Friday, April 30, 2021
Writer Beware®: The Blog: #DisneyMustPay: Authors' Groups Join Forces to ADVOCATE FOR WRITERS OWED MONEY BY DISNEY
FFB Review: "THE FIEND" (1964) by Margaret Millar (Reviewed by Barry Ergang)
From the archives …
THE FIEND (1964) by Margaret Millar
Reviewed
by Barry Ergang
Charlie Gowen knows he shouldn’t be sitting in his car across the street from the school playground. He was ordered a long time ago against hanging around anywhere children congregate. “The conditions were impossible, of course. He couldn’t turn and run in the opposite direction every time he saw a child. Theywere all over, everywhere, at any hour.” When he sees nine-year-old Jessie Brant fall from the jungle gym, he is determined to warn her parents—even lecture them, if necessary—about caring for someone he believes to be a fragile little girl. But he needs to know where she lives, so in his green coupé he follows her and her girlfriend, Mary Martha Oakley, home.\
So begins The Fiend, an outstanding novel of
psychological suspense by one of the most skillful writers ever to work in this
genre. But to say much more about the storyline would conceivably spoil the
hard-to-stop-reading experience, so I’ll refrain beyond citing generalities.
The most prominent characters include Kate Oakley,
mother of the aforementioned Mary Martha, who verges on paranoia when it comes
to her ex-husband Sheridan. Kate is convinced it is he who is watching the
house from a green coupé, and who is doing anything and everything he can to
torment her. Kate frequently calls her attorney, Ralph MacPherson, whenever she
fears—however abstractly— that she’s being assailed by Sheridan.
The Brants, Ellen and David, Jessie’s parents,
appear to be the almost stereotypical happily-married suburban couple. The operative
word is appear. Their next-door neighbors are Howard and Virginia Arlington.
They are childless, so Virginia dotes on Jessie like an adoring relative (or
mother wannabe), often spoiling her by giving her gifts that Ellen feels are
inappropriately expensive. When Jessie is ordered to return a twenty-dollar
book to Virginia, Howard—whose marriage is more than a little rocky—presses
twenty dollars in cash on the little girl, thus catalyzing a crucial future
event.
Ben Gowen is Charlie’s older brother and, of
necessity since their parents are dead, his caretaker, despite Charlie’s having
a job he handles responsibly. Still living in the house he and Charlie grew up
in, Ben is more than a little pleased when Charlie meets Louise Lang and sees
the two of them develop a relationship that is leading to marriage, because
then he’ll be able to find an apartment of his own to live in and finally
cultivate a life apart from Charlie’s.
In the hands of a lesser writer, The Fiend would most likely become sensationalistic tripe. Ms. Millar takes mundane events and transforms them into a tense, page-turning experience. Readers who enjoy novels featuring characters adroitly delineated via their back stories, internal monologues and dialogues so that they virtually get up and walk off the page, are likely to savor this brilliantly-constructed novel.
Barry Ergang ©20016, 2021
Some of Derringer Award-winning author’s Barry
Ergang’s work is available at Smashwords
and Amazon.
Thursday, April 29, 2021
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 80 Calls for Submissions in May 2021 - Paying markets
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Moyes, Kline, Theroux, Patton, Robson, Pierce
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Lucky Policeman (1938) by Rupert Penny
The Reading Room: Reading Room Interview with Author Annette Dashofy
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 35 Writing Contests in May 2021 - No entry fees
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: The Big Book of Espionage, ed. Otto Penzler
Little Big Crimes: Return to Sender by Gar Anthony Haywood
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THAT IN ALEPPO ONCE... by Vladimir Nabokov
Short Story Wednesday Review: High Meadow Storm by Wayne D. Dundee
From the archives….
Waking up and having no idea where you are or your
own name is not a good thing. At least folks found him at the R-Bar ranch and
brought him into the small cabin three days ago. He’d been found up by the high
meadow after a storm. Who he is and why he was there are just two of the many
questions at work in this short story.
