bigger question emerges when a brown puncture wound is discovered on the woman's palm.  The cause of death has now been changed to poisoning and Sheridan is put in charge of a task force to investigate when two more deaths previously presumed to be drownings also turn out to be cases of poison.  Who is murdering the citizens of Portland and why?  The clues? A most unusual method of delivering the poison, the token left by the murder with each victim, and a young boy rescued from the raging river by Sheridan.

When I was approached about this book, I jumped at the chance to read it remembering rave reviews of Cain's previous Archie Sheridan stories, involving Beauty Killer Gretchen Lowell.  Gretchen remains a presence, albeit off-stage, in this novel as Archie, in particular, and his team continue to deal with the aftermath of what she did.  Cain does a good job of bringing the new reader up to speed without interrupting the flow of this story.  It felt less like I was picking up the fourth book in a series about Archie Sheridan and more like I was getting the background story I would expect to get in any good novel.

I powered my way through this book in what might be record time for me.  I picked it up on Sunday afternoon and when I got home from work on Monday, I knew I would not be going to bed until I was finished.  I didn't even have to miss the ten o'clock news.  The story moves along at a quick pace and alternates periodically from what Susan's investigation into the skeleton and Archie's investigation into the serial killer.  With a little over 100 pages left, the action really took off and the climax did not disappoint. Often this type of book feels like it spends entirely too much time wrapping things up but Cain was surprising me right up to the end of the book. The city, the flood and the rain play a major role in this book providing the perfect dark atmosphere and tension.

It is clear, from the details of Archie's background, that this book is not as extreme as the previous books.I must admit, I was grateful.  I'm not a fan of very explicit torture and murder and I'm not sure I'll be able to make myself go back and read the previous books. But for those of you who were fans, you'll be glad to know that Gretchen does make an appearance in this one and makes it clear that we haven't heard the last of her.

A Date You Can't Refuse by Harley Jane Kozak

A Date You Can't Refuse by Harley Jane Kozak
352 pages
Published March 2009 by Crown Publishing
Source: loaned by me by my parents

When she's finished performing jury duty on Yuri Milos' trial, Wollie Shelley, greeting card designer and artist, is more than a little surprised to have him approach her with a job proposal.  But even with a very generous salary offer, Wollie is sure that she'll turn him down...until an FBI agent approaches her and convinces her that it would be in her best interest to accept the job.  As in, issues that she's having with the care of her schizophrenic will become much worse for her if she doesn't agree with take the job and work undercover for the FBI.  Within 24 hours, Wollie finds herself living in the canyons of Calabasas, out of cell phone range, and wearing the designer clothes of her predecessor.  Who died in a car crash that no one seems to want to take about.  And someone seems to be shooting at one of the houses in the compound. When a corpse shows up while the team is out on a walk, Wollie really starts to become concerned for her safety but already she is starting to bond with the people she works with and she's not sure that she'll be able to walk away from them or turn them into the FBI.

I'm going to have to admit right up front that I go into any Kozak book wanting to like it because Kozak is a native Nebraskan who is actually an alum from the same high school that I attended.  After the first book, this was a lot easier because I discovered that I really did like her writing.  It's quick paced, humorous and loaded with fun characters.  Kozak also creates good guys with flaws and bad guys with redeeming traits. A Date You Cant' Refuse is not a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat so if you're the kind of reader that expects that in a murder mystery, these may be a little light for you.  But if you're looking for a quick, quirky read and an ending you won't expect, then I'd encourage you to pick up one of Kozak's books.  Her first Wollie Shelley was Dating Dead Men, followed by Dating is Murder, and most recently Dead Ex.  You don't need to start at the beginning of the series; Kozak does a terrific job of bringing the reader up to speed without making you feel like you're spending the first few chapters playing catch up.

Guest Review: Kill Me by Stephen White

Kill Me by Stephen White
512 pages
Published March 2007 by Penguin Group

I've always been grateful to my parents for instilling a love of reading in me.  Now I'm also grateful to them for their continued support of my blog, including numerous guest reviews.  Here's one from Mama Shepp's mama!

