Reviews

If this isn’t one of the best Christmas reads ever, I don’t know what is (maybe Tied Up in Tinsel, by Ngaio Marsh?). This is a light, funny reissue of a series written in the 40’s about an extremely ditzy socialite who marries a vicar and finds herself very much a fish out of water when she ends up in the English countryside. Imagine her dilemma when the curate is murdered on Christmas Eve – luckily two of her most amusing London pals are on hand to help her solve the crime. There’s more to “Lady Loops” than this precis suggests, though, all of it enjoyable and somewhat indescribable. read more

Judy Clemens’ first novel, Til the Cows Come Home, made me cry buckets, and that’s partial proof of her adeptness at creating vivid and believable characters. She also has one of the more unique heroines in the mystery universe – Stella Crown is a dairy farmer with tattoos who rides a Harley for fun and hangs out with bikers. She lives with her friend Lucy, who helps with farm duties, and is shortly to be married, requiring the reluctant Stella (she doesn’t own a dress) to be the maid of honor. As the book opens Stella’s friend Jordan, sound man for a well know Philadelphia band, has gotten Stella and Lucy free tickets and a backstage pass to a concert. Lucy and her fiancee attend with Stella and her boyfriend, Nick, but things go wrong pretty quickly. read more

Rosemary Harris and Jane Cleland do many book events together, which makes perfect sense, since their books complement each other beautifully. Harris writes about gardener Paula Holliday, and Cleland about antiques expert Josie Prescott. Both bring real world knowledge to their respective topics (Harris is herself a master gardener, and Cleland has owned an antiques and rare book business), and both women share an obvious affection for mysteries as a genre, which shows in their books. While Harris’ character doesn’t actually have a mystery paperback at her bedside, Cleland’s character usually has a prime Rex Stout title to help her fall asleep. Again, the real world creeps in—Cleland is a giant fan of Stout and Nero Wolfe in real life. The verisimilitude adds a lot to the books. read more

For newcomer Tori Sinclair, the mores and customs of the South in the small southern town of Sweet Briar, South Carolina seem initially both incomprehensible and impenetrable. Tori, the new town librarian, lucks into the local sewing circle; but she instantly makes a gaffe by bringing lemonade to the gathering instead of something home-baked (one of the other ladies hisses to her in an aside that Southerners only drink sweet tea) and there’s more discomfort due to the fact that the retired librarian and fellow sewing circle member, Dixie Dunn, didn’t exactly take a voluntary retirement. She’s not at the first meeting, but her resentment of Tori at the second one is crystal clear. Tori is also informed that since her real name is “Victoria”, that’s what she should be called. Southerners, she’s told, don’t use nicknames. read more

Either you like Lawrence Block’s dark, depressingly violent Matt Scudder books, or you prefer the light hearted and frequently very funny Bernie Rhodenbarr books. I confess I fall into the later category. I’ve long been a fan of Bernie’s, and having even re-read several of the early series books a few times I was more than delighted when Block brought Bernie out of hibernation. I loved The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams but was put off by The Burglar in the Library and hadn’t picked up another “Bernie” book until this one, an affectionate homage to Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Almost everyone, I think, probably remembers the first time they read The Catcher in the Rye, and in Block’s deft and clever book, everyone remembers the fictional Nobody’s Baby, written by the fictional Gulliver Fairborn. Almost every character has occasion to say, in one way or another, “That book changed my life”. Bernie is on the hunt for some letters written by the ultra reclusive and mysterious Fairborn, but when he breaks into Fairborn’s agent’s apartment to “liberate” them, the agent is dead and Bernie has to leave empty handed.Though the plots in the Burglar books are almost always insanely clever, what’s really fun about them is the setting and the very real characters that Block chooses to populate Bernie’s world. There’s Bernie himself, bookseller by day, burglar by night (and I have to say in my early years of bookselling, Bernie’s choice was starting to seem like an excellent one); there’s Carolyn, the lesbian dog groomer and Bernie’s best friend; there’s Ray, the insensitive, uneducated cop on the take, who nevertheless manages to figure out what’s going on; and of course each book has it’s own individual characters. In The Burglar in the Rye there’s a mysterious female who apparently lived for a brief time with Fairborn, and a charming retiree named Henry who wants to learn the bookselling game and who turns up out of nowhere to help out at the store just when Bernie can use it. read more

“Life is not a joke. It’s got a real attitude, but it’s not a joke.” – from The Hummingbird Wizard

There’s a blurb from Loren Estleman on the jacket of this book, and I can well imagine Mr. Estleman, himself a purveyor of the delicious, well turned phrase, enjoying the beautiful language in this book. It’s so lovely, I read it slowly to enjoy the way this woman writes, because it’s unusually pleasing. On top of that (also like Estleman) she’s got a zinger of a story and a fast moving narrative to go along with it. The only novel I can compare this to is Alexander McCall Smith’s The Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency because Meredith Blevins immerses the reader so totally in another culture that when you’re finished with the book it’s almost disorienting to discover that you, in fact, are not a gypsy or even related to one, like the heroine of this novel, Annie Szabo. read more

Even for someone who never reads anthologies (like me) this one has a bit more going for it than the usual. I’m not a big fan of the mystery short story unless they’re written by Rex Stout, but taking a look at this book, I can see I’ve been missing out. Don Bruns, himself a musician and a writer, pulled together a group of writers who also are singers and not only had them write a short story but had them record a song – the CD is included (so the price point is a complete bargain). He has an impressive list of contributors, including Jeffery Deaver, John Lescroart, Val McDermid, Rhys Bowen and Peter Robinson, and after each story there’s an interview with each author, making this book truly unique. read more

Our book club usually reads one of the paperback originals nominated for the Edgar – and often, we’ve been disappointed. This year’s choice, The Librarian, not only was not disappointing, I think we’re guaranteed a wonderful discussion after we’ve all read it. This isn’t a novel so much as a call to action. If you’re a big fan of George W. Bush, you should probably stay far, far away from it, but if you aren’t, you’ll probably savor the entire thing. The political polemic actually comes in the form of a really terrific, smoothly told story about a mild mannered librarian who agrees to inventory the papers of a local man who is not only extremely wealthy, but deeply involved in the behind the scenes job of re-electing the sitting Republican president. This “fictional” president was elected the first time under suspicious circumstances (Florida was the swing vote), has dealt with a terrible terrorist attack, and has initiated three wars in the Middle East (I did say this was fiction, right?) read more

When Nevada Barr visited the store recently, I was surprised that she attracted more interest than Sara Paretsky. And Barr is definitely at her peak, while Paretsky may have crested her wave – but Barr’s debt to Paretsky is nevertheless a large and noticeable one. Her Park Ranger sleuth, Anna Pigeon, shares many of V.I. Warshawski’s loner qualities and stubborn sense of what’s right. Paretsky can write rings around Barr in terms of complex plotting, but Barr is doing something very interesting with Anna – something I enjoyed very much – she’s letting her age. In this novel, Anna is hanging out undercover as a waitress at an exclusive Yosemite resort and the twenty-somethings she’s living with are making her feel old and invisible. She gripes about turning 50, about the fact that camping isn’t her first choice for a way to spend the night anymore, about having to live in a dorm, and she’s mellowed enough to have a fiancé. These are not only good developments, they are rounding out Anna as a character and making her more believable. And Anna Pigeon is definitely what brings people to this series – that, and a chance to visit a new National Park in each novel. read more