What Happened With My Reading of The Cutting Season

"Just after dawn, Caren walks the grounds of Belle Vie, the historic plantation house in Louisiana that she has managed for four years. Today she sees nothing unusual, apart from some ground that has been dug up by the fence bordering the sugar cane fields. Assuming an animal has been out after dark, she asks the gardener to tidy it up. Not long afterwards, he calls her to say it's something else. Something terrible. A dead body. 

At a distance, she missed her. The girl, the dirt and the blood. Now she has police on site, an investigation in progress, and a member of staff no one can track down. And Caren keeps uncovering things she will wish she didn't know. As she's drawn into the dead girl's story, she makes shattering discoveries about the future of Belle Vie, the secrets of its past, and sees, more clearly than ever, that Belle Vie, its beauty, is not to be trusted."

So, yeah. Time for me to get to hammering with my TRUTH. Like how I had the total gall to DNF Attica Locke’s The Cutting Season. I know. I know. I know how stuff works around here. This was a book–like so many others–that I’m “suppose” to like. Nah, this mug was bor-RING.

The Cutting Season is a literary (if that word is necessary) murder mystery. It weaves together two periods in time alongside two respective mysteries. Mystery One: Civil War era plantation where a female slave once went missing. Mystery Two: same plantation now a historic landmark, where a present-day body turns up at the property line. Two interwoven mysteries blossoming with possibilities and profundity, as they pounce upon a study of American slavery era throes with its present-day echos and resonance. Sounds like a hit–like no other! And I believed it possible in The Cutting Season. Both concepts of the depravity of slavery and its compelling illustration of 17th to 18th century southern American history would become a taunt-like joy to unbraid around a present day murder mystery.

Yet, no. Or, at least, I didn't get into the book deep enough to step into its truth. Because I couldn't quite shake the wafting ennui in the book's first fifty pages. Nor could I shake the book's vibe of projection, as oppose to presences.

But while I did struggle with that, here’s why I decided to call it quits overall...

CHOP IT UP: Alibis & Angels by Olivia Matthews (Sister Lou Cozy Mystery #3)

CHOP IT UP: Peril & Prayer by Olivia Matthews (Sister Lou Cozy Mystery #2)

Keeping the Sister Lou Momentum Going With Her Final Case, Alibis & Angels

"With the Lenten season fast approaching, Sister Louise “Lou” LaSalle looks forward to a final day of indulgence before giving up her favorite sweets. But one Briar Coast resident won’t get the chance to repent. Opal Lorrie, the mayor’s director of finance, was just found in the parking lot of the Board of Ed--with a broken neck. 

The sheriff’s deputies are calling the apparent slip-and-fall a freak accident. But Opal was driving her boss’s car and wearing her boss’s red wool coat. Mayor Heather Stanley has been receiving threatening letters and is clearly the real target. Offering her sanctuary could put the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Hermione of Ephesus at risk, but how can Sister Lou turn her back on a neighbor in need? Aided by her loyal sleuthing partners—her well-connected nephew Chris and reporter Shari Henson—Sister Lou must confront the mayor’s myriad detractors during this critical election year. And as the first day of April nears, it’s up to her to unmask an unrepentant killer who has everyone fooled."

Having recently read book two in Olivia Matthews’s Sister Lou cozy series, Peril & Prayer, I've decided to wrap up the series as a whole. I’m having a “what the hee-haw let’s read the third and final book while the gas is on” moment. And one must indulge such impulses. Besides, this has been a year of settling old debts with my favorite lane of reading: black women crime writers. And by “debts” I mean wrapping up many of the series I’ve been reading on and off again throughout the years. As, of course, seen in my August 2019 TBR.

CHOP IT UP: A Killing Fire by Faye Snowden

CHOP IT UP: Borrowed Time by Tracy Clark (Cass Raines Chicago P.I. Book #2)

CHOP IT UP: Blanche Cleans Up by Barbara Neely

CHOP IT UP: Blanche Passes Go by Barbara Neely

Current & Future BWMW Series Reading Plans

Sooooooo. I spent the first week of August polishing off Barbara Neely Blanche White series, as well as Nora DeLoach’s Mama series. The second and third week I finished Chassie West’s Leigh Ann Warren series. But, also, the grande dame Eleanor Taylor Bland’s, Marti MacAlister series. All four mentioned were series I’ve been reading featured entries for the past seven to eight years. And, well, they’re some of the founding voices in this whole area of mystery reading.

Down the line I have Charlotte Carter’s jazzy Nanette Hayes series to finished. Years ago I ended up reading the second book in the series, Coq au Vin, thinking it was the first book. And, well, now I have the proper first book, Rhode Island Red, and the third and final book, Drumsticks, available for later consumption.

There's also a fourth book, but evidently it never got published. BOO! Anyway, it's been a long time since I read a book featuring musician/amateur sleuth Nanette Hayes book. Color my ass excited to revisit this lady.