The ranch is run by teens and their far younger
siblings after the death of their parents. Fever took them last winter, as it
did many others, in the area. The twins are 8 and supervised by Addie who is
almost 17 and her brother Heath, 18. Heath is the one who found the unconscious
stranger and brought him to the cabin. The Rudisels are holding their own
despite the efforts of nature and man to boot them off the land. With no idea
who he is or where he should go, it becomes natural for the stranger to stay and
get involved in their struggle in High Meadow Storm by Wayne D.
Dundee.
As is frequently the case in Mr. Dundee’s westerns a
major mystery is at work in this story. In fact, there are several mysteries in
play in this enjoyable tale. Nominated for the 2016 Peacemaker Awards of the
Western Fictioneers this tale that was originally published in Protectors
2: Heroes-Stories To Benefit Protect is now available as a
standalone read. High Meadow Storm is also mighty good read as
one would expect from Wayne D. Dundee.
Material supplied by the author in exchange for my
objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2016, 2021
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 22 Great Writing Conferences in May 2021
Matt Paust's Crime Time: SHRAPNEL – James Lloyd Davis
Jungle Red Writers: Introducing a new Britbox mystery series!
SleuthSayers: The Pause that Refreshes by Michael Bracken
Monday, April 26, 2021
SleuthSayers: No, No, No, No-no, No-no-no...Banned Books by Steve Liskow
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 12 Mystery and Thriller Publishers Open to Submissions - No Agent Required
Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: A Fatal Mistake by Faith Martin
Faith Martin
is a contemporary British author, who also writes under the names Maxine Barry,
Joyce Cato, and Jessie Daniels. She lives in Oxford, where most of her books
are set. Among her mysteries are the D.I. Hillary Greene series (18 titles),
Jenny Starling series (7 titles), Monica Noble series (3 titles) and the Ryder
and Loveday series (7 titles). She has also published 21 novels in romance and
romantic suspense.
A Fatal
Mistake
(HarperCollins, 2018) is the second of the Ryder and Loveday series. The
investigative duo of WPC Trudy Loveday and city coroner Dr Clement Ryder is
Martin’s latest creation. Set in Oxford in 1960, this historical mystery takes
the reader back to the time women were just beginning to find a place in the
law enforcement field. WPC Trudy Loveday’s supervisor DI Harry Jennings and
most of her colleagues greatly resent having her on the force, and she is finding
her chosen career a hard slog.
Dr. Ryder is
puzzled by the death of Derek Chadworth, a student of St Bede’s College,
Oxford. He appears to have drowned when several punts full of students collided
on the River Cherwell. However, Dr. Ryder can find no one who saw the victim in
any of the punts before the incident. In addition, the students who were called
to testify at the inquest all said virtually the same thing, as if they had been
coached. Dr. Ryder is determined to look deeper into the death and requests the
assistance of WPC Loveday for a few days. Jennings agrees reluctantly. The last
time Ryder and Loveday teamed up, they solved a murder and gained recognition
that Jennings wanted for himself. But Ryder knows Jennings’s supervisor well
and Jennings is happy to have Loveday away from the police station, so off she goes.
Ryder and Loveday make a welcome departure from the usual crime-solving team. Loveday’s inexperience allows Ryder to give the reader information in the guise of coaching Loveday, which is a good technique that allows the story to keep moving. Nicely developed plot with plenty of suspects and red herrings. Written in the vein of traditional mysteries, think Patricia Wentworth and Agatha Christie, but not exactly cozy. There’s not much in character development and there’s no psychological drama here. This series will appeal to readers of British detective stories.
·
ASIN: B07BQKHV7G
·
Publisher: HQ Digital, imprint of HarperCollins (September 5,
2018)
·
Publication date: September 5, 2018
·
Language: English
·
File size: 628 KB
Aubrey Hamilton ©2021
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on
Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, April 25, 2021
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Case of the Unfortunate Village (1932) by Christopher Bush
SleuthSayers: The Hat Trick by R. T. Lawton
Saturday, April 24, 2021
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
Scott's Take: Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Vol.1
Avengers
by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Vol.1
collects the first volumes of Jonathan Hickman run of Avengers and New Avengers.
These titles are highly interconnected so having all the issues together makes
reading easier. This is the first of several planned collected volumes to come.
Hickman's run is widely considered one of the best runs of the Avengers ever.
