Crime Watch: Review: EYE OF THE SONGBIRD by Michael Munro

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Review: See Also Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery by Larry D. Sweazy

“’Yes. Hank fought a long, battle.”

“He’s in a better place now.”

I forced a blank look to stay on my face and stopped the words that were about to erupt from my mouth. I couldn’t bring myself to accept the idea that the better place Hank was in wasn’t with me. Most people took comfort in the idea that my husband was waiting for me in the afterlife, but my broken faith wouldn’t allow that kind of hope to take seed. My heart had suffered a severe break that had left lingering damage.’” (See Also Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery, Page 79).

It is January, 1965, in North Dakota as See Also Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery begins. Marjorie’s husband, Hank, passed away last October and Marjorie is deep into grief. She still is unable to sleep in the bed she shared with him nor do anything with his clothes. Having been his caregiver for so long she desperately misses the rituals of the chores she had to do to meet his needs. His dog, Shep, a border collie, is now her dog though she realizes he will always really be Hank’s dog. At least it is January and there is not much outdoors on her farm as this is the time of year when humans and animals hunker down and just try to survive the winter. An in home visit with several of the ladies of the “Ladies Aid” reveals she is not alone in a personal family nightmare.

Tina Rinkerman, a fourteen year old teenager with Down syndrome has wandered away from the family farm. Not only was she not dressed for the January weather, her disabilities make her even more vulnerable. Family and neighbors are out searching for her, but that search has been fruitless and was suspended due to nightfall.

The next day, Marjorie assists in the search and is paired with Sheriff Guy Reinhardt. Their hunt for the young teen takes them to a nearby area where members of the family found foot prints in the snow by a fence line very late the night before. After some walking across barren and snow covered fields, Sheriff Reinhardt and Marjoire spot something in a shelterbelt.  The stand of cottonwood trees was planted as a wind break by some pioneer decades earlier. Now that shelterbreak holds a car with the body of Niles Jacobsen. He has been murdered as the bullet holes through the windshield clearly indicate. It seems obvious that he was lured out there and executed by someone firing from a deer stand inside the shelterbreak.

In addition to the hunt for the missing teenager, Sheriff Reinhardt and the very small police force of Dickerson, North Dakota now have a murder on their hands. They are going to need Marjorie’s help as they all know she reads a lot and is the smartest person around. Her latest freelance index project needs to wait as Marjorie is going to have to help out. Driven by her natural curiosity and her grief, Marjorie pushes to find out whether the two events are linked and how.

Like all good series, this one that should be read in order starting with See Also Proof, followed by See Also Deception. Readers of this series have known from the start of the inevitability of Hank’s death which ultimately occurred in the second book. His death and Marjorie’s grief is one of the two major storylines in this book.  That situation made this read a difficult one for me.

Not because the book is not good. It very much is. Marjorie’s grief and her responses to it hit very close to home. For some reason, I have always felt a deep kinship with the very fictional mid 30s Marjorie Trumaine. I have no idea why as not only am I a mid 50s male and a city boy, I have never lived in North Dakota, and would have been a little over three years old at the time of this book. We have nearly nothing at all in common. Yet, her grief over the loss of her beloved husband so mirrors my own over the loss of my beloved Sandi, the book brought me to tears several times. Not just because, like the fictional Hank, it was Sandi that had faith and optimism and always believed she would survive. Marjorie is also trying to find her way to go on, despite everything, and is having a very difficult struggle with doing so. More than once she expresses how much she misses the routine chores of caregiving as she met Hank’s needs. Those who know me are also very much aware how much I am struggling with my loss as well as how much I miss the routine chores of caregiving with the loss of my wife. Marjorie is trying to go on by focusing on her work as an indexer and I am trying to do as the same by doing reviews and other writing related projects. As it was for Marjorie, my work began as an attempt to bring some sort of income into the household. Her grief, at times, overwhelms her as does mine. There is still more to this shared bond that I can’t even begin to describe. She is as broken in her own way as am I though by the end of the book one gets the sense she is going to be okay.

See Also Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery by Larry D. Sweazy continues a very good series. The secondary storyline of the missing girl and the murder are complex and full of surprises. A solidly good book in an excellent series, See Also Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine mystery is well worth your time. 

For another take on the book, make sure you go read this review by Lesa Holstine from late last April.

See Also Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery

Larry D. Sweazy

http://www.larrydsweazy.com

Seventh Street Books (Imprint of Prometheus Books)

http://www.seventhstreetbooks.com

May 2018

ISBN# 978-1-63388-279-9

Paperback (eBook format available)

$15.95

251 Pages

My review copy came by way of the Dallas Public Library.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018

Bif Bam Pop! Review: The Happytime Murders Is A Very Unhappy Viewing Experience

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Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 22 Writing Contests in September 2018 - No Entry F...

