In Reference To Murder: Mystery Melange 10/3/2024

 In Reference To Murder: Mystery Melange 10/3/2024

In Reference To Murder: Mystery Melange for 11/7/18

In Reference To Murder: Mystery Melange for 11/7/18

Monday With Kaye: "The Treasures of Montauk Cove" by Diane Sawyer (Reviewed by Kaye George)

My first thought when I was setting this review up—when did Diane Sawyer of ABC write a book? A quick check made it very clear this was a totally different person who has a number of books out. It must make marketing the works an interesting challenge when one shares the same name as a TV celebrity.

The Treasures of Montauk Cove by Diane Sawyer

Lilli Masters, on a stroll along Grayrocks Beach, finds an unlabelled wine bottle, half buried and full of wine. She’s in the area for the Convention on Long Island History, on assignment for a magazine. The first person she visits after her beach stroll is Silas Jones, proprietor of Nautical Treasures, a shop of new and old

merchandise. They’re both looking forward to hearing his friend, Professor Thomas Reed, a marine archeologist, speak the next morning. Little do they know that the sirens they hear going past the shop are from police cars who have been called to the scene of Professor Reed’s murder, the beach Lilli has just left.

Lillie is staying with friends, an older couple, Margaret--whom she calls Gram--and her boyfriend, Bud. They provide transportation and comic scenes throughout the story. She makes her way there from the shop. When the body of  Silas is found behind his shop later the same day, Lilli meets up with the chief of police, Hank Borden, a rather inept policeman. He repeatedly tells Lilli to keep her nose out of his investigation, but she insists on sticking it in.

There are quite a few suspicious characters running around at the conference. Lillie manages to attend a few sessions, snapping photos all the while for her article. She picks up on the tension between two factions. One side is in favor of donating to museums the treasures that are retrieved from shipwrecks, usually by divers. The other side is for finders keepers. Lillie gradually realizes that the wine bottle she found on the beach is in the middle of this conflict, and also the murders.

She strives to solve the case, but not before her life is threatened. Mysterious symbols and old documents hold valuable information if Lilli can figure everything out in time. Puzzle solvers will enjoy this.

Reviewed by Kaye George, Author of A Patchwork of Stories, for Suspense Magazine

Monday With Kaye: "The Girl Who Married an Eagle" by Tamar Myers (Reviewed by Kaye George)

Last week Kaye George gave us an insider’s glimpse into the world of Mormonism with her review of the mystery the Ties That Bind by Natalie R. Collins. This week “Monday With Kaye” takes us to the world of the Belgian Congo via author Tamar Myers. The mystery titled The Girl Who Married an Eagle is based on events in the author’s life.

“The Girl Who Married an Eagle” by Tamar Myers

This is a delightful book, a chance for a glimpse into the Belgian Congo, when it was still called that. The cover says this book is a mystery, although it’s a mystery to me why that label is there. Be sure

and read the Acknowledgments before diving in. There’s a family story that gives background. Next is the Preface, which puts the reader deep inside the Bashilele tribe and introduces us to Buakane, a member of the tribe.

The story starts in 1959, a year before the country gained independence from Belgium and became the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as it’s known today. Buakane’s beauty is her burden; it has attracted the attention of Chief Eagle. The chief, not a young man by the tribe’s standards, is on the lookout for his twenty-third wife. When Buakane is betrothed to him, the vivid image of her future—being buried alive with him when he dies, after her arms and legs are broken—prompts her to take rash action.

Chapter One takes us to Oxford, Ohio, where the young, impressionable, idealistic Julia Newton is bewitched by a traveling missionary who convinces her that her college degree can be used for the Lord’s work in the Belgian Congo. Even though the tribe is made up of former headhunters, who practice both polygamy and polyandry, and the school consists of young brides who have run away from their older husbands, and conditions in the mission are primitive, Julia decides, on the spot, she will go to Africa.

The American who greets her and takes her to the mission, Hank, is so good-looking he threatens her Christian goals. She tries to ignore her attraction and get on with the business of saving souls.

The history is woven into the storylines unobtrusively as Julia regrets her decision many times after she arrives. But adventures with the other missionaries, the living conditions, and the tribe, and those of Buakane, make for a great read.

Reviewed by Kaye George, author of Eine Kleine Murder for Suspense Magazine

Monday With Kaye: "Ties That Bind" by Natalie R. Collins (Reviewed by Kaye George)

This Monday for her “Monday With Kaye” segment the subject is the TIES THAT BIND by Natalie R. Collins. Unlike many of the books Kaye George has recently reviewed this book, published in 2012, is a standalone. That can be a bad thing if you are only into series. Of course, if you like the book this author has quite the list of other potential reads …

Ties That Bind by Natalie R. Collins

This stand-alone mystery thriller takes places in Utah, so of course it deals with Mormons. But it also deals with their social and cultural issues from the vantage point of an author who grew up in that faith, which is what made this such an interesting read for me.

The sleuth, a police detective named Sam, is the first woman detective in the history of the small town of Kanesville, where she grew up. She has a hard enough time being a female in the male-oriented society, rife with overt sexists. But she’s also dealing with old family problems, the death of her sister when she was a girl. Her grief, still very much alive, manifests itself as eating and sleeping problems. Detective Ray Jones, her partner nicknamed D-Ray, is a good friend to have, her only ally on the force.

A series of deaths by hanging eerily echo the suicide of Sam’s sister so many years ago. Evidence is found however, that throws these recent verdicts into doubt. Not everyone believes—or wants to admit—that a serial killer is operating in the tightly controlled community, but Sam does. She also knows it’s up to her to figure out exactly what’s happening.

Collins’ other books deal with the Mormon culture also, but they are not part of a series except in a loose sense—no recurring sleuths. The author gives us a riveting read and a glimpse inside a culture I know so very little about. I’ll bet you’ll enjoy this book as much as I did.

Reviewed by Kaye George, author of Smoke for Suspense Magazine

Guest Author Reviewer Kaye George and "Designated Daughters" by Margaret Maron

Please welcome author Kaye George to the blog. She offers her thoughts on Designated Daughters by Margaret Maron in a review originally written for Suspense Magazine. After you read her first of what hopefully will be many posts here make sure you go check out her website at http://kayegeorge.com/

Designated Daughters by Margaret Maron

It’s great to be back in Colleton County, North Carolina, with the Knott family.

Miss Rachel, in no pain and expected to pass over soon, is visited by flocks of family members, eager to see her one last time. She’s resting quietly, until she perks up and starts talking a blue streak. Some of what she says is unintelligible, unless you know what she’s referring to. Finally, exhausted, she stops talking and the family goes to get some supper while the aide freshens up the sheets.

Very soon after that, Aunt Rachel is dead, but not of natural causes. Someone smothered her with a pillow.

It’s up to The Honorable Deborah Knott to sort through her tangled family and the other assorted people who were at Rachel’s bedside when she was rattling on about old scandals, to see which one of them felt compelling to stop Rachel from talking. She talks with all of them, dredging up more than one old secret. She and her husband, Sheriff’s Deputy Dwight Bryant, look into Rachel’s minister, her neighboring doctor, and others. She eventually finds out about the Designated Daughters, women who care for the elderly, sometimes even when they aren’t family members. Rachel’s daughter was one of these. Deborah knows it’s one of Rachel’s final words that brought about her death, but which one?

Great puzzler with the usual crowded cast of family members. Don’t worry, a family tree is provided.

Reviewed by Kaye George, Author of Death in the Time of Ice for Suspense Magazine