It is also well recognized to be one of the most complicated as it featured
several new characters and new concepts while incorporating lots of existing
and new backstory and history between characters.
This
collection begins with a simple idea: things are getting worse, there are more
threats coming, and the Avengers need to get bigger. After an attack on earth
by powerful aliens the Avengers launch a counterattack on Mars against new foes.
While battling on Mars, they learn of impending threats that could mean the end
of life on Earth. Featuring Avengers such as Captain America, Wolverine, Thor,
The Hulk and newcomers like Hyperion, Smasher and more. The strongest and
biggest team of Avengers will face threats that endanger all life.
The
focus shifts to the New Avengers in the second half of the book, where the secret
group known as the Illuminati attempt to stop multiversal incursions (other Earths
are colliding with this Earth) that could destroy it and the entire universe.
What are they willing to do to survive? Are heroes like Black Panther, Mister
Fantastic, Dr. Strange, Iron Man, and others willing to destroy another Earth
if that's what it takes to survive? To save the people you love and to save
yourself would you kill an entire world?
Featuring
incredible art, epic battles, and deep ideas, Hickman’s run is awesome. Pretty
much every character is written well and has memorable moments. It is a tale
built on relationships between characters, big ideas, and deep concepts. The
titles are interconnected in terms of timeline as well as several characters
crossover between the different storylines.
I
highly recommend Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection
Vol.1 for both new and old fans of the Avengers. There are so many
ideas and characters that it might be difficult for some readers to follow. The
read requires a lot of focus for the best experience, but the effort is very
much worth it.
Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The
Complete Collection Vol.1
Jonathan Hickman
https://www.marvel.com/comics/creators/11743/jonathan_hickman
Marvel
August 2020
ISBN#: 978-1-302-92509-3
Paperback (also available in eBook format)
336 Pages
My reading copy came from
the Downtown Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2021
Friday, April 23, 2021
SleuthSayers: Making Fudge by Joseph D'Agnese
Writer Beware®: The Blog: The Case of the Purloined Blog Post: HOW A FAKE DMCA NOTICE FAILED TO SILENCE WRITER BEWARE
FFB Review: TRIAL BY FURY (1941) by Craig Rice (Reviewed by Barry Ergang)
From the archive…
TRIAL
BY FURY (1941) by Craig Rice
Reviewed
by Barry Ergang
Wanting a break from the hurly-burly of Chicago,
Jake and Helene Justus hie themselves off to Jackson, Wisconsin and the county
courthouse, from which they want to obtain a fishing license. They haven’t been
there very long when vacationus interruptus occurs in the form of ex-Senator
Peveley being shot by a person unknown in what initially seems to be under
impossible conditions since there are six people close by, all of whom are
prominent local officials. None of them have seen the shooter—or so they claim.
The senator is the second murder victim in Jackson
in thirty-two years. This complicates the inept and irascible Sheriff Marvin
Kling’s life considerably, since it’s the first murder he’s ever had to
investigate. It also complicates Jake’s life, because he and Helene are looked
upon as strangers in small-town Jackson, and thus highly suspect. When the
sheriff decides to hold them as material witnesses, Helene sends a telegram to
their old friend, lawyer John J. Malone, in Chicago, tersely apprising him of
their situation—especially Jake’s—and asking him to come help them. After an
exchange of additional telegrams, some of the lawyer’s indicating reluctance,
Malone finally agrees.
Three more murders, each committed in a different
manner, occur. Is Jackson County dealing with one killer or four different
ones?
Jake disappears. Is he on the run either from actual
guilt, or simply to elude capture until the crimes are solved? Or has he been
murdered or kidnapped?
It’s up to Malone to resolve matters and reveal the
identity of the actual killer or killers.
I’m pretty sure that this was the first Craig Rice
novel I ever read back in the Dark Ages of my teen years, when a cousin who
learned I was enamored of detective novels gave me a copy. Since so many years
had passed, I decided to reread it.
I can recommend Trial by Fury as an entertaining and reasonably well-paced whodunit, but I wouldn’t classify it as one of Craig Rice’s best. She was an exemplar of the screwball comedy school of mystery, but this particular novel, though it has its share of humorous dialogue, is not nearly as funny as other titles in the Malone/Justus series, where both dialogue and situations result in zanier scenes.