Click HERE for my written thoughts on Carter's Coq au Vin.

Polishing off Nikki Baker’s work is on my future reading list as well. Her series features our lesbian sleuth, Virginia Kelly. I can't say I found myself wow'ed by the first book the series, In the Game. Still, I'm anticipating some stronger entries down the pipe in this four-book series. But all that is going to have to wait.

He's... READYYYYYYY...

I be showing all my business sometimes.  Nevertheless, this kid is readyyyyyyy!  Faye Snowden's A Killing Fire is out tomorrow, August 22nd!  I HAD to buy the hardback (who else loves HB?), but the trade paperback will release the same day.  And shout out to Books-A-Million for that 20% off coupon on top of the normal 10% members discount.  Y'all know I love groceries (and an oil change), too.  So a little extra off helps an ole NASTY budgeting thug like myself!  Anyway, I want nothing but success for this book/author!  No, for real.  Black women writers tackling the mystery genre is my literary reading Candyland.  As many of you know by now... I'm sure... :)

I come with receipts!  LOL.

ICON!  And reasons WHY!

Speaking of Sisters in Crime reading in the month of August, I have an update coming soon...

PEACE!

GET YOUR TAILS READY BECAUSE...

...TRACY CLARK IS COMING OUT WITH THE THIRD BOOK IN HER CASS RAINES CHICAGO DETECTIVE MYSTERY SERIES IN MAY OF 2020!  Go 'HEAD, Ms. Clark!  You better sign those contracts and get these books out!

I ain't mad at'cha!  You better come through with your series! (Something told me the cover was going to be red!)

YOU CAN CATCH UP WITH CLARK'S SERIES BELOW (AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKS)

BOOK 1

BOOK 2

{What This Chile's Been Reading} Sisters in Crime Situation

Hel-looo-oooooooo.  What's up, y'all?  What is everyone over yonder reading?  Trust you're all doing well out there in this heat.

All right...
  
Books/Authors Mentioned (links are all Amazon affiliate)...

A bit of blog postie on my little reading "project" at Comic Towel 

Most of you guys are familiar with these ladies, but for those in the back...

{Spotlight Release} A Killing Fire by Faye Snowden

Hel-looo-oooooooo.  What's up, y'all?  What is everyone over yonder reading?  Trust you're all doing well out there in this summer heat.

All right...

A Light (Spotlight) on author Faye Snowden's book, A Killing Fire.

"As a child forced to witness her father’s crimes, homicide Detective Raven Burns dedicates every waking moment to proving that she is not her father’s child. But when she shoots a suspect who has what turns out to be an unloaded weapon, Raven finds that she must confront both the demons of her past and the stains on her soul in order to stop a killer."

Week Two Prep: AUGUST BWM AUTHORS SERIES CLEAN UP

GETTING READYYYYYYYY!

My mood slaying (in a good way) these series DOWN

WEEK ONE: AUGUST BLACK WOMEN MYSTERY AUTHORS SERIES CLEAN UP

Do you ever start a mystery series and it takes you years to complete it? Or, if the series is on-going, it takes you years to catch up with the latest release? Too many books, two little time? Or is it the other way around?

Either way...

I also find myself starting new (usually exciting) mystery series each year. I also find myself juggling too many series each year. Then I find myself losing sight of one or two series each year–in favor of a new love. And, hell, each year I’m spending more money on books instead of reading what I already got! (Or that's speculation and not fact–I'll have to check my wallet.) So with all that in the air, there comes a season of buckling down and finishing what one has started ages ago. And that season is now.

So with that all in mind... here's my latest focus...

I must finish the last two books in Barbara Neely’s Blanche White series. As well, I have to finish the final book in Nora DeLoach's Mama series. Both series written by black women mystery writers. Both carrying respective protagonists sharing her unique crime-stopping traversals through the genre. I began both series years ago, and have been collecting/reading entries in each series off and on for too long. Until now–this week.

CHOP IT UP: Inner City Blues by Paula L. Woods

What's going onnnnnnnn?  BHAH!  Y'all bare with me.  Y'all know my struggles.  Anyway, this book really did taste like some Inner City Blues.  And one I can't wait to slurp up in the book's follow-up.  Somebody go tell that MOFO to COME ONNNNN!  

:) 

Ohhhh, Sis!  I forgot to mention we get to actually go into the morgue in this book.  TWICE, bihhhhh!  Color me weird, but I love morgue and autopsy scenes in a mystery book.  I guess mystery lovers can relate (as well as those who stay glued to the ID Channel/A&E), but those tantalizing scenes amplify my mood to solve some murders with whatever given protagonist.  It's a rush.  It's a high.  

