American/Cozy

Sharon Fiffer’s “stuff” books are dangerous – read one, and you might be eyeing your mother’s or grandmother’s aprons or dishtowels as “vintage”, or remembering those salt and pepper shakers belonging to same that were given away without a second thought. In the opening scene of Buried Stuff, series heroine Jane Wheel is practically having a heart attack because she’s finally agreed to a garage sale to clear out some of her own stuff (which apparently packs her entire house, stem to stern). Jane’s friend, and flashier antiques picker/dealer, Claire Oh has helped to set it up and keep Jane on the straight and narrow – Jane doesn’t want to give up a thing. Almost before the garage sale is over, though, Jane gets a call from her parents back home in Kankakee, Illinois – their old friend Fuzzy has found some bones in his backyard, and could Jane’s husband Charley (a geologist) come have a look at them? Since Jane had neglected to plan a family vacation, Charley and son Nick quickly convince Jane that it would be fun to “camp” out in the cabin behind Fuzzy’s house while they look at the bones. Jane agrees – against her better judgement. When she gets to Fuzzy’s she remembers that she hates camping, the dark, and using an outhouse (I’m in full agreement with her there). read more

This was a very pleasant surprise. I’ve read several of the Jane Wheel mysteries and found them enjoyable—I have an uncomfortable feeling that our collection of books rivals Jane’s collection of “stuff”—but this book is, to me, by far the strongest entry yet. How delightful that a writer, six books into an established series, hits a real home run. Often mysteries are well written, but not so often are they actually “mysterious.” On this front Fiffer delivers in spades. read more

“Mr. Cavarelli slithered in at ten o’clock. He was one of the elegant reptiles from the New York office… Even his suit was a lizardlike greenish brown. He wore alligator shoes, which Helen thought was no way to treat a relative.”

Mysteries involve a certain amount of fantasy. In mysteries written by men, the fantasy element often involves the male character and any female: the women all want to jump his bones. In mysteries written by women, the fantasy is even more basic: food. In Sue Grafton’s books not only does Kinsey Milhone live unencumbered by relatives in an adorable apartment that looks like a ship’s cabin, she can eat fried baloney sandwiches grilled with “a knuckle of butter.” In Elaine Viets’ dandy Dead End Job series, her irrepressible heroine, Helen Hawthorne, lives on “pillowy white bread,” plates of brownies, and endless salt and vinegar potato chips. She also has an ultra cool apartment in a very 50’s Florida building, complete with groovy landlady (Margery, who wears only purple), and furnished with 50’s furniture. The barcalounger in Helen’s apartment is my favorite. read more

This is really one of the loveliest cozy series around.  Fiffer’s prose sparkles, and she knows how to tell a story.  All her characters are wonderfully real people, very much like people you might actually know yourself.  Fiffer’s main character, Jane Wheel, is uncharacteristically zen in this outing, which I found refreshing.

Jane is antiques picker and a fledgling private eye, and it’s her love of “stuff” that has propelled the series.  Much like Fiffer herself who collects Bakelite, buttons, pottery and vintage potholders among other items, Wheel’s home and garage are packed to the rafters with her stuff. read more

Julia Kramer’s skill set is extremely varied:  she’s funny, she writes suspenseful books, she tells you a bit about the way TV news works, and her books are an enjoyable breeze to read.  Why that is is a mystery, as she tends to actually cover some very dark territory in her novels, and they’ve gotten a tad darker lately.

She’s also, since her first novel, sharpened her skills as a straight up mystery writer.  She’s gotten terrific at twists and clues, and at setting up a story that gives the reader a fair chance at figuring things out.  In this novel, set partially in Minnesota’s Amish community, she takes two disparate worlds, the “English” and the Amish, and sort of pits them reluctantly against each other. The book opens with a terrific scene of a farm boy falling into a sinkhole and finding he’s there with a dead body.  While the farm boy isn’t the point, the dead body is the point, this wonderful scene setter grabs your attention and gets you completely invested in the story Kramer wants to tell. read more

This is the 27^th Gregor Demarkian novel, making Jane Haddam one of the steadiest performers around.  Each year she publishes a polished, thoughtful novel, with one of the more endearing of contemporary detectives.  While she surrounds Gregor with the Philadelphia and specifically Armenian neighborhood where he grew up and still lives, my favorite part is when Gregor is off cracking the case.

Long ago in the first novel (Not a Creature was Stirring, 1990), Gregor met his now wife, Bennis, a member of the Philadelphia mainline.  In that novel I was frustrated to discover that Gregor was a widower, and that Haddam was not going to give her readers much more detail than that.  However the meeting of the intelligent Bennis and the practical Gregor, over the killing of a member of her family, remains one of the great mystery couple match ups. read more

Buttons?  What kind of interesting or even passable novel could be written about buttons?  Quite an entertaining one, as it turns out, by old pro Kylie Logan, who readers may also know as Casey Daniels or Miranda Bliss.  The premise of this cozy is that the central character is the owner of a brand spanking new shop specializing in all kinds of antique and collectible buttons.

Set in Chicago, the brisk pace of the story seems to fit the Windy City quite well, as Logan opens her story with a gigantic bang: when Josie Giancola goes in to open her new button shop, she’s assaulted by two large, ski mask wearing men, who throw her to the ground and sprint away after having ravaged her shop.  As she’s left t regard the wreckage, picking up buttons she’d meticulously catalogued , she’s sure the men are tied to her ex with a gambling problem. read more

Denise Swanson is a “name” in the cozy universe, having written fourteen books in her popular Scumble River series, and the time has come for her to branch out.  Sensibly, she’s created an entirely different character from her down to earth Skye Denison, school psychologist in Scumble River, Illinois, but she’s stuck to the small town template where she obviously feels comfortable and at home.

Her new series character, Devereaux Sinclair (yes, she shares Denise’s initials) owns a small shop in Shadow Bend, Missouri, her home town.  She had a fancy city job which drove her nuts and has come back to take over the town soda fountain, to which she’s added a gift basket side business.  I think Ms. Swanson must have the heart of a born retailer, because her shop sounds like the perfect retail combination for almost any town. read more

Jacobus…was dumbfounded by such a compelling, polished personal performance, unaware of anything else but the music – his own definition of a great performance. – from Devil’s Trill

Devil’s Trill is one of the more traditional mysteries I’ve read in a long while, and I’ve recently re-read books by Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and Patricia Moyes. It’s also a breath of fresh air with a truly interesting main character and a fantastically interesting setting. Daniel Jacobus is an old, blind, crotchety (he gives new meaning to the word “codger”) violin teacher, and it’s also clear from the novel that he’s a teacher with a rare gift. Along with his deductive skills – honed from many years as a blind man – his gift to mystery fiction is an insight into the backstage goings-on of the classical music world. read more