Many people choose the next book they want to read based on the author or the topic of the book.  And that has been true with my husband and me.  That is, until it is time to get in the car and spend the five plus hours required to visit our No. 1 son.  We make the miles appear to go faster by listening to a book.  But the book is chosen not by topic or author (although that can play a part) but by the number of disks in the package.  We have timed it so we know how much we can hear and get the book finished by the time we pull back into our driveway.

It was thus that we stumbled upon a book by Stephen White.  We were delighted and found our trip flew by as we were caught up in his characters, plot, and descriptive writing.  Thus is has been no surprise that we have added more of his books to our reading piles.  His books tend to be built around a psychologist Dr. Alan Gregory and his sidekick the local law enforcement.  Usually the books are set in Colorado.  KILL ME is set in Colorado but in this novel Dr. Gregory is used only as a listening board for much of the book until the end when he becomes the narrator and finishes the story.

Our hero (if that is how you might describe him) goes on a skiing trip and while there learns that one of his best friends has been seriously injured in a cave accident leaving him in a vegetative state for the rest of his life.  Just as this is happening, our narrator is involved in a skiing accident of a relatively minor nature but which could have been much more devastating.  But it is enough for his friend Jimmy Lee to step forward and present to him the idea that for a large sum of money (our narrator is extremely wealthy) you can buy a deal wherewith you will not be allowed to ever live in a vegetative state or suffer long months from some incurable disease.  The company will step in to kill him, making the death look normal and creating no suspicion.  He likes the idea and quietly buys into the program without telling his wife or anyone else. 

As was probably to be expected, our “victim” develops a brain tumor and realizes that his time is limited.  However, he has recently discovered that he has a son from a one-night stand many years ago and feels he has unfinished business with this son before he is ready to die.  He then sets about trying to outwit the Death Angels to allow him to have more time.  He is comfortable with leaving his wife and daughters–they will be well provided–but the son must have some type of peace with his life.  From this point, the story becomes a hide-and-go-seek type of story with many twists and turns and suspense.  We learn far more about the narrator’s character and that of the attractive woman who comes to “help” him elude the Angels (his term for the organization). 

The book is well written and covers a topic that was completely new to me.  I spent the time hoping he would outsmart the Death Angels and considering the wisdom or lack thereof of making such a deal if it were offered to me.  Will he outwit the Angels?  Will he seek a relationship with his son?  Will a cure for his tumor be developed?  Will he leave his wife for the woman who tries to “help” him with his dilemma?   These are just a few of the questions that are answered in this book.

If you are lured into reading this book, then I strongly recommend you also read MISSING PERSONS which is even better.  No wonder I have a stack of White novels sitting by my bed luring me into using a lack of common sense when it comes to time to turn off the light and go to sleep.

Thanks, Mom!

Mama Shepp's Family Recommends: Alan Furst

The Rhodies have, once again, come through with a recommendation that doesn't include just a single book but a whole catalog. So if you find you love the author, you will be at no loss for more titles to read!

"Mama Shepp take note, as well as other readers. We have from the first been adoring fans of Alan Furst who writes spy novels set in Eastern Europe in the period from WWI to WWII."




" We just finished his most recent ("Spies of the Balkans") and think it may be our favorite of the lot. Ten titles so far, and we hope he will be good for ten more. I can only think to compare him with Graham Greene in style and mood. His characters are inevitably interesting and his plots, while intricate, are easily followed.These are not who dunnits; not cozys, not loaded with silliness like the James Bond books or charming eccentrics like the John LeCarre novel. "




"People fall in love, betray, kill and die, survive the grim life of their times or fail to do so. He does a wonderful job of conveying the look and feel of places and historic Do begin with "Night Soldiers" because there is occasionally some carry-over of one or another character. However, each book will stand on its merits."





Patrick Anderson, book reviewer for the Washington Post, has this to say about Furst and his latest:

"I read my first Alan Furst novel nine years ago and urged Book World's readers to do themselves a favor and seek out everything this talented writer had in print. Now, having read Furst's 11th and latest novel, Spies of the Balkans, I find that my advice holds. About all that has changed since 2001 is that Furst was relatively unknown then, and today he is widely recognized as one of the finest spy novelists active."

