Jerry's House of Everything: MISS MARPLE: A POCKET FULL OF RYE (FEBRUARY 11, 995)

Jerry's House of Everything: MISS MARPLE: A POCKET FULL OF RYE (FEBRUARY 11, ...: This is the second of a series of Miss Marple episodes produced for BBC Radio4 in 1995, starring June Whitfield as everyone's favorite e...

FFB Review: SKYLAR (1995) by Gregory McDonald Reviewed by Barry Ergang

Barry is back for this final Friday in January with another FFB Review. Make sure  your check  out the full list over at Patti Abbott’s blog.

SKYLAR (1995) by Gregory McDonald

Reviewed by Barry Ergang

Skylar Whitfield, now in his late teens, has spent his living and working life on his family’s farm at Greendowns (pronounced “Grendons”) County, Tennessee. A strong and good-looking young man who was a straight-A school student with no athletic inclinations, he has no further academic ambitions. He’s quite content to stay where he is, have sex with Tandy McJane, and carouse with his pal Dufus.

When the novel opens, Skylar and Tandy are going at it instead of being where they ought to be: at the party Skylar’s parents Dan and Monica have thrown for friends and neighbors to celebrate the arrival from Boston of their nephew Jonathan, a Harvard student who is recovering from a bout of mononucleosis. Uncomfortable in the southern atmosphere with which he’s as unfamiliar as the partiers would be up north, Jonathan nevertheless tries to mingle with other guests, among them Mary Lou Simes, a popular local girl known for entering and winning beauty contests and Skylar’s former girlfriend.

Eventually Skylar gets to the party and finally meets his cousin for the first time. Their relationship is somewhat edgy from the outset, but along with Dufus, the two ultimately wind up at a favorite local roadhouse called the Holler. Shortly thereafter, Mary Lou Simes comes in with three of the party-goers from Whitfield Farm. Later on, Skylar and others observe her leave the place alone.

The next day, Sheriff Culpepper (a.k.a. Pepp) is notified that disabled veteran Tommy Barker has discovered what appear to be human remains in the woods, remains that are later identified as Mary Lou’s. Not far from her body is a Swiss Army knife, one identified as Skylar’s. Jailed as the prime suspect, Skylar is subsequently broken out of his cell by friends so he can try to find out what actually happened. When Mary Lou’s brother Jack who, with some friends, beat up Skylar, is also found dead, Skylar’s troubles deepen.

It’s been a very long time since I read the late author’s novels about newsman Fletch (the character for whom he’s probably best known) and detective Flynn, as well as a standalone called Running Scared, and I no longer own copies of those novels to consult. But with the possible exception of the standalone, I don’t remember any of them having characters as colorful, well-delineated and complex as there are in Skylar, which is absolutely as much a novel of character as it is a mystery story, and in which McDonald skillfully modulates humor with solemnity. And in which surprises abound.

Strongly recommended to readers who don’t object to some explicit sexuality and occasional raw street language.

© 2019 Barry Ergang

Some of Derringer Award-winner Barry Ergang’s work can be found at Smashwords (some freebies here) and Amazon.

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn

The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn (St. Martins, 1995) is the second historical mystery featuring the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple, who decides to earn her living by writing feature articles about some of England’s old homes, using her social connections to gain access to them. In 1923 this was a radical step for one of her social position but one she felt she had to take after the death of her father during the flu pandemic of 1919 sent the title to a distant cousin. Her brother and her fiancé both died during World War I, leaving Daisy with no close family beyond her mother.

On her second adventure she visits Occles Hall in Cheshire, home of a school acquaintance whose confrontational mother terrifies everyone. Lady Valeria disdains Daisy’s bid for independence and secretly fears her children might choose to follow her to escape their mother’s tight hold. However, she cannot resist the idea of seeing her model home and village featured in the latest issue of Town and Country magazine. So Daisy is allowed to visit but must listen to Lady Valeria’s endless strictures while she takes notes on the hall’s history and photographs its exterior and gardens.

Daisy is in the winter garden, a sheltered corner of the property where flowers bloom even in January, when the body of the housemaid who disappeared two months earlier is discovered. Grace Moss was supposed to have run off with a travelling salesman she’d been seen talking to at the local pub. No one in the village was particularly surprised at the time: her mother did the same thing to escape Grace’s abusive father. But the discovery of her body was a surprise and a shock to everyone, even more so when the autopsy reveals her pregnancy.

Lady Valeria bulldozes the local police into a quick arrest and she is well on her way to railroading an innocent man when Daisy quietly calls Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, whom Daisy met on her first adventure. Fletcher is a widowed policeman well below Daisy’s social status and some ten years her senior, but they have stayed in touch. Fletcher finds a way to insert Scotland Yard into the investigation and promptly destroys the flimsy case against the arrested man while discovering the true culprit.

This is one of my favorite historical series. Dunn touches on the hardships of the post-war years without dwelling on them, giving the books authenticity via sideways looks at the war’s aftermath rather than a full bore spotlight on the misery and social upheaval caused by the loss of an entire generation of young men. The mystery is well written and definitely cozy, not a lot of gore, pleasant characters mostly, and happy endings for nearly everyone. A nice choice for winter reading by the fire with a cup of tea and a cat nearby.

·         Hardcover: 226 pages

·         Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (May 1, 1995)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0312132174

·         ISBN-13: 978-0312132170

Aubrey Hamilton ©2018

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.