Becky Mildan's Book Reviews

Mark of the Lion by Suzanne Arruda

2009-08-29T10:00:00.001-05:00

Mark of the Lion
A Jade Del Cameron Novel
By Suzanne Arruda

The Mark of the Lion introduces us to Jade Del Cameron, a young woman with a strong sense of adventure. Jade grew up on a ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico where she learned to ride, shoot, and take care of herself. She is studying languages at Winsor College in England when WWI breaks out. She leaves school and joins the Hacket-Lowther ambulance unit.

When we first meet Jade it is 1918 and she is driving an army ambulance in France. She returns to the evacuation hospital from the front with a full load of wounded just in time to witness a dog fight between a German plane and her good friend David’s Sopwith Camel. David loses. As she holds his battered body he uses his last breath to ask her to find his brother. The problem is that as far as anyone knows he was an only child.

When the war ends Jade returns to England to finish her studies but the trauma of War and David’s request has left her unable to settle down. She takes a job with The Traveler magazine as a reporter and photographer and sets off for Africa where David‘s father died under suspicious circumstances while trying to find his illegitimate son.

Once in Nairobi Jade quickly learns that something very strange is happening. The natives are being terrorized by a witch doctor called a Laibon. There have been attacks by wild animals that have had strange patterns shaved into their fur, a sign of human control. The natives believe that this Laibon not only controls the animals but is capable of changing his own form from human to animal.

As Jade pursues her quest she meets a colorful assortment of people, some helpful, some not so helpful. In order to succeed in her quest and stay alive she will need to call upon all of her courage and ingenuity.

Mark of the Lion is an excellent read. Suzanne Arruda brings to life the beauty and magnificence of a land not yet “tamed” by man. She also brings to life the culture clash that existed between the native Africans who lived with nature and the British who conquered nature.

The Peter Shandy Series by Charlotte Macleod

2009-02-04T15:15:00.003-05:00

Between 1978 and 1996 Charlotte MacLeod published ten Peter Shandy novels, all of them wild, wacky and witty. Her characters range from the straight laced to the totally demented. Her plots are frequently laugh out loud funny. If you like unconventional mysteries that are well written I suggest that you try this series.

In the first book “Rest you Merry” we meet Peter Shandy, a professor at Balaclava Agricultural College and co-propagator of the Balaclava Buster rutabaga. It is Christmas time which means that it is time for the college’s main fund raising event, The Grand Illumination. For years Peter’s neighbor Jemima Ames has badgered him to decorate his house on the crescent. This year he decides he has had enough. After all but burying his house under gaudy decorations he escapes Balaclava for a sea trip only to be shipwrecked. Slinking back home to face his irate neighbors he finds Jemima’s body behind his couch. Is it an accident or murder? Thorkjeld Svenson, college president, champion of the straight furrow and berserker Viking, assigns Peter to find out, without ruining the illumination.

The second book is “The Luck Runs Out”. Strange things are happening in Balaclava County. First some prankster turns all the horse shoes nailed up in the college barns upside down, letting the luck run out, figuratively speaking. Second, the silversmith’s vault is emptied in a daring robbery while the newly married Peter and Helen Shandy just happen to be there picking out their silverware. Third, Belinda of Balaclava, the college’s prize sow is pignapped and the local farrier is found dead in the sty’s mash feeder. Peter is once again assigned to sort out the mysteries.

Third is “Wrack and Rune”. Professor Timothy Ames is visiting the Horsefalls farm in Lumpkin Corners when their hired man dies in a very nasty way. After calling the police and doctor, his next call is to Peter Shandy. Now Peter must find out why someone has been harassing the Horsefalls. Is the death another prank that has gone wrong or cold blooded murder? How does the old Viking rune-stone on the property fit into the mystery? To find the answers, Peter must deal with pranksters, large crowds of sightseers, and the college president’s 102 year old uncle Sven’s pursuit of an older woman.

Number four on the list is “Something the Cat Dragged In”. Retired professor Ungley rents Mrs. Lomax’s downstairs apartment. When her cat Edmund shows up with his hairpiece in his mouth, her only thought is to return it before the professor misses it. When she finds him not home and his bed not slept in she goes looking for him and finds him impaled on a harrow peg behind the Balaclava Society’s clubhouse. Police Chief Ottermole calls the death an accident but Mrs. Lomax doesn’t believe it and when Edmund finds another clue it leads straight back to the college. Overnight Balaclava County is the scene of a power struggle between town and gown that could destroy Balaclava Agricultural College. Naturally President Svenson assigns Peter Shandy, the Hercule Poirot of the turnip fields, the job of uncovering the murderer.