"Dismantled" by Jennifer McMahon

432 pages
Published June 2009 by Harper Collins Publishers
Source: the publisher and TLC Book Tours

Ten years ago, four college friends at a small Vermont art college band together to form a group called the Compassionate Dismantlers. Their motto is "to understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart" and they begin committing acts of meaningful vandalism. After graduation, they all move to a remote cabin where the pranks begin to become more dangerous and the motives less clear to some of the members. When one of the experiments goes wrong, though, the rest of the group leaves the cabin with only the clothes on their backs and a promise never to tell anyone about what happened.

But nine years later, someone has sent some of the members a postcard with a picture of a moose, the groups credo and their saying "Dismantlement = freedom." When a college acquaintance, who was involved with the group, gets the postcard, he commits suicide and the family hires a private investigator to find out what the postcard means and why it was found near the man's body.

Henry and Tess, two members of the group, are living only miles away from the cabin with their nine-year-old daughter (who suffers from OCD and has a not-so-nice imaginary friend). Things have fallen apart for Henry and Tess and only get worse when they hear of the suicide and when strange things begin happening, their sense of guilt over what happened ten years ago drives them to do things they would never have imagined.

I read McMahon's "Promise Not To Tell" and was so impressed with it that I accepted this book without any idea what it might be about. I'm a blurb reader, a review reader, and I usually go into a book with some idea what to expect. I did do that with this one so the surprises started coming at me right from the start and only built from their. The story alternates between the present time and the time of the Dismantlers and from different points of view; this can be a tricky thing to pull off but McMahon does a terrific job of using it to build the suspense. Except for Emma, Tess and Henry's daughter, none of the characters is particularly likable but McMahon makes the reader want to know what will happen to them. When I first got the book, I worried that it might be too long--it's hard to keep up suspense for over 400 pages. McMahon makes use of every page.

What's not to love about about a book that combines a murder, a possible ghost, a maybe not so imaginary friend, and a kidnapping? I couldn't put this one down. Thanks to Trish and TLC book tours for including me on this tour!

To learn more about McMahon, checkout her web site. McMahon has also written The Island of Lost Girls.

For more opinions about this book, check out the other stops on the tour. Now that I've read the book, I'm going to do that, too.
Tuesday, May 18th: Rundpine
Wednesday, May 19th: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Thursday, May 20th: Luxury Reading
Tuesday, May 25th: The Cajun Book Lady
Monday, May 31st: I’m Booking It
Tuesday, June 1st: Drey’s Library
Wednesday, June 2ed: Bookalicio.us
Thursday, June 3rd: Chick With Books
Monday, June 7th: Regular Rumination
Wednesday, June 9th: Booksie’s Blog
Thursday, June 10th: Take Me Away

Mama Shepp's Family Recommends...

This week's recommendation once again comes from Rhode Island. The Rhoadies have both read and enjoyed Paul Adam's The Rainaldi Quartet and Paganini's Ghost - and recommend they be read in that order. Here's what they have to say:

"We just finished reading Paganini's Ghost by Paul Adam. His earlier "The Rainaldi Quartet" set the stage with a group of old friends in northern Italy who get together to play chamber music. The protagonist is a luthier, who makes his living repairing stringed instruments. His policeman buddy occasionally involves him in solving crimes. There is much music history; much of the pleasure of music and of the companionship of dear friends; some obligatory obeisance to Italian cuisine and a lot of the pleasure of a story well-told."

Booklist describes The Rainaldi Quartet this way:

In Cremona, Italy, a violin maker is murdered, stabbed through the neck with a chisel. When his devastated friends, including police detective Guastafeste, discover that the dead man was obsessed with finding an immensely valuable violin called the Messiah's Sister, built by the legendary Stradivarius, they decide to continue his quest. There are only two problems: the violin might not actually exist, and it looks like the murderer hasn't completed his grisly work.