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In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday 8/27/18

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TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar for August...

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Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Death Dines at 8:30 AND Death Dines In Anthologies

I loved the novelty of culinary mysteries when they first arrived on the scene and I think I read every one published for years. Food and books! Together! I was delighted when these two collections of short food mysteries were issued.

Death Dines at 8:30 (Berkley, 2001) sifted to the top of one of my stacks recently. It’s a collection of 16 short culinary mysteries edited by Claudia Bishop, who wrote the Hemlock Falls Inn series of cooking mysteries, and Nick DiChario, a prolific author of short fantasy and science fiction. The premise of each is that a death occurs during an evening meal at 8:30 P.M. Despite the common framework, the stories are as different as can be in the hands of these diverse authors: Barbara D’Amato, Edward D. Hoch, Nick Danger, Tamar Myers, Elizabeth Daniels Squire, Valerie Wolzien, Claudia Bishop, Bill and Judy Crider, Camilla T. Crespi, Mike Resnick, Jean Hager, Patricia Guiver, Nancy Kress, David A. Kaufelt, Sharan Newman, and Diane Mott Davidson. A recipe accompanies each story. A nice part of this anthology is that the royalties were donated to America’s Second Harvest, a nonprofit that feeds the hungry.

The companion volume, Death Dines In (Berkley, 2004), was edited by Claudia Bishop and Dean James, industrious author of five mystery series and four volumes of mystery-focused nonfiction. The common thread in these stories with recipes is a meal at home, as imagined by Donna Andrews, Claudia Bishop, Rhys Bowen, Don Bruns, Meg Chittenden, Nick DiChairo, Marcos Donnelly, Carole Nelson Douglas, Elizabeth Foxwell, Parnell Hall, Lyn Hamilton, Jeremiah Healy, Dean James, Mary Jane Maffini, William Moody, and Anne Perry.

I always like having a volume of short stories at hand so that I can read a little here and there without having to stop mid-action. These two books are excellent choices for grazing, as well as offering some interesting recipes. While they were originally released in hardcover, they are also available in mass market paperback, making them easily portable. One drawback is that neither contains an index to the recipes.

Death Dines at 8:30

·         Hardcover: 304 pages

·         Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1st edition (May 1, 2001)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0425174700

·         ISBN-13: 978-0425174708

Death Dines In

·         Hardcover: 336 pages

·         Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1st edition (May 4, 2004)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0425192628

·         ISBN-13: 978-0425192627

Aubrey Hamilton ©2018

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

2018 Killer Nashville Awards Winners

2018 Killer Nashville Awards Winners

RTE Update - August 25 Issue

The August 25 2018 issue of RTE is out and includes fifteen new reviews as well as a new interview:

http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com

David Handler in the 'Sixty Seconds with . . .' interview hot seat:

http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/interviews.html?id=258


REVIEWS THIS WEEK:

THE LAST HOURS Minette Walters Reviewed by Yvonne Klein

FOGLAND POINT Doug Burgess Reviewed by Cathy Downs

DON'T EAT ME Colin Cotterill Reviewed by PJ Coldren

THE MAN WHO COULDN'T MISS David Handler Reviewed by Caryn St Clair

THE BOUNCER David Gordon Reviewed by Yvonne Klein

BAD BLOOD Brian McGilloway Reviewed by Jim Napier

SWIFT VENGEANCE T. Jefferson Parker Reviewed by Anne Corey

DON’T SEND FLOWERS Martin Solares Reviewed by Susan Hoover

YOSEMITE FALL Scott Graham Reviewed by Sharon Mensing

UNDER A DARK SKY Lori Rader-Day Reviewed by Lourdes Venard

THE LAST THING I TOLD YOU Emily Arsenault Reviewed by Barbara Fister

THE PERFECT MOTHER Aimee Molloy Reviewed by Larissa Kyzer

CWA SHORT STORIES Martin Edwards, ed. Reviewed by Lourdes Venard

MURDER AT THE MANSION Sheila Connolly Reviewed by Ruth Castleberry

BEYOND THE GRAVE Judy Clemens Reviewed by PJ Coldren


We post more than 900 new reviews a year -- all of them are archived on the site -- as well as a new interview with a top author every issue.

Yvonne Klein
Editor: ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com

Do Some Damage: Cover Reveal by Claire Booth

Do Some Damage: Cover Reveal: By Claire Booth This week I have a cover reveal for you. The next Sheriff Hank Worth mystery will be called A Deadly Turn . You...