Barry Ergang ©20017, 2021
Some of Derringer Award-winning author’s Barry
Ergang’s work is available at Smashwords
and Amazon.
Thursday, April 22, 2021
Review: Death Stalks Door County: A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery by Patricia Skalka
Death
Stalks Door County: A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery by Patricia Skalka is the first book in a multi book
series. Published in 2004, author takes readers to the peninsula that juts out
between Lake Michigan and Green Bay.
Dave
Cubiak is a man living with incredible grief. His wife and daughter were killed
and he knows that he is responsible for their deaths. Not directly, but
indirectly, and that grief is all encompassing and wide ranging.
“He
found it unsettling how quickly life returned to normal for those on the
outskirts of loss. For a week after Lauren and Alexis died, he’d failed to pick
up the morning newspapers from the front porch, not because he forgot but because
everything commonplace seemed superfluous. His perspective had been so altered
by death, he could not comprehend a world in which someone would continue to
drop a daily paper at his door. He was only beginning to understand that for
those not directly touched by it, death was a transient event (pages 60-61).”
The
former Chicago homicide detective left the force and came up to the Door County
to be a park ranger. He promised his former homicide partner he would give the
job a year and he intends to uphold that promise despite the grief, the massive
alcohol intake, and the ongoing annoying stupidity of others including his
boss, Otto Johnson.
He
wanted to leave death behind. At least, that was the plan. Then three months
into the job, in late June, he hears a sharp wail nearby while out running one morning
as he tried to flush the toxins from his system. He investigates and finds his
boss, Park Superintendent Otto Johnson, at the base of Falcon Tower. It appears that somebody
took a header off the multistory fire watch tower.
It
soon becomes clear that the deceased is Lawrence Wisby. As Cubiak is forced to
explain to his boss, Sheriff Halverson, and Doctor Bathard, the deceased is the
brother of the man that killed his wife and daughter by driving drunk and
running them down with a car. That makes him a suspect as far as the Sheriff is
concerned.
An
intense and highly atmospheric story, Death Stalks Door County: A Dave
Cubiak Door County Mystery by Patricia Skalka is a complicated and
often intense read. Grief plays a major role in the book almost to the point of
an actual living and breathing character. Issues related to that aspect of the
book leads to considerable backstory as well as a deep resonance with this
reader. The ongoing current day mystery is complicated and far ranging and
resulted in a considerable surprise when the killer was finally revealed.
Intense, complicated, and very atmospheric, Death Stalks Door County: A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery by Patricia Skalka is a very good read.
Death Stalks Door County: A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery
Patricia Skalka
http://www.patriciaskalka.com/
University of Wisconsin Press
https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/5315.htm
May 2014
IISBN# 978-0299299408
Hardback eBook (eBook and paperback formats also available)
246 Pages
Material supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Library System.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2021
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Wizard of Earthsea, Ministry for the F...
SleuthSayers: The Devil You Don't Know by Robert Lopresti
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "Clever and Quick" by Christianna Brand
Short Story Wednesday Review: Mystery Weekly Magazine: August 2020
There is only one tiki bar in Haines, Alaska and it
is called fittingly enough, Bamboo Room. Friends Sherilyn Crabtree and Ginny
Krause are in the place to drink and catch up. Ginny is looking to change up
her life through this might not be exactly what she had in mind in “The Odds
Are Good.”
Sheriff Sherri Fine is spared listening any more to
Senate candidate Clayton Holmes pontificate thanks to the radio call about a
dead body out on Devil's Canyon Creek Road. Sheriff Fine has a complex case in
“Bone Soup” by Michael Bracken. The human bones and maybe a few strands of hair
are not going to be much help, but they will tell her enough to give her a
starting point on a cold case going back years. Hopefully, this is not the last
tale with Sheriff Fine as this was and is a really good read.
Mom always played a certain set of numbers in the
lottery. Mom is deceased, but our narrator continues playing her numbers in “Suicide
Insurance” by Gerard J. Waggett. He also has another plan to get some cash
quick. Luck might be a lady, but she can also cruelly laugh and rip your heart
out.
