Review: Set Sail for Murder

Author: Carolyn Hart
Format: paperback 320 pgs
Characters: Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins, Jimmy Lennox
Subject: Family jealousy and murder
Setting: Cruise ship in the Baltic Sea
Series: Henry O mysteries
Genre: Amateur sleuth, semi cozy
Source: my own shelves
Challenge categories: Read from my Shelves, Book Club Reads

I'm not a huge fan of Carolyn Hart's Death on Demand Series, so when our mystery book club scheduled her as the featured author of the month, I chose to try one of her others from the Henry O series because it had been so long since I gave up on the DODs, I had no desire to re-visit Annie Darling, and this one had been sitting forlornly on my shelf waiting to be read for well over a year since I brought it home from a used book sale.  I was mildly and pleasantly surprised.

"Henry O" is an investigative reporter. She has brains, makes intelligent decisions about what to become involved in, and when to involve authorities, and is a thoroughly likeable protagonist. She is asked by a friend (and former lover) to help him figure out which members of his current wife's family is trying to kill her.  There's a lot of money at stake (not for friend or wife, but for the kids --making a great motive). The book is still definitely a cozy--there's no overt violence, the characters are filled out just enough for us to infer their motivations, the plot moves along in a pretty straight line, the cruise ship setting was well delineated, and anyone who reads mysteries more than twice a year can figure out by about page 200 "who dunnit."  Still in all, it was a pleasant and quick read--the sort one needs when one waits until the day before book club to gobble down something so as to be able to discuss the author intelligently.

Review: Blunt Darts

Author: Jeremiah Healy
Format: hardcover 192 pages
Characters: John Francis Cuddy
Subject : search for a missing teenager 
Setting: Boston and surrounding towns
Series: John Francis Cuddy
Genre: detective fiction
Source: public library
Challenge: Support your local library; Thrillers, Suspense and Mysteries

I read this for a mystery book club discussion.  It's a delightful, well-written example of pure detective fiction.  As the first one of the genre I read after reading P.D. James' book, I really had fun as some of her comments resonated about how such novels are constructed.  There are likable characters, believable plot twists, and enough of the Boston setting to make it quite enjoyable. Basically, John Francis Cuddy, private detective, is hired to find a missing 14 yr old boy, Stephen Kinnington.  Stephen's grandmother is the person doing the hiring, as the boy's father, Judge Kinnington seems to want the lid put on the boy's disappearance, does not seem anxious to find him, and everyone in the town is afraid of His Honor.

Cuddy's search lands him in some unfortunate scrapes as the judge's talons reach further and further, but he is determined to find the boy.  No spoilers, but it's a quick read, easy to follow, not at all banal example of good detective writing. As the first of over a dozen in the series, it has whetted my appetite for more of this gentleman's detecting.

Review: Mistress of the Art of Death

This book is the Summer 2009 Highly Rated Book Group online discussion over on LT. I can't believe I missed it when it first came out in 2007. This is going to be one of my top 5 of the year. It is so good, that I galloped ahead and stayed up 1/2 the night to finish listening to the audio, which is masterfully done by Rosalyn Landor. I could hear the medieval street noise, smell the river, and see the mists. If you like historical fiction, forensic pathology suspense thrillers, medieval pageantry, romance, and intricate plots, this is the book for you. The characters are unforgettable and the story is many layered:

1. Young children are disappearing from the town of Cambridge, and turning up later as skeletons showing evidence of unspeakable torture and death.
2. In England at that time, money lending was illegal. Only Jews were allowed to lend money, so they were tolerated. However the Jews were accused of killing the children.
3. Henry II, needing the Jews to keep his country solvent (no bishop could build a cathedral, no knight embark on a Crusade without borrowing) orders the entire Jewish population of the town into sanctuary within the castle walls. Still the killings continue.
4. At this same time, the town of Salerno in Italy is turning out trained forensic scientists and doctors. Henry sends to his friend the King of Sicily for a "Doctor of Death" to solve the mystery of who is killing the children.
5. Sicily sends its most noted Doctor of Death,Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar, perhaps not realizing that in England, women who 'practice medicine' are more often seen as witches. Adelia is accompanied by Simon the Jew of Naples, and Mansur, a Saracen eunoch who acts as a bodyguard....a sort of medieval CSI team.

Those are just a few of the layers. Add in a Prior with a bad prostrate, an Abbess with a lousy attitude and even worse abbey management skills, an adorable child right out of Dickens, some rather rude and nasty knights, a delightful eelmonger/housekeeper and her helpers Mathilde A and Mathilde B, and you have the beginnings of a wonderful bubbling cauldron of a story. And let's not forget the dog named Safeguard....her description is so great, I can almost smell him myself. All the ingredients blend into an absolute page-turner. Just when you think it's solved, something else twists and you're off on another rollercoaster of emotion, and terror. In spite of the horror of the subject, Franklin manages to inject spots of humor that leave you chuckling with glee. The scene where she catherizes the poor Prior is worth the price of the book. The humanity and compassion displayed by all members of the team bode well for future books in the series. These are people you want to get to know. This is a woman you can root for. This is the first of what is promised to be a series about this wonderful female forensic pathologist. I've already ordered the next in the series: The Serpent's Tale.

A morning at the Dentist

Like most people, going to the dentist is not normally at the top of my "fun things to do" list. But last week, I discovered my dentist is a reader. So is his chairside assistant. As I was in the chair in the"open wide" position with tons of tubes, clamps, cotton rolls and lord only knows what else jamming my mouth, we somehow got into a terrific discussion of books, libraries, and TV adaptations. It's amazing how much communicating you can still do when your tongue is numb and you're not really allowed to speak. The old Roman "thumbs up/down" works really well. We did all agree on several books, and each of us agreed (I think) to go look up a book suggested by one of the others. I just wish I could remember what they were. The novacaine somehow migrated to my brain cells. The dental assistant told me about the reading club she belonged to and asked for suggestions for the next read...it was her turn to choose. I suggested Monica Wood's Any Bitter Thing , Kate Jacobs Friday Night Knitting Club, Geraldine Brooks People of the Book, and Sue Waters Water for Elephants. Turns out this last was their current read. Then we had a hilarious but fun discussion of Alexander McCall Smith's various series, and all agreed that the 1st Ladies' Detective Agency was definitely the best. They were thrilled to find out that HBO has made a TV series of these wonderful stories. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, and the whole loveable cast is there, faithfully portrayed, and delighting us as much as the books. The show is running every Sunday nite on HBO...check it out. And in the meantime, get your hand signals and your book list ready before you head to the dentist next time. Ask them to write down their recommendations. They'll be good ones.