Now in real life...  Hunniiiiiii, you wouldn't catch my ass NO WHERE NEAR a damn morgue!  Baby, ME-NO play around the dead.  Anyway, major props to Woods for this.  Often times authors only allow the investigator to get the final report–instead of being present with the medical examiner.  So Woods hit the spot with this.  I can't express how her allowing the reader and Charlotte into the bowels of a city morgue raised my confidence in her work.  She was serious about her story.

Inner City Blues (Charlotte Justice #1) by Paula L. Woods (Amazon affiliate link)

"Meet Detective Charlotte Justice, a black woman in the very white, very male, and sometimes very racist Los Angeles Police Department. The time is 48 hours into the epochal L.A. riots and she and her fellow officers are exhausted. She saves the curfew-breaking black doctor Lance Mitchell from a potentially lethal beating from some white officers ― only to discover nearby the body of one-time radical Cinque Lewis, a thug who years before had murdered her husband and young daughter. Was it a random shooting or was Mitchell responsible? And what had brought Lewis back to a city he'd long since fled?"

#MarchMysteryMadness TBR - Stunts & Rumbles

March Mystery Madness Challenges...

1.  Old
Shroud for a Nightingale (Adam Dalgliesh Mysteries Book 4) by P. J. James (https://amzn.to/2U5Yhu4)

2.  Again
Hard Time: A V. I. Warshawski Novel (V.I. Warshawski Novels Book 9) by Sara Paretsky (https://amzn.to/2BMXC9H)

3.  New
Final Jeopardy (Alexandra Cooper Mysteries) by Linda Fairstein (https://amzn.to/2IsKwUA)

4.  Borrowed
The Color of Justice by Ace Collins (https://amzn.to/2TYXuuE)

5.  Blue
Inner City Blues: A Charlotte Justice Novel by Paula L. Woods (https://amzn.to/2U4ahfq)

6.  Optional: Mystery featuring or themed around a wedding!

Sick of Shadows (Elizabeth MacPherson) by Sharon McCrumb (https://amzn.to/2IwFCWL)

2019 #MarchMysMadness Announcements & Things

Okay.  #MarchMysteryMadness...

March Mystery Madness Challenges...

1.  Old
2.  Again
3.  New
4.  Borrowed
5.  Blue
6.  Optional: Mystery featuring or themed around a wedding!

Short Days/Cold Nights Cozy Reading TBR

I don’t know about you, but I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year. You know how it can be; daylight savings, long nights, cold nights, all the drain board attention of the holidays. Then I like this time of year for the complete "cozy comfort next to a heater" thing. Cutting all social interactions out for a period of time being the biggest plus. Because if I’m not out of the house before 5pm, I’m not going anywhere unless necessary. Luckily I can read at work which is from 10pm to 6am. That's the roll of the DICE, girl! Who can beat that? Anyway, lots of coffee, comfort, Korean dramas, and reading.

Which is why I decided to pull some cozy mysteries off my shelves to composite a little TBR for the season. Because, for sure, I can also get lazy this time of year and opt to just chill if I’m not careful. As for the books, some I bought years ago and haven’t gotten into. Some newly acquired. Some staple authors/series. And maybe one is the second book in a series I started some time ago.

So my list is... (the book's links are Amazon affiliate)

Of course, I couldn’t get everything. I still have The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman and Gunpowder Green (book 2 in Tea Shop Mysteries) by Laura Child are waiting in the "alternative" wings.

As for The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames. Yes, I’m tempted to DNF it–having read 50 pages. Yet, instead, I’ll put it on the side for another day. Too many characters too soon. And all which seem forced to exude like and relatability.

Recent Thriftbooks Book Haul

I haven’t done a book haul in a hot minute.  I haven’t actually WRITTEN a blog post in an extra hot minute.  So I said, “what the hee-hah”.  I’ll combine the two forces (go Captain Planet), and see what the hell I can get out of the experience.  Mainly, I’m looking for my mojo for writing blog posts back.  I miss it.  And, considering in July I paid for another year of ownership of my domain name, I’ve got to get something here back in order...

(Already it feels good pounding on the keys.) 

So I’m going to share my recent purchases from Thriftbooks.  I have a few criticisms with the site–as a consumer.  Yet, I still use it because the books are in fairly good condition.  Also they're cheap and you get free shipping on orders $10 and over, which takes some of the guilt of purchasing books you'll take forever to even read away.  So they–essentially–have your ass over a barrel.  Anyway, I was inspired by these picks for a few different reasons, and I’ll share those reasons as I move along in the post.  And as always, for those of you who are familiar with the books, drop me a comment concerning your thoughts (though try not to spoil them) on each.  I always love hearing from other readers.

So one overarching reason I purchased at least three of the books is because I checked them out from my public library–though I never found myself in the mood to read them.  Or, in the case of Moon Called, I started reading the book a day before J. D. Robb’s latest release [Leverage in Death] came out.  Which, essentially, halted the whole process because everything stops with a new In Death release.  And I mean EVERYTHING, bih.

Nonetheless, here goes…