“The Curse of the Giant Hogweed” is the fifth book in the series. In this book Professors Shandy, Ames, and Stott have traveled to England to assist with the problems being caused by the growth of giant hogweed. When they set out to do field work they cross the border into Wales and find a world they didn’t expect. Trapped in the hogweed and confronted by a giant looking for the King’s pet griffin, it doesn’t take them long to realize that life has become even more bizarre then usual.

Number six is “The Corpse in Oozak’s Pond”. It’s Ground Hog day and all of Balaclava has turned out to see if the College ground hog will see his shadow. They get more of a show then they expect when a corpse pops up through the ice on the pond. When two more deaths follow, it’s up to Peter to find some answers.

In the seventh book, Vane Pursuit, Peter’s wife Helen is photographing antique weather vanes for the historical society. It seems like no sooner does she her pictures then the weather vanes come up missing. When someone fire bombs the Lumpkin soap factory shortly after their weather vane is photographed and someone dies in the fire Peter starts to investigate. Before he finds the answers he will tangle with a motley group of survivalists, assist a heiress who’s hiding out, and fear for the life of his beloved Helen.

Eighth in the series is An Owl Too Many. When Emory Emmerick, a site engineer for the college’s new TV station gets stabbed to death during the annual owl count Peter Shandy is once again on the case. A dead man who isn’t who he said he was, a secretary who keeps getting herself tied to trees, and a wild ride down a raging river in a tug boat make this a rollicking adventure as well as a good mystery.

Number nine is Something in the Water. Peter has gone to check out reports of beautiful, lush, lupines growing where they shouldn’t be able to grow at all. Staying in an old inn, he is waiting for his desert when the town’s most disliked citizen keels over face first into his diner. Foul play is suspected but Peter is much more interested in the lupines. Interested or not Peter soon finds himself trying to solve three mysteries. Who killed Jaspar Flodge, how are such lush plants growing in such poor soil, and who is the unknown artist who refuses to admit to painting such beautiful canvasses.

Number ten, the last but not least in the series is Exit the Milkman. Professor Feldster, Balaclava’s dairy expert and the Shandy’s neighbor has disappeared. Last seen on his way to one of his many lodge meetings he is seen getting into a big car with tinted windows and then nothing. He never shows up at the lodge, doesn’t come home and doesn’t show up for his morning class. Before he is found his obnoxious wife dies in a bizarre manor. Once again Peter must leave his turnip fields and classroom to play Sherlock Holmes.

Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews

2008-11-03T09:44:00.001-05:00

“Six Geese A-Slaying” is Donna Andrews’ tenth book in the Meg Langslow series. This time Meg has been talked into being Caerphilly County’s ‘Mistress of the Revels’ or in other words the person responsible for organizing the Christmas, excuse me, Holiday Parade. Ordinarily Meg would never have accepted the job but since the person who asked her to do it is the chairman of the committee that will decide whether or not her professor husband gets tenure, saying yes seemed like a good idea. As she stands in her front yard, clip board in hand, directing the arriving floats, bands, animals and handlers and other assorted participants to their staging areas her two biggest worries are the approaching snow storm and getting the Twelve Days of Christmas tableaus lined up in the right order. That is until her nephew, Eric, hands her an even bigger problem. It seems that someone has killed Santa.

As with all the books in this series, “Six Geese A-Slaying” will keep you snickering, giggling and laughing out loud from beginning to end. You may or may not figure out early on who the killer is, but that doesn’t matter. The fun of these books has always been watching Meg deal with the chaos around her while trying to catch the killer. On a scale of 1 to 10 this book is definitely a 8.

The series so far contains the following books. They are listed in the order written:

Murder with Peacocks
Murder with Puffins
Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon
We'll Always Have Parrots
Owls Well That Ends Well
No Nest for the Wicket
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much
Cockatiels at Seven
Six Geese A-Slaying

The Vicky Bliss Series by Elizabeth Peters

2008-09-29T09:32:00.001-05:00

The Vicky Bliss Series by Elizabeth Peters

Borrower of the Night
Street of the Five Moons
Silhouette in Scarlet
Trojan Gold
Night Train to Memphis
The Laughter of Dead Kings

Vicky Bliss is a modern day heroine in every way. She is smart, a PHD in Art History, self sufficient, brave and usually practical. She also finds her looks a handicap. Blond hair, blue eyes, just under six foot tall, thin is some places and broad in others. As she puts it, no one ever looks at her and believes that she could possibly have a brain.