And this to say about "Paganini's Ghost:"

A day after a heavily promoted violin recital in Cremona, Italy, at which prize-winning Russian prodigy Yevgeny Ivanov plays the priceless violin once owned by Paganini, a visiting French art dealer is found murdered in his hotel room. When a scrap of paper torn from a Paganini piece played by Ivanov seems key to opening an ornate gold box found in the victim’s possession, violin maker Gianni Castiglione (introduced in The Rainaldi Quartet, 2006) is called into the case by his friend, police detective Antonio Guastafeste. Castiglione cracks the code to find that the now-empty box once housed a small violin, setting him—with Guastafeste—on a cross-continental search, during which other murders are committed, and Castiglione must call on his knowledge of history, genealogy, and provenance to find long-missing treasures and solve the crimes.

As a lover of classical music and pretty much anything to do with Italy, I think I'm going to have to add these mysteries to my summer reading list.

Girolamo Rainaldi (1570 – July 15, 1655) was an Italian architect who worked on the whole in a conservative Mannerist style, often with collaborating architects, yet was a successful competitor of Bernini. His son, Carlo Rainaldi, became an even more notable, more fully Baroque architect.

Niccolò Paganini (27 October 1782 – 27 May 1840) was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His Caprice No. 24 in A minor, Op. 1, is among the best known of his compositions, and has served as an inspiration for many prominent composers.

Agatha Raisin And The Terrible Tourist #6 by M. C. Beaton

Agatha Raisin and The Terrible Tourist #6 by M. C. Beaton
198 pages
Published July 1998 by St. Martin's Press
Source: my wonderful local library

Agatha Raisin's ex-husband has recently come back into her life only to be murdered. She's managed to solve the case but at the expense of her fiance who has broken off the engagement and fled to Cyprus. Not eager to have her future happiness snatched from her Agatha follows him only to find herself caught up with two sets of obnoxious tourists, as well as her now ex-fiance James. When Agatha insists on solving the murder, she irritates not only James but the local police as well. To make matters with James worse, Agatha is also spending time with old friend Sir Charles. A series of attempts on her life make Agatha more determined than ever.

Because I've done all of my M. C. Beaton "reading" on audiobook, I'm at the mercy of the library as to the order I get to the books in. I did wish that I had read the books in order but it's not necessary. It doesn't take long for the reader to get up to speed on Agatha's background and to get a good feel for her character. And what a character it is! Agatha is a middle-aged woman who has had a successful PR career; she's feisty, no nonsense and not good at making friends.

When I started talking about Beaton's other series, with Hamish MacBeth, several people told me to rush off and get some Agatha Raisin, that I would like her even better. I wish I could say that I did but this book did not make a believer of me. I couldn't understand Agatha's attraction to James, I didn't care for a second story line involving a friend of James', and I thought the plot here was weak.

But just as in the MacBeth series, Beaton always manages to keep things light even as people are being murdered and writes wonderfully funny characters. A bonus in this book are the terrific descriptions of Cyprus; as I listened, I kept looking on the internet to see what the sights really looked like.

Luckily for Agatha, she comes highly recommended so I'll probably give her another chance.

The Girl On Legare Street by Karen White

The Girl On Legare Street by Karen White
335 Pages
Published November 2009 by Penguin Group
Source: the publisher and Lisa with TLC Book Tours

After receiving a deadly premonition, Melanie Middleton's mother has returned to Charleston to warn Melanie of the danger. Unfortunately, this is the same daughter she walked out on over 30 years ago and Melanie is not happy to see her mother. But, by pulling some strings, Ginntte is able to get Melanie to work as her realtor as she buys back her family's ancestral home, the very home she fled from all of those years ago. Both women know that this is much more than just moving back home. Because this house is very much haunted. And a very malevolent spirit is in the home and wants to harm them. Ginnette knows it will take both of them to conquer the spirit, along with the help of Melanie's father and her friends. In order to vanquish the spirit, there are a lot of mysteries to be solved. Fortunately there have also been plenty of clues left. Now Melanie, Ginnette and crew just need to solve the clues before it's too late.