Being the mascot Chester the Shelter Dog is hot and
very sweaty work at the Mansfield County Animal Shelter Furry Friends Festival.
It is the first one ever as “The Power Of The Dog” by Leon Ciporin begins. The
man with the gun might make this a onetime event for a number of folks. He has
to be stopped.
“A Grave Mistake” by Rachel Amphlett comes next
where Ben finds what appears to be a grave. Getting lost in the park was bad
enough. Finding the grave is way worse. He has got to find his way back to
where he parked and get out of there.
Attorney Scott Turley uses a flip phone so it takes
him a while to find it. Part of the problem is that he has been drinking awhile
in “Only The Desperate Come Here” by Michael Mallory. Carl Bone the third is
the caller and he says he needs a lawyer because he killed a man. There is
money to be made so Turley is looking forward to the case.
Wade Calvert is back home dealing with the trash and
his past in “A Little House Cleaning” by David Bart. The farmer is dead, but
Miram is still alive and hiding somewhere. He isn't the only one fed up and
looking to settle things.
The You-Solve-It this month is “A Numbers game” by
Bruce Harris. Winterball in January in Puerto Rico where a baseball player,
Benny Tasby, is very much dead. The rookie phenom has had his head bashed in
with a baseball bat. Naturally, several players resented him in various ways
and that means they are all suspects.
The issue concludes with the answer to the July puzzle,
“Poisoned Relationship” by Laird Long.
Another quality issue that showcases a wide variety in the mystery genre. While my personal favorite was Mr. Michael Bracken’s story, all the tales in the issue are solidly good. Interesting characters, interesting cases, there is something for every reader in the Mystery Weekly Magazine: August 2020.
For quite some time now I have been gifted a subscription by the publisher with no expectation at all of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2021
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Writers Who Kill: Being Selective about Short Story Submissions by Paula Gail Benson
Criminal Minds: Who Do You Write For? by Frank Zafiro
Beneath the Stains of Time: Twenty-Five Sanitary Inspectors (1935) by Roger East
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith
Review: A Simple Murder: A Kate Burkholder Short Story Collection by Linda Castillo
Five previously published short stories make up A
Simple Murder: A Kate Burkholder Short Story Collection by Linda
Castillo. Published in 2013 to 2019, each short story was released at that time
as a marketing effort to draw attention to the new book that would soon follow.
Such is the case here as there is a short excerpt from the upcoming novel, Fallen,
which is to be released this summer.
The book opens with “Long Lost” published in 2013 when
the romance between Kate Burkholder and John Tomasetti is new. Tomasetti is a
state agent and Kate Burkholder is the Chief of Police of Painter's Mill, Ohio.
They are their first weekend getaway about an hour from her home. They are at a
bed-and-breakfast owned and operated by Harley and Fannie Hilty. They also soon
become interested in the disappearance of Angela Blaine who vanished many years
prior to their arrival.
Next is “A Hidden Secret” where a newborn is left
in a laundry basket at the front door of the home of Bishop Troyer. Leaving the
child wrapped in an Amish quilt and with an Amish rattle, as well as a being
left on the Bishop's porch, all indications are is that the newborn is the
hours old child of a local resident. After the baby is checked out at the local
hospital and under care, Chief Burkholder needs to identify and locate the
parents. Especially the mother who probably gave birth alone and may need urgent
medical care.
Next up is “Seeds of Deception” which takes readers
back to a time in Kate Burkholder's complicated childhood. As the tale begins,
she is fourteen and her mom wants her to go pick apples with her older brother
Jacob. She is already in trouble because her mom caught her reading a mystery
novel the other night using a flashlight under the covers. it should have been
a quiet and boring day at Zimmerman's orchard. It isn't at all.
It is a Friday evening in the spring and things are
unusually quiet in “Only the Lucky.” Chief of Police Kate Burkholder had no
idea that there is about to be a major party underway until local Amish farmer
Aaron Yonder comes to tell her. She has known Aaron since they were kids and
she knows that he does not come to see her easily. The fact that it is Friday
the 13th does not help matters. Nor does a murder.