We first meet Vicky in “Borrower of the Night”. She is teaching History in a small Midwestern college and dating Tony who doesn’t believe that she really doesn’t want to get married. He decides that he has to prove his intellectual superiority in order to win her and proposes a contest to find a missing piece of medieval art. So off they go to an old German castle, he to impress her with his superior brain and she to bring him down a peg. But they aren’t the only ones looking for treasure and the game quickly turns dangerous .
In the next book “Street of Five Moons” our heroine is now working for the German National Museum in Munich. When a the body of a vagrant is found in an alley with an almost perfect copy of one of the museum’s valuable pieces of antique jewelry in his pocket Vicky is off in search of the maker. Her boss, Anton Schmidt, believes that it is a mystery that only Vicky can solve so once again she is off and running. Her quest takes her to Rome where once again she finds herself in danger. The question is, will she lose her life, her heart or both.

“Silhouette in Scarlet” opens with Vicky receiving a rose, a one-way to Stockholm and a cryptic message. It can only be from the very charming and very crooked John Smythe. From Stockholm to a remote island Vicky finds danger, excitement, and trouble with a capital T.

“Trojan Gold” also starts with a mysterious message. This one is a picture of a woman dressed in the gold of Troy, which disappeared at the end of WWII. The picture is contemporary and arrives in a blood stained envelope. This time Vicky isn’t the only one to get a message. Several of her colleague have also received a similar message. As they all join Vicky, John Smythe and Schmidt in the hunt it soon becomes apparent that someone is willing to go to extreme lengths to win the gold.

“Night Train To Memphis” takes Vicky out of her of art history and into the world of Egyptology. This time she has been asked by the police to work as their operative on a luxury Nile cruise because they have ‘certain’ information that a major heist of Egyptian antiquities is being planed. Vicky suspects that the person they want her to find is her occasional lover and thief extraordinaire, John Smythe. What she doesn’t expect is to find him traveling with a beautiful young girl. As she tries to concentrate on “crime” she finds herself distracted by the other passengers but mostly by her own feelings for John. When one of the crew members is murdered her dream cruise really turns into a nightmare that threatens all that she loves.

“The Laughter of Dead Kings” is the latest of Vicky Bliss’ adventures. When a priceless treasure is stolen in Egypt the authorities believe that they know who did it, John Smythe. John on the other hand swears that he has retired from his life of crime. The only way to prove his innocence is to find the real culprit. With Schmidt in tow Vicky and John head to Egypt. With each clue they find John looks more and more guilty and when murder is added to the list of crimes they know that time is running out.

Elizabeth Peters also writes the Amelia Peabody series, the Jacqueline Kirby series and several stand alone mysteries. All of them are written tongue in cheek and are amusing as well as excellent mysteries.

Elizabeth Peters is a pseudonym for Dr. Barbara Mertz, one of the leading authorities on ancient Egypt and author of “Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt” and “Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt.” She has also written several suspense novels under the pseudonym Barbara Michaels.

Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews

2008-07-11T10:41:00.004-05:00

Meg hasn’t seen her friend Karen in over two years, when she shows up at her door looking for someone to watch her son, Timmy, for a “little while”. Karen now divorced, seems nervous and is definitely in a hurry. Meg being Meg, says yes, after all what’s a couple of hours. When Karen doesn’t return and doesn’t answer her home or cell phone Meg starts to worry. When she realizes that she has left most of Timmy’s clothes, a portable crib, a very large number of diapers and a list of instructions to rival a car ownership manual she begins to wonder just what a “little while” means to Karen.

Meg sets out, with Timmy in tow, to find Karen. With every stop Karen’s situation looks worse. The women who now lives at the address Meg has for Karen is unhappy about “thugs” knocking on her door looking for Karen. The new address that she gives Meg is for an apartment building that notorious for trouble and in Caerphilly’s three block “slum” district. When she arrives there she finds not Karen but the police looking for Karen. Then Karen’s ex-husband turns up dead. Is Karen a killer or another victim?

This is the ninth book in the Meg Langslow series. It is well written but lacks the rollicking fun of the previous novels. Don’t get me wrong there are a few giggles but unlike the previous books in the series I didn’t laugh out loud. Meg trying to solve a murder while trying to keep her various family members out of trouble is funny. Meg trying to solve a murder with an abandoned toddler in tow is not.