Sunday Morning

It is August here which means heat, humidity, and often very little wind. This morning, after I checked my email, I needed some outside time. It was only 80 as of 9 AM, according to the porch thermometer that has been out there since I was kid at this old house. Not only that, but there was a breze. So, I poured a cup of tea into my new mug that arrived last week courtesy of my brother and his step daughter who were here for a week long visit,  and headed outside with my latest read.

 I am working on STAY HIDDEN by Paul Doiron. No doubt you have seen the news of his new book with a different cover. I happen to have the large print format version by way of the Dallas Library. I am rapidly approaching the end of this very good book. Great series.

Mystery Fanfare: Cartoon of the Day: Editor

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The inside story of Michelle Beadle’s exit from ESPN’s ‘Get Up!’

NY Post: The inside story of Michelle Beadle’s exit from ESPN’s ‘Get Up!’

KRL This Week Update for 8?25/18

Up this morning in KRL a review and giveaway of "Toucan Keep a Secret" by Donna Andrews along with a fun guest post by Donna about what comes first the plot or the title
http://kingsriverlife.com/08/25/toucan-keep-a-secret-by-donna-andrews/



And reviews and giveaways of another great group of mysteries for your end of summer reading-"Four unerals and Maybe a Wedding": Her Royal Highness series by Rhys Bowen, "Grounds for Remorse": A Tallie Graver Mystery by Misty Simon, "Midnight Snacks are Murder": A Poppy McAllister Mystery by Libby Klein, "Murder at Ochre Court": Gilded Newport Mysteries by Alyssa Maxwell, "Scandal Above Stairs": Kat Halloway Mysteries by Jennifer Ashley
http://kingsriverlife.com/08/25/end-of-summer-fun-mystery-reading/



We also have a review and giveaway of "The Halloween House" by Kathi Daley
http://kingsriverlife.com/08/25/the-halloween-house-by-kathi-daley/



And the latest mystery Coming Attractions from Sunny Frazier, along with a chance to win books by Liz Mugavero and Ginger Bolton
http://kingsriverlife.com/08/25/coming-attractions-early-autumn-edition/



And a review and giveaway of "Picked Off" by Linda Lovely, published by Henery Press

http://kingsriverlife.com/08/25/picked-off-by-linda-lovely/



Up on KRL News & Reviews this week we have a review and giveaway of "Claws of Death" by Linda Reilly
https://www.krlnews.com/2018/08/claws-of-death-by-linda-reilly.html



We also have a Q and A with local actor Max Debbas, who also is the actor who voiced our latest podcast, and you can listen to the podcast at the bottom of the post
http://kingsriverlife.com/08/25/local-actor-q-and-a-with-maxwell-debbas/


Happy reading,
Lorie

Saturdays With Kaye: City of Strangers by Louise Millar

City of Strangers by Louise Millar

From the land of Agatha Christie comes, instead, a suspense writer worthy of Patricia Highsmith. Any city can seem like a city of strangers, especially when, like Grace Scott, one returns to it after her honeymoon and it no longer holds one who was dear to her, her beloved father. She misses him with an ache her new husband can’t assuage.

When they get home, Mac goes out to get groceries and she enters the new apartment alone—and finds a dead man. She’s a journalist and her camera helps her process her thoughts, so she quickly takes some pictures, then dials the police.

The reader learns, right away, of Mr. Singh’s newsagent shop below the apartment, and the presence of a mysterious man in the storeroom. We revisit him throughout the book as his mental state deteriorates. Grace feels a connection with the poor dead man, as she thinks of him, who has been killed in their place and tries to follow any progress on finding his killer. Mac is much too busy, supervising the conversion of a warehouse into flats, with a restaurant and gym, and a bar-slash-photography-studio-slash rehearsal space.

But the authorities make slow progress. They don’t know the man’s name. She finds a discarded envelope addressed to her. On it, he, or someone, has scribbled the words: I am not that man Lucian Grabole. Running alongside this story is one of two people found dead in other places. One is said to be an Australian tourist and one a drug dealer. Grace, convincing her boss to let her work on the story, embarks on a quest for missing pieces of the puzzle, makes astonishing discoveries, and begins to question everything she knows.

Meanwhile, back in England, the mysterious man still crouches in a small space one floor below her new apartment, hiding.

Lucian Grabole proves to be as illusive in life as in death. Can she trust the people who say they’re helping her track down who he was?

Reviewed by Kaye George, author of Requiem in Red, for Suspense Magazine

Lesa's Latest Contest: Giveaway - Mysteries set in London

This week, I'm giving away 2 mysteries set in London - Diane Freeman's A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder and Leonard Goldberg's The Daughter of  Sherlock Holmes. Details available on my blog,
https://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com. Entries from the U.S. only, please.


Lesa Holstine

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Hell’s Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, But...

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