This is the second book in a series, the first being The House On Tradd Street which introduced the reader to the majority of the characters in this book. The reader does not have to have read the first book; White fills in all of the details the reader will need to be up to speed. It sometimes felt like too much detail to me, but that may have been because I had no sooner finished The House On Tradd Street before I picked this one up. Jack, the man with whom Melanie has a love/hate relationship, returns in this book as does an old flame of his. And that's where the romance novel aspect of this book comes into play as the three characters try to figure what's what between each of them. Like most of the other reviewers, I also felt like the relationship between Jack and Melanie got annoying at times and I had a problem with Melanie being so trusting of the old flame in some instances, while at other times being to leary of her.

I did like this book better than The House On Tradd Street; for the most part the romance portions took a back burner to the mystery/ghost aspect. I felt like White did a good job with the mystery, laying out the clues and pulling the reader along as the clues unfolded. I kept thinking that if I had been taking notes, I might have been able to solve the mystery myself. This one has some great twists and keeps the reader guessing trying to figure out just who the "bad guys" are. Once again, White gives the reader wonderful history of the Charleston area; clearly it is a subject of which she is very fond.

The ending of this book clearly sets up for a third book in the series.

Somebody Else's Daughter by Elizabeth Brundage

Somebody Else's Daughter by Elizabeth Brundage
352 pages
Published April 2009 by Penguin Group
Source: Purchased

Nate and Cat, heroin addicts and drifters, realize they can't care for their infant daughter, Willa, and drive across the country to deliver her to Joe and Candace Golding.

Seventeen years later, Nate returns, all cleaned up and working at the prestigious Pioneer School. Claire has also just returned to the area with her son, Teddy. Claire, an artist, is returning because her father has passed away, leaving her his home and land.

At the Pioneer School, Jack Heath is the head master who has turned the school into one of the best private schools in the area. Maggie, his wife and an instructor at the school, is barely managing to hold things together as she tries to hold on to her husband while struggling to keep keep their disastrous history a secret.

On the surface, everything looks just the way the wealthy residents of the Berkshires want it to; but under the surface lie all kinds of secrets: prostitution, drugs, infidelity, gambling and dog fights. When the worlds start to collide, secrets pour out and lives are in danger.

I've been putting this one off for a few days, trying to decide what to say about this one. On the one hand, I really liked Brundage's use of mirror characters throughout the book. Willa is a mirror of the young prostitute, Pearl. Nate is the mirror of Joe. On the other hand, the book seemed too crowded with characters and took so long to set everything up. I felt like many of the characters were really well developed but then there were others that felt very much stereotypes. I appreciated the idea of delving under the surface and exploring the idea that everyone has secrets they want to keep hidden. I just didn't think it was necessary for all of the secrets to be so awful.

Brundage certainly was able to build suspense once the novel really got going but it felt, in the end, a bit too tidy and neatly wrapped up. And (and I know I'm nitpicking here but it really bothered me) midway through the book, there is what appears to be one of the most glaring errors I've ever found in a book. A character that's supposed to have thrown herself into the Jewish faith is suddenly wearing a crucifix and talking passionately about Jesus. Perhaps it was done intentionally but I was never able to figure out why it would have been. After that, I read on looking for other incongruities which detracted from my enjoyment of the story.

My face to face book club read this book for October and opinions on it were mixed. Some people really liked it, others were lukewarm. But we did have a really wonderful talk with Elizabeth Brundage. She was eager to not only discuss her work but to get to know us. We try to talk to authors about every other month and this really one of the most successful calls we've had. Brundage is also the author of "The Doctor's Wife" and has another book coming out in 2010.

****Warning****
There are some very graphic depictions of animal cruelty and sexual acts in this book.

Hamish MacBeth Mysteries by M. C. Beaton

In recent weeks you may have noticed that I've been listening to a lot of M. C. Beaton's Hamish MacBeth mysteries. Beaton was recommended to me first by my aunt and uncle and I jotted down both the MacBeth books and Beaton's Agatha Raisin books. But I never got around to actually picking up any of them. Then when I started to blog, I noticed the books on other people's blogs. Still I didn't get any of the books picked up until one day when I was in the library and noticed Death of a Village: A Hamish MacBeth Mystery on CD. And I thought that was a great way to give Beaton a chance. And I liked it and it was the perfect kind of book to listen to while working because the stories aren't long, not are they overly complicated. So the last time I was at the library, I picked up four more Beaton books, two of which I've listened to in the past week, including my first Agatha Raisin books.