The charm and humor of this series has always been watching Meg and Michael deal with the over the top personalities around them. This book has very little of that. Although the author hints at other things that Meg would normally be worried about, we don’t see it.

I enjoyed this book but was also disappointed in it. Even the title “Cockatiels at Seven” doesn’t fit the story as all the previous titles have. If you are already a fan you may also find this book lacking. If you haven’t already been hooked on the series this book is good but not typical.

The series so far contains the following books. They are listed in the order written:

Murder with Peacocks
Murder with Puffins
Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon
We'll Always Have Parrots
Owls Well That Ends Well
No Nest for the Wicket
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much
Cockatiels at Seven

Everything But a Groom by Holly Jacobs

2008-04-22T16:20:00.001-05:00

Vancy Bashalde planed to marry Bela Salo in the most elaborate wedding that the small town of Erdely, Hungary had ever seen. When Bela doesn’t show up for the wedding, Vancy not knowing that he has been in an accident, utters a curse that neither Bela nor any of his family will ever have a perfect wedding. When he shows up three days later she forgets her words and marries him that same night. It is only when her children’s weddings don’t quite work out as planned that she remembers her curse. And now her granddaughter and namesake is about to get married.

Vancy Salo doesn’t believe in curses, but just in case she has planned for every contingency. She has a back-up plan for everything from the weather turning bad to the presiding priest becoming ill. The only thing she hasn’t planned for it the groom running off with another woman. If being left at the alter isn’t bad enough, Grandma has told a reporter about the curse and his article has been picked up by the AP. Now Vancy has reporters clamoring for her story.

Matthew Wilde has just found out he’s an uncle the hard way. The mother of his brother’s ex-girlfriend has dumped two little boys on his doorstep.

Matthew needs someone to watch the boys until he can find his brother. Vancy needs a place to hide from the press. The solution is simple, she will hide out at his house and take care of the boys for the two weeks that was supposed to be her honeymoon. That will give him time to make other arrangements.

This is a cute story but extremely predictable. The characters are not cardboard cutouts, they’re spun sugar. The book is only 186 pages which is it’s saving grace. The book tells a nice predictable story without boring you.

Pathfinder by Scott Washburn

2008-04-12T16:36:00.002-05:00

David Dysinger is a 23rd century scientist who dreams of traveling to the stars. After years of sending out and analyzing faster then light probes, he and his team are ready to build the first FTL starship. The problem is getting the money and backing to build such a ship. Neither the scientific community nor the government are interested in star travel. The majority of people on Earth spend most of their lives wired into their computers, living in virtual reality. The governments of Earth are only interested in keeping the wire heads happily ensconced in their virtual worlds while they run the real world. The only people interested in star travel are the spacers, free thinking individuals who live aboard the orbiting space stations and supplying the power needed by Earth.

Backed by the Spacers and the only privately owned station, David and his team pursue their dream . For them this project is a scientific adventure. What none of them realize is that Earth’s leaders see their adventure as a threat. A threat that has to be stopped. But sabotage, lies, and murder will not stop the crew of Pathfinder.

“Pathfinder” is Mr. Washburn’s second novel. His first novel “War Among the Ruins” is an excellent piece of military science fiction. “Pathfinder” is also excellent science fiction but less in the style of Weber and more in the style of Bradbury or Wells.

Both “Pathfinder” and “War Among the Ruins” are published by Stellar Phoenix and can be purchased through Amazon.com.

The Case of the Roasted Onion & The Case of the Tough Talking Turkey by Claudia Bishop

2008-04-01T08:53:00.004-05:00

Claudia Bishop, author of the Hemlock Falls Mysteries, has started a new series
about a veterinarian who dabbles in murder on the side.

The Case of the Roasted Onion

The Case of the Roasted Onion introduces us to Dr. McKenzie and company. Dr. McKenzie has retired after a long and illustrious career at Cornell Veterinary College where he held the chair of the Bovine Science Department. He and his wife Madeline were looking forward to a quiet retirement when the good doctor made a serious financial error with his retirement fund, causing him to re-enter private practice.

When someone starts shooting equine vets he takes a personal interest in what everyone else thinks are random shooting. With the help of his wife Madeline, dog Lincoln, and two assistants, Joe Turnblad and Allegra Fulbright, he joins the ranks of amateur detectives.

What do these deaths have to do with a new portable coggins test that one of the victims were working on and several of the suspects have invested in? How does an injured puppy, the upcoming Earlsdown Three-day Event and the death of a horse at the event last year fit into the mystery? Will the obnoxious venture capitalist whom Dr. McKenzie would love to be the guilty party actually be guilty?

