#ReadSoulLit FauxCast | Mama Stalks the Past by Nora DeLoach

Mama Stalks the Past by Nora DeLoach 

(Amazon affiliate link): https://amzn.to/2pNj2fR

"When my mama receives an angry visit from Nat Mixon, she learns some startling news. Nat's mother and Mama's neighbor, spiteful recluse Hannah Mixon, has just died--and left a large parcel of land to Mama! Nat is convinced Mama stole his inheritance, and to save her reputation, Mama's determined to find out why Hannah named her in her will. And when it turns out Hannah was murdered, Mama needs to find more answers. With the help of three notorious local gossips--and me--Mama uncovers a long, bloody history of greed and family betrayal connected to the land Mama's inherited. And unless she discovers the truth about this plot of land, it may become her burial plot...." ~On Amazon

CHOP IT UP: Death on Demand by Carolyn G. Hart (#MarchMysteryMadness)

Death on Demand (Amazon affiliate link): https://amzn.to/2DWQJ3D

At Annie Laurance's Death On Demand bookstore on Broward's Rock Island, South Carolina, murder most foul suddenly isn't confined to the well-stocked shelves. Author Elliot Morgan's abrupt demise during a weekly gathering of famous mystery writers called the Sunday Night Regulars is proof positive that a bloody sword is sometimes mightier than a brilliant pen.With Annie in the unenviable position of primary police suspect, the pretty young mystery maven and her wealthy paramour, Max Darling, embark on an investigation into a classic locked-room mystery with high stakes. For failing to unmask a brutal and ingenious killer could mean prison for Ms. Laurance. While success could mean her death.

CHOP IT UP: Last Chance Olive Ranch by Susan Wittig Albert

2017 #MarchMysteryMadness Challenge

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~~~~~ The Classic Mystery 50 Years or Older~~~~~

(Read a classic mystery from or before 1967)

“But suppose one doesn't quite know which one wants to put first. Suppose," said Harriet, falling back on words which were not her own, "suppose one is cursed with both a heart and a brain?

'You can usually tell,' said Miss de Vine, "by seeing what kind of mistakes you make. I'm quite sure that one never makes fundamental mistakes about the thing one really wants to do. Fundamental mistakes arise out of lack of genuine interest. In my opinion, that is.” 

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

There’s a phrase that’s been popular at lot less longer than these old classic pioneers of the mystery genre. It’s “she gets it from her mamma.” In this case, we’ve tumbled deep into getting it from our great-grandmothers and fathers. Now I’m not one to manage numbers well, but anyone shooting for Patricia Wentworth or Mary Roberts Rinehart will nail this one. Unless I’ve miscalculated once again.

But hey. The default is anything by Poe or Christie, right?