As much as I enjoyed Death of a Village, I didn't really appreciate Beaton until I listened to Death Of A Cad and Death Of A Dreamer. In both of these books, there is only one mystery to be solved and which give Beaton longer to develop the story. There are almost no jump-out-and-scare-your-pants-off moments in Beaton and very little in the way of graphic violence or gore. They're called "cozy" mysteries for a reason. You don't have to read trying to make sure you don't miss the clues. It's not a game to see if you can solve the mystery before MacBeth does.

I gotta tell you, I'm starting to have a little bit of a crush on Hamish. The
poor guy has a lot of trouble with women. It's not that he can't attract them; he's always balancing at least a couple of them. It's just that he's a lot better at solving mysteries than he is at romancing the ladies. And he's so content in the little village of Lochdubh, that he's turned down promotions. Which doesn't necessarily impress the ladies. That and his habit of spoiling his pets.

I suppose it would be a good idea to read these books in order; I haven't and there are references in the books to previous interactions between characters that I don't get. But I've listened to enough of them know to know all about Hamish's relationships with Elspeth Grant and Priscilla Halburton, his friendship with a fellow police officer who is more than a little found of the drink and his problems with his immediate superior who tries to keep MacBeth as far away from cases as he can and steals the limelight when the cases are solved. Honestly, there are so many great characters in this village, I'm surprised this hasn't been made into a television series.

I think I've just about exhausted the library's supply of Beaton on CD. When that happens, I'll certainly start picking the books up and reading them the old-fashioned way.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
432 pages
Published May 2007

Chabon is a Pulitzer Prize winner for "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay" and also wrote "Wonder Boys" which was made into a movie starring Michael Douglas and Tobey Macguire.

Publisher's Summary:
For sixty years, Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a "temporary" safe haven created in the wake of revelations of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. The Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle. For sixty years they have been left alone, neglected and half-forgotten in a backwater of history. Now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end. Homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the District Police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion. His life is a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster. He and his half-Tlingit partner, Berko Shemets, can't catch a break in any of their outstanding cases. Landsman's new supervisor is the love of his life—and also his worst nightmare. And in the cheap hotel where he has washed up, someone has just committed a murder—right under Landsman's nose. Out of habit, obligation, and a mysterious sense that it somehow offers him a shot at redeeming himself, Landsman begins to investigate the killing of his neighbor, a former chess prodigy. Then word comes down that the case is to be dropped. Landsman is having none of it.

My Thoughts:
A murder mystery in a unique setting, complete with an enormous cast of richly drawn characters, made up Yiddish words, and Jewish lore and history. It's a story where the ultra-Orthodox Bobovers turn out to be the bad guys, chess is front and center and the Messiah may have been murdered.

 If you get this on CD, you get Peter Riegert doing a wonderful job with a wide range of voices. Chabon succeeds in creating both a noir thriller and a touching romance and makes for a very satisfying read. Highly recommend.

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
400 pages
Published July 2008 Harper Collins

Synopsis:
Can you read your future in a piece of lace? All of the Whitney women can. But the last time Towner read, it killed her sister and nearly robbed Towner of her own sanity. Vowing never to read lace again, her resolve is tested when faced with the mysterious, unsolvable disappearance of her beloved Great Aunt Eva, Salem's original Lace Reader. Told from opposing and often unreliable perspectives, the story engages the reader's own beliefs. Should we listen to Towner, who may be losing her mind for the second time? Or should we believe John Rafferty, a no nonsense New York detective, who ran away from the city to a simpler place only to find himself inextricably involved in a psychic tug of war with all three generations of Whitney women? Does either have the whole story? Or does the truth lie somewhere in the swirling pattern of the lace?

My review: 
The story is told from numerous points of view, primarily Towner's (the veracity of which is questionable given her history of mental illness) and it can get confusing. The story also shifts back and forth in time. There is a lot of detail to keep track of--much of it will come back to bear in the end. The last 50 pages are full of surprises, although the whole thing seems a little implausible and a little bit like an action movie with non-stop action. I enjoyed the book, even though in the end I was working hard to figure out if any of it made sense.