The Case of the Tough Talking Turkey

The Case of the Tough Talking Turkey is the second mystery from The Casebook of Dr. McKenzie. In this one Dr. McKenzie (veterinarian and burgeoning sleuth) and crew set out to solve the murder of Lewis O’Leary, owner of one of the largest turkey farms in the Northeast. O’Leary is rude, abusive and as cantankerous as they come, hated by all including his three sons and two daughters-in-law. On the surface all the evidence points to Gil Finnegan the local feed salesman whom O’Leary has accused of shorting his feed orders. Dr. McKenzie however thinks that the evidence is too pat and starts looking at O’Leary’s many enemies. The list is a long one.

First of all there is the family who stand to inherit, three sons whom he has always kept on short leashes and treated as slave labor. Then there are his two daughter-in-laws who hate him for the way he treats both themselves and their husbands. There is the animal rights activist who is determined to shut him down and the post doctorate student who needs him to sign off on the data from a study that he has been doing on the farm.

I enjoyed these stories because of the characters. The mysteries are what I call “cheats”. The killers in both books are peripheral characters who are barely mentioned. At the very end Dr. McKenzie names the killer like a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat.

The next book in the series is The Case of the Ill-Gotten Goat, due out in June, 2008

Claudia Bishop is also the author of the Hemlock Falls Mysteries.

Saddled with Trouble by Michele Scott

2008-03-17T19:17:00.003-05:00

Saddled with Trouble is the first book in the Horse Lover’s Mysteries. On the scale of one to ten I would rate it a three.

The story revolves around Michaela Bancroft, a woman in her early thirties who trains quarter horses and is going through a nasty divorce which is souring her whole life.

When she finds her uncle run through by a pitchfork and very dead her problems begin to multiply. What did her best friend, Ethan, have a fight with her uncle about? Why is her father acting so oddly? How did the wrong semen get shipped to customers who paid a $3500 stud fee? What does the real estate magnet who is dating her good friend and roommate, Camden, have to do with the murder? Who ran her off the road? Why is her soon to be ex-husband suddenly interested in her again?

Although the mystery part of the book isn’t too bad the characters leave a lot to be desired. Michaela is bitter, bitchy, and manipulative. Camden and Ethan‘s only function in the story seem to be as whipping boys for Michaela. The police officer is about as realistic as Michaela’s belief that a seven year old horse is too old for the show ring. Two of the characters, who worked for her uncle, are Hawian. They talk like they only recently learned English. Since Hawaii is a state and has a very good school system I found this insulting.

There are at least two more books it this series. If I can get it at the library I might try the second one to see if there is any improvement, but I won’t spend money on it.

"The Black Dove" by Steve Hockensmith

2008-03-01T10:58:00.003-05:00

“The Black Dove” by Steve Hockensmith is his third book about the adventures of the Amlingmeyer bothers. Like “Holmes on the Range” and On the Wrong Track”, it is as both funny and a good mystery.

It is the summer of 1893 and Gustav and Otto, better known as Old Red and Big Red, are job hunting in San Francisco. The two cowboys turned detective aren’t having a lot of luck finding a job but they have no problem finding trouble.
It starts when they run into Dr. Chan, an acquaintance from their short time working for the Southern Pacific Rail Road (On the Wrong Track). When he is found dead the police say suicide, but Old Red says murder.

Teaming up with Diana Curvus, another (possibly) ex-agent of the Southern Pacific and prevaricator extraordinaire, they set out to find the truth. What follows is a wild romp through China Town and that denizen of vice, the Barbary Coast. Their only clue is the missing “Black Dove”, which everyone is looking for. Their search puts them up against the tongs, a Chinese detective working for the “Six Companies”, and a crooked cop. They pursue and are pursued through back allies, cat houses, opium dens and other healthful places until everything and everyone comes together in a final shocking clash.

I have to say that I didn’t enjoy this book quite as much as the first two, “Homes on the Range” and “On the Wrong Track”. Although well written and fast paced it is written in the style of the hard boiled detective fiction of the pulp fiction era, which doesn’t quite fit the 1893 background. However, it is still an excellent read and well worth the price of the hardcover edition.

War Among The Ruins by Scott Washburn

2007-11-15T15:22:00.000-05:00

The long war with Darj’Nang Empire is almost over. While newer and larger ships fought the war the old Star League cruiser Gilgamesh patrolled the border far from the action. Now with the war ending Gilgamesh is due to be decommissioned. Newer ships built for the war will be free to take over pirate duty in the backwater areas of the League.