Before dawn wake up calls happen a lot in the novels
and they happen here too “In Dark Company” where a four in the morning phone
call gets things rolling for Chief of Police Kate Burkholder. A woman has
arrived at a residence in the surrounding rural area. It is clear that she has
been assaulted and she is terrified. What isn’t clear is who did it, what
happened to her, and the identity of the suspect or suspects. The case is going
to be difficult as the woman seems to have no memory of what happened and does
not even know her name.
The final short story is the 2019 published, “In
Plain Sight.” Orin Schlabach's dog would not be silent that morning. Jojo kept
barking nearly nonstop at something out in the field. When the 78-year-old man
got out there, he realized that Noah Kline is in the field unconscious and barely
alive. It is a heck of a way to start a Sunday morning and Chief of Police Kate
Burkholder is going to have her hands full.
The book concludes with what is billed as Chapter 1
of Fallen. Unfortunately, it is a prologue and has nothing at all
to really interest the reader as the short section is entirely too vague. The sis
pages here could be applied to any book in this series or pretty much any
mystery by any author anywhere. As a preview of the coming book, the section misses
the mark massively and serves absolutely no purpose for the book that is coming
out in early July.
All in all, the actual stories in this collection
are good ones. For readers who are not already familiar with them, they are a
nice slice of the Kate Burkholder world. They also serve as a nice introduction
for readers unfamiliar with the world that began many years ago with Sworn
to Silence. Whether, when each short story is about $1.99 or less on
their own in eBook format, a hardback print collection priced at $30.99 makes
sense, I leave it to the reader to determine.
For another look at the book, make sure to read Lesa
Holstine’s review from last February here.
A Simple Murder:
A Kate Burkholder Short Story Collection
Linda Castillo
https://www.lindacastillo.com/
Minotaur Books
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250783615
February 2021
ISBN#
978-1-250-81968-0
Hardback (audio,
eBook, and mass market paperback formats also available)
416 Pages
Material supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2021
Monday, April 19, 2021
SleuthSayers: Remaindrance of Things Past: A Memoir by Josh Pachter
Little Big Crimes Review: Yeah, I Meant To Do That by Mat Coward
Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood
Fortune
Favors the Dead
(Doubleday, 2020) is the historical mystery debut from journalist and playwright
Stephen Spotswood. First in the series, it opens with the meeting of famed
private investigator Lillian Pentecost and circus performer Willowjean Parker
in 1942, then flash forwards to November 1945 after Willowjean has become
Lillian’s assistant.
The children
of Alistair Collins, late president and CEO of Collins Steel and Manufacturing,
enlist Lillian’s services to solve the murder of their mother Abigail Collins. The
twins’ father committed suicide in September for no known reason. Their mother
was murdered in the same room a few weeks later after a séance at a Halloween
party. The séance was held by a “spiritual advisor” to whom Abigail had become
devoted but who was viewed askance by the authorities. The party was
well-attended with plenty of potential suspects but the police were stymied by
the lack of evidence and motive. The lieutenant in charge of the investigation
is not happy about Lillian’s involvement but realizes he could use her help.
Willowjean is
the narrator and the reader learns what she is thinking and how she processes
events while seeing only the actions of the other characters. Kirkus equates Lillian
and Willowjean to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, and the comparison is apt.
Their Fritz is a Mrs. Campbell from the Border Counties and the descriptions of
her cooking are mouthwatering. Spotswood’s experience in dramatic development
informs the pacing of the action which moves smoothly from one scene to the
next. The characters are fully realized and quite human; they may be the
strongest part of the story, as the actual mystery is so-so. The surprises continue
after the unveiling of the murderer up to the last page.
A 21st
century approach to gender issues is folded into the story line that I did not consider
realistic for the time and place. I think this is part of the inconsistent use
of period detail, which will be distracting to some readers. A sound story
overall that bodes well for a series continuation.
Starred reviews from Bookpage and Publishers Weekly. The second book in the series is scheduled to be released in December 2021.
·
Publisher: Doubleday (October 27, 2020)
·
Language: English
·
Hardcover: 336 pages
·
ISBN-10: 0385546556
·
ISBN-13: 978-0385546553
Aubrey Hamilton ©2021
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who
works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
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