They’re always a safe bet. But who wants to be safe this year?

~~~~~ The First or Sequel~~~~~

(Read the first book in a series, or the sequel to another) 

“Even at a glance, even in this light, I could tell my friend was dead. He lay on his side in what common sense told me must be blood. Only it didn’t smell like blood.

My fingers clutched the flash. I stood for a moment, several moments. It seemed like hours. Finally I knelt and dipped my finger into the pool of liquid. It was thick and sticky. Paint. Bright-red house paint.

I straightened, wiping my finger on my jeans before I realized what I was doing.

‘Oh, Jake,’ I said, louder. My words echoed in the cavernous room, and then the old house enveloped me in ponderous silence. From outside came the bellow of foghorns on San Francisco Bay.”

The Cheshire Cat’s Eye by Marcia Muller

The question everyone wants to know is what happens next to our sleuth? What is the next logical or illogical step? Should the sleuth immediately call the police? Should the sleuth exam the body and, effectively, tamper evidence? Or the most important question: what is our sleuth's background? Or are you acquainted with his or her background and here for the next row of shenanigans? Or are you totally new to his or her system?

I guess the question is would you rather have new shoes or stick with your old hats?

CHOP IT UP | Chile Death by Susan Wittig Albert (Video)

Catch Rita Mae Brown's Cat

So what exactly is going on in Rita Mae Brown’s Cat as Cat Can, book #10 in her popular Mrs. Murphy pet detective cozy series?  Well, as always with these books, the story opens up with the change of seasons; in this particular entry, it’s finally spring again.  And with spring comes the blossoming of special events in the small town of Crozet, Virginia.  This spring, it’s time for the residents to get dolled up for the annual Dogwood Festival.  Meanwhile, strange occurrences are happening around town.  And with Crozet’s postmistress, Minor “Harry” Haristeen, somewhere in the middle of said occurrences. 

It started with a dead woodpecker found on her back porch.  Before one of her cats could take the bird’s corpse into its claws, Harry snatches it up.  Because of the bird's uniqueness, she plans to take it to a local taxidermist.  And, while going about her business, Harry then finds her friend, Miranda Hogendobber, in the midst of a hubcap robbery.  Miranda walked into a local grocery store, and walked out to find someone swiped her hubcaps in a blink.  Considering the hubcaps' worth, Miranda, Harry, and Deputy Cynthia Cooper make way to the local salvage yard first.

But then the bodies start piling up.  It began with one of the owners of the salvage yard turning up dead, and follows with the taxidermist Harry visited only days before with her dead woodpecker.

Believing the two deaths are connected, Harry investigates.  And as she gets closer to the killer, her team of pets have to stay miles ahead of her to keep her safe.

No Rest for the Alt

Okay.  So let’s get a little into Madelyn Alt’s No Rest for the Wiccan, book #4 in her A Bewitching Mystery series.  For starters, it took me reading the third book two years ago to finally say, “Hey, I’m interested in this.”  But to be clear, I picked the series up in the fall of 2008.  So I’m a hot mess when it comes to consistency.  But, dammit, for whatever reason I want to read this cozy mystery series.

But enough of that.

No Rest for the Wiccan has the series witchy sleuth, Maggie O’Neill stuck in many situations.  Outside of her back-and-forth love triangle drama, it appears her older sister, Mel, and nieces have found themselves tormented by a ghost inhabiting their home.  And with Mel, the beautiful and overly-spoiled sister, attempts to employee her peculiar sister (who happens to work in a magic shop) to exorcise said ghost.  A reluctant Maggie more or less entertains her “amazing” sister.  It isn’t until an accident crushes the family does Maggie step in with the help of the N.I.G.H.T.S. ghost-hunting team she belongs to.

Now if that wasn’t enough, Maggie also finds herself unraveling a local murder.  During another rubber-necking session with her cop boyfriend, Tom, an interruption call comes in on his raid.  Considering he’s on call, Tom takes the message.  It appears a body is hanging from one of the conveyor systems inside of a local grainier.  Disobedient of Tom’s orders, Maggie takes it upon herself to ask the wrong questions at the wrong time.  Leading her into the throats of marriage, insurance, family, and murder.  Oh, and fire!

But you know what?  FORGET THE MYSTERY AND LET'S JUST GET INTO THE REAL ISSUE!  (Probably best for those who've read the series.)

Wittig's Witches!

Okay.  So in China’s second investigation, Witches' Bane, rumors of witches and devil worshipers have taken over the small town of Pecan Springs, Texas.  These rumors are exacerbated by the suicide of a local teenager and homeless individual.  So the townsfolk are on edge and, most sincerely, this includes a local religious group led by Reverend Billy Lee Harbuck.  Harbuck has taken it upon himself to put an end to the madness, beginning with rounding up his followers to picket the local metaphysical gift shop propertied by China Bayles’ best friend, Ruby Wilcox.  The hitch is that the gift shop and China’s herb shop are connected.  Thus, of course, infecting both Ruby and China's businesses.  The situation and local stirrings get worse when a wealthy socialite named Sybil Rand is found murdered in her home.  The catch, one of Ruby’s athame blades are stuck in her body.  Further investigation uncovers the Death tarot card and a voodoo doll in Sybil’s possession.  With the walls closing in on Ruby, China, alongside her ex-cop boyfriend Mike McQuaid, set out to prove Ruby’s innocence.  Particularly before the whole town loses its damned mind!

Why I'm SUDDENLY in Love with China, Herbs, Wittig Albert...

So listen (err, read) to this: I’m addicted to Susan Wittig Albert’s China Bayles cozy mystery series.  (Say that three times fast.)  Such revelations shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, though.  Those who frequent this blog has seen me profusing this through a few past posts, since picking up the second book in Albert's series for #MarchMysteryMadness.  

Nonetheless, my infatuation happened kind of incidentally.  I just happened to pick up China's first case, Thyme of Death, at a used bookstore.  The purchase was a recourse to another on-going series I was reading.  But I was missing an entry, and it wasn't available in store.  However, seeing Albert’s sleuth is a herbalist/ex-lawyer located in the syrupy Southern town of the fictional Pecan Spring, Texas; I really wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into as I stood there reading the blurb, after the book caught my attention a stack high from where I stood.  

Approaching middle-aged woman with an interesting name.  "China Bayles" has a kick-ass ring to it.  Ex-lawyer now herbalist