For Captain Lu-Chin the end of the war means retirement, for Commander Jaqueline Ellsworth command of a new destroyer. As they approach the naval base at Leavitte IV the final attack by the dying Darj’Nang changes everything. In the blink of an eye the station and all of the orbiting ships loose power. Only Gilgamesh retains any power. Thanks to a supply officer who never threw anything away Gilgamesh has a supply of thirty year old power cells that still work. It’s not much but enough to run the air scrubbers on the base and rescue some of the crews of ships in orbit. The old cells also hold the answer to what is causing the power failures, not only at Leavitte IV but all over the entire Star League.

There are over a trillion people in the Star League, all of them dependent on technology that no longer works. As the League falls apart and the wolves begin to gather Gilgamesh and her crew set out for a forgotten world in search of a solution that will save the League. It will be a long, treacherous, and heartbreaking trip with more trouble at the end. But the survival of the League is dependent on them and they will do their duty or die trying.

This is science fiction at it‘s best. The characters are real and the action is non-stop. The story is well plotted and tightly written, focusing on a small part of a large picture. The heroes are heroes because of the situation, not because they are braver, smarter, or stronger then the rest of the human race. The villains are villains, not just enemies. All in all a very good read.

Mr. Washburn is a new author who has self published this book through Stellar Phoenix. It can be bought through Amazon. Hopefully we will be seeing more of his work in the future.

The Penguin Who Knew Too Much by Donna Andrews

2007-08-30T08:51:00.000-05:00

Donna Andrews has done it again. The Penguin Who Knew Too Much is the eighth and latest in the Meg Langslow Mystery Series. Like the previous books in the series this one is witty and well written.
The book starts off with Meg's father joyfully asking her to guess what he's found in the basement. She jokingly answers "A body?" and he replies "Oh, rats---you already knew? Well, how soon will the police get here? I need to move the penguins---we don't want them any more upset then they already are."
Meg is off and running from there. With the dubious help of family and friends Meg and Michael are moving into their renovated house, throwing an over the top house warming party and planning to elope in the middle of it all. Now Meg has to add solving the murder to her list of things to do.
Oh, yes then there is the problem of the zoo animals. The local zoo is bankrupt and the missing owner has fostered out all of the animals. Unfortunately what was supposed to be a few days of fostering has turned into weeks. Meg’s dad’s solution to the problem is simple, just bring the unwanted animals to Meg’s house. She’ll take care of everything. Of course he forgets to tell her about this plan until people start dropping them off.
Actually the murder and animals are only a few of Meg’s problems. There’s the claustrophobic medical examiner who is so traumatized by having to go into the basement to pronounce the body that he can’t get into his car to go home. A world famous zoologist who has taken an interest in saving the zoo. And then there’s the nephews of the previous owner who are looking for the body an uncle who went missing twelve years ago.
This is a well written mystery that is also highly amusing. Anyone who has read the rest of the series will be glad to attend another Hollingsworth (Meg’s mother’s side of the family) get-together with a little murder on-the-side. For those who are new to Meg's world, get ready to enjoy the ride.

How to Cook a Tart By Nina Killham

2007-03-27T21:17:00.000-05:00

This book is classified as a mystery by my public library. It has been mislabeled. The only mystery is how it got published. The book starts out with Jasmine finding a body on her kitchen floor. It is the very first paragraph in the book. We don’t get back to it until the last chapter.
How to Cook a Tart seems to be a parody of both the romance novel and the modern push to eat healthy. The author, Nina Killham, is an excellent writer. She paints pictures with her words that are vivid and easy to see in the readers mind. The problem is that one can only take so many pictures of someone stuffing food into their mouth. This book is 250 pages of Jasmine, the heroine, obsessing about or shoveling food into her fat face, her husband obsessing about the affair that he has been driven to by his upcoming fortieth birthday, and her daughter’s obsession with losing her virginity.
Reading this book was like listening to the same joke over and over again. While it is funny the first time, by the third or fourth chapter the variations of the joke have gotten old. Long before I hit the half way mark of this book I was only skimming, looking for the mystery. The characters by this point had become grotesque instead of amusing or even interesting.

