aunt_agatha

Ashley Weaver: Playing it Safe

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Electra McDonnell #3

If Nancy Drew had lived during WWII and had the skills of a safecracker, she might have grown up to be Ashley Weaver’s appealing Electra McDonnell.  Electra, or Ellie, has been trained by her safecracking uncle and in the first book is recruited by the government to put her skills to a more patriotic use.  While Ellie’s past is criminal, her present is in the service of her country, and as the book opens, she’s given an assignment with few details other than “get to know the locals.” read more

Our Book Club celebrates 30 years!

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Aunt Agatha's Book Club
One of our last meetings in the store
Book club pre-covid at a restaurant, with author Jess Montgomery

Our book club is celebrating 30 years!  When we first opened the store, we didn’t have a book club, but requests led to a club being founded the second year, when we started off with Marcia Muller’s Edwin of the Iron Shoes.  This is not the complete list (far from it!) but this list contains the books we loved, the books that sparked a great discussion of one kind or another, and many of them are favorites because the author actually attended and were so charming and funny (like Thomas Cook) or adorably brought their mothers (like Denise Swanson), that those events generated an interest by members of the book club wanting to read future installments.  We were lucky enough to take Louise Penny and her husband to dinner with the club when A Fatal Grace (book 2) came out.  Reading Raymond Chandler attracted perhaps the most men to ever attend a group; the discussion of Dorothy Sayers’ Gaudy Night brought a passionate and feisty bunch of women, some of whom had read the book dozens of times.  When the store closed, I knew I wanted to keep the club going, and we started out meeting at a restaurant.  Then COVID hit and we moved to zoom – we are now on zoom in the colder months, and we meet twice in the warmer months, once in person and once on zoom.  A giant advantage of zoom is that authors are able and willing to join us which has been delightful – we’ve welcomed Mariah Fredericks, Naomi Hirahara and Paige Shelton.  I’m looking forward to many more years of discussing what we love to read, and all are welcome to join – just message me at store (at) auntagathas.com if you’d like a zoom link.  I keep the website updated with the current book club read, just search on “book club.”  I feel lucky to know this group of passionate readers.  Thanks guys, for the many, many great discussions! read more

Joshilyn Jackson: With My Little Eye

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Before picking up and reading Joshilyn Jackson’s latest stand alone, With My Little Eye, I had never come across the term domestic suspense before. A quick Google search revealed that, as a mystery reader, I’m probably alone in that camp. Jackson has written more than one, for starters. That focus on the relationships and on the everyday life of the characters is what With My Little Eye is really most about.

At its heart, it’s the story of minor celebrity Meribel Mills and adopted daughter, Honor. The two have just been forced to move to a new city thanks to the year-long stalking of Meribel. The stalker hasn’t given up, either. Preteen Honor has dubbed him “Marker Man”, and he sends disturbing, graphic, and always illustrated letters to Meribel by the bunches. He does it in scented marker, no less. read more

Alex Erickson: Death by Iced Coffee

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Bookstore Café #11

Alex Erickson’s most recent addition to the Bookstore Café Mystery series is Death by Iced Coffee. The story opens with owner of local Death by Coffee shop and amateur ‘just can’t help herself’ sleuth Krissy Hancock taking part in a marathon – during a heat wave. Like any sane person, she is regretting her decision, but, as a woman of integrity, she is determined to keep her promise to her friend Rita and do her part. However, she is surprised to spot Rita’s boyfriend display some rather suspicious behavior before the race even starts. Krissy does not want to jump to any conclusions, but her internal radar is pinged and she intends to look into what he could possibly be up to – but not until after the heat wave marathon of pain. Which is thankfully, but tragically, cut short when Krissy stumbles through the brutal heat and across one of the other runners lying dead on the ground. Despite the mild heat stroke, she is able to take in enough of the scene to decide that this poor man wasn’t a victim of heat stroke but rather of murder. read more

Dennis Lehane: Small Mercies

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Dennis Lehane writes like an angel.  His prose, while not flashy, is still beautiful, even while he writes about racial hatred, drug addiction, beat downs and murders.  Through his compelling way of creating character, he reaches in and gives your heart a squeeze, and I think he writes better than anyone about the highways of grief, loss and heartbreak.  It’s one of those miracles of empathy that only the most powerful of writers possess.

While this story is a simple one, in one way, it’s also full of complicated layers and wrong turns. It’s very basically the story of a worried mother looking for her missing daughter.  The mother, the tough as nails Mary Pat Fennessy, lives in South Boston in 1974, just as school busing is about to break the city into riots and protests.  The kids from Southie will be bussed into the black area of Roxbury, and vice versa.  Mary Pat’s 17 year old daughter, Jules, is scheduled to be on the first bus. read more

Ginger Bolton: Cinnamon Twisted

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Deputy Donut #7

Emily Westhill is the protagonist of Ginger Bolton’s Cinnamon Twisted, and owner of the Deputy Doughnut shop. Things start off simply enough for Emily, with the only oddity being a customer who is a little off. Then said customer asks to not only give a toy to Emily’s cat, Dep, but to also leave the store through the back. While Emily finds this odd, she chocks it up to the woman’s personal issues and helps her out, little knowing that interaction would turn her world upside-down and sideways. read more

Lauren Elliott: Dedication to Murder

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Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery #9

Our story begins with heroine Addie Greyborne heading to her wedding to Dr. Simon Emerson. The air is filled with excitement and anticipation, and everyone couldn’t be happier for the couple. But everything comes crashing down around her with one announcement, and leaves her with three weeks of vacation to sort out her life. She distracts herself from her personal drama by investigating a new mystery in her attic regarding her beloved Aunt Anita. Soon, it turns out that project is much more complicated and involved than just the discovery of yet another secret room. In it, she finds all kinds of treasures of her past she did not expect to find, including something extra special. However, I will not spoil what that is and leave open to the reader’s interpretation, as there are quite a few things I could be talking about, but for me it was a certain set. That’s the only clue I’ll give. read more

Leslie Meier: Mother of the Bride Murder

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Lucy Stone #38

Leslie Meier’s 38th addition to her Lucy Stone Mystery series is Mother of the Bride Murder.  Lucy’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth, is going to have an extravagant wedding in France and the entire family is invited. Lucy is excited at the prospect of not only her eldest daughter getting married, but also of having an excuse to get her entire family together. There are several obstacles facing different members of the family, from financial constraints to just worrying about not fitting in with another culture. read more

Samantha Jayne Allen: Hard Rain

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Annie McIntyre #2

While this book centers on Annie McIntyre, a young woman who has moved back home to Garnett, Texas, to work for her grandfather’s P.I. firm, it opens with a truly spectacular flood scene (the “Hard Rain” of the title).  A woman named Bethany is spending the weekend with friends in a rental cabin when the flood sweeps her away, and she’s saved by a man who “looks like Jesus.”  He saves her, and then is swept away himself.  Fearing he’s dead, she hires her old high school buddy Annie to try and find out what happened to him. read more

Elly Griffiths: The Last Remains

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Ruth Galloway #15

Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway mysteries have captivated me since I read the first in 2009. Ruth herself is such an excellent character – an independent, academic woman that looks like an everyday person, one who makes mistakes and changes as time passes. Her world in Norfolk, England, is populated by a wide cast of memorable characters, and Griffith’s writing style feels unique, perfectly suited for story telling. I never regretted a minute spent with Cathbad the Druid, cantankerous DCI Harry Nelson, or determined officer Judy. read more