On the Wrong Track by Steve Hockensmith

2007-03-15T12:47:00.000-05:00

Steve Hockensmith has done it again. “On The Wrong Track” is an excellent follow up to his first book “Holmes on the Range”. This is another well written story that will keep you both laughing and wondering who done it.
Gustav and Otto, better known as Old Red and Big Red respectively, are back and this time their riding the rails instead of the grub line. They've been hired by the Southern Pacific Rail Road and put on the express to San Francisco where they will receive their training. The problem is that they have to get over the mountains alive first. Not only is the train a target for a gang of outlaws with a grudge against the Southern Pacific but there is a murder committed on board almost as soon as the train gets started.
With a train full of suspects and a bad case of the ‘collywobbles,’ Old Red starts investigating. Not only do they have to deal with a snooty conductor who thinks that the only thing lower then cowboys are company guards but there is a nervous Wells Fargo man with a quick trigger finger in the express car. There is the Chinaman traveling with a drunken Pinkerton Agent, a suffragette who has an almost unladylike interest in her fellow passengers, and an annoying drummer. Then there is the crime scene, a baggage car full of strange things, including two caskets and a snake.
The farther into the mountains they go the stranger and more complicated things get. As the brothers deal with murder and robbery, things go from bad to worse. Using the methods of Old Red's hero, Sherlock Holmes, the two brothers follow the clues to the end of the line.
The relationship between the two Reds is both touching and funny. The bond between them is strong without being sentimental or sappy. The brotherly needling is of the type that anyone with brothers understands.
If you liked “Holmes on the Range” you’ll love “On the Wrong Track.” If you haven’t read either book I highly recommend them both. If you read mysteries or westerns you will find Mr. Hockensmith’s work most satisfying.

The Honor Harrington Series by David Weber

2007-03-01T12:50:00.000-05:00

David Weber is a prolific writer of science fiction and fantasy. He has written over 30 books and collaborated on several others with Eric Flint, Steve White and John Ringo. This review covers the first book On Basilisk Station in the Honor Harrington series and a general review of the whole series.

On Basilisk Station

This is the first book of the Honor Harrington series. In it we meet Honor as she is about to take command of her first cruiser. With one hyper-capable command under her belt and a second one about to begin she has finally got her foot on the command ladder. But both her life and career are about to take a turn for the worse.
First, the weapons on her new ship have been gutted to make room for a new weapon. Second, her next in command can’t get past his jealousy and work with her. Third, when the new weapon turns out to be a dud an embarrassed Admiral finds it easier to exile Honor and her crew to Basilisk Station then to admit the mistake. Fourth, her whole crew would rather complain then get on with their jobs. And if that isn’t enough, an old adversary already assigned to Basilisk finds her arrival an excuse to return to Manticore for unnecessary repairs, leaving her holding the proverbial bag.
For years Basilisk Station has been the place that the Navy sent their screw ups. Nobody seemed to care if the job that they were there to do got done or not. Unfortunately for a lot of people no one explained that to Honor. Left with an impossible job she sets about solving it. If her unhappy crew won’t follow her then she will just have to get behind them and push. If the civilian traffic doesn’t like her confiscating their contraband then they had better start following the regulations. And if the People’s Republic of Haven thinks that taking Basilisk Station and its wormhole junction away from Manticore will be easy, they are in for a big surprise.

The Rest of the Series

The first six books in the Honor Harrington series are the best. These are tightly written, well plotted and stand alone. This changes when we get to In Enemy Hands. This is the first book that leaves you hanging, and it’s a real cliff hanger. Although the books written after this one aren’t ‘cliff-hangers’ they all lead you into the next book. They can be read without the background of the rest of the books but not easily.
We see another major change in the books after In Enemy Hands. They are not only much longer but they are also much more loosely written. All of them suffer from a serious lack of editing. There are fewer battles, more politics, plot lines which go every-which-way, and confusing storylines. Echoes of Honor, the follow up to In Enemy Hands, jumped back and forth between story lines so often that it was difficult to read. I actually used post-it notes to mark the chapters according to which story-line it fit into and read the book in sections.
If you like military space opera then I highly recommend the first six books in this series. They are:
1 On Basilisk Station *************4 Field of Dishonor
2 The Honor of the Queen ********5 Flag in Exile
3 The Short Victorious War ******6 Honor Among Enemies
In Enemy Hands is also very good, but I left it off the favorites list because of its ending. I don’t like books that leave you hanging.
The rest of the books in the series are:
7 In Enemy Hands *************10 War of Honor
8 Echoes of Honor *************11 At All Costs
9 Ashes of Victory
There are also four books, edited by David Weber, containing short stories which take place in Honor’s Universe. Some of the stories are written by Mr. Weber and others by other well known science fiction authors. If you like this series then you will also like the stories contained in these books. They are:
1 More than Honor *************3 Changer of Worlds
2 Worlds of Honor************* 4 The Service of the Sword
Two full length books, Crown of Slaves written with Eric Flint and the Shadow of Saganami full out the series.

The Alpine Recluse By Mary Daheim

2007-02-13T23:09:00.000-05:00

The Alpine Recluse is the 18th book in the Emma Lord series by Mary Daheim. I haven't read any of the other books but am looking forward to doing so.
Emma Lord is the editor of the small town newspaper 'The Alpine Advocate'. The action starts when Emma is awaken on a hot August night by the sounds of sirens. She gets up to find that a neighbor's house is in flames. When the fire is finally out, the owner's body is found in the debris and Sheriff Milo Dodge believes that he was dead before the fire started.
As Emma and her House and Homes editor Vida Runkel pursue the story they find themselves looking into the private lives of some of Alpine's most respectable citizens. Emma also finds herself looking for and wondering about Old Nick, a hermit who has been seen about town with unusual frequency lately.
As rumors and gossip fly from one end of the town to the other, Emma and Vida try to sort out the truth. However the truth is something that they would never contemplate.
This is an excellent mystery with a real twist for an ending. If your looking for an enjoyable read this is it.

Holmes On The Range by Steve Hockensmith

2007-01-16T16:37:00.000-05:00

Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith has got to be one of the best stories published in 2006. This is Mr. Hockensmith’s first novel.
Otto and Gustav Amlingmeyer, better known as “Big Red” and “Old Red” respectively, are two out of work cow hands in 1893 Montana. They are looking for work and copies of Harper’s Weekly which carry stories of Old Red’s hero, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
The Bar VR is a ranch known for its secrecy and inhospitably. Their riders never come to town and people are quickly and forcibly warned off the land. It foreman and hands are all hard cases. So when the foreman shows up at the Hornet’s Nest looking for hands, Big Red is glad that he and his brother aren’t so desperate that they have to sign up. Old Red on the other hand smells a mystery and a chance to practice his “deducifying” skills and where he goes his brother goes.
It doesn’t take long to figure out that things aren’t what they should be, but when the ranch manager is found dead after a cattle stampede, Old Red is convinced that it is murder. Armed with his belief in the methods of Sherlock Homes he sets out to solve it. What follows is trail full of twists and turns which will both amuse and surprise you.
The Amlingmeyer brothers are a wonderful addition to the lists of both fictional detectives and cowboys. They are as realistic and earthy as fictional characters can be. They are men of their times, living by the rules and standards of that time.
Steve Hockensmith has written a gem of a book. “Holmes On The Range” is both a well written western and a well written mystery. The time period is well depicted, the characters real, and the story well written. Mr. Hockensmith has taken two different genres and fused them into a very readable book that will please lovers of both. He has also done both Sir Conon Doyle and Sherlock Holmes proud.
The brothers’ next adventure, “On The Wrong Track” is due to be released in March.

The Meg Langslow Series by Donna Andrews

2007-01-15T12:49:00.000-05:00

Do you like a good mystery that is also funny? If so, then I recommend Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow series. Meg is a blacksmith, the kind that does ornamental work, not the kind that shoes horses. In the first book "Murder with Peacocks" Meg returns to her home town to help prepare for three weddings, her mother's, her best friend's, and her brother's. She is the maid of honor at all three and all three brides are depending on her to keep their weddings on track. Not an easy job when the brides keep changing their minds about everything. Then to complicate things even more there is a death. Is it an accident or Murder?
With the help of Michael, the good looking guy who is running the wedding dress shop for his mother and unfortunately is uninterested in girls, Meg sets out to find out what happened. The mystery is good. The characters are wild and wacky. You will love Meg's family, all the while being glad they're not yours. This series will keep drawing you back I only to find out what Meg's family has got her into now.
Ms. Andrews has written a delightful series. All of these books stand alone but like most series reading them in order adds the joy of anticipation for the next one.
The series so far contains the following books. They are listed in the order written.
Murder with Peacocks
Murder with Puffins
Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon
We'll Always Have Parrots
Owls Well That Ends Well
No Nest for the Wicket

Book Reviews

2007-01-15T12:31:00.000-05:00

I am going to use this Blog to review books and series. Reading is one of my favorite forms of relaxation and I hope you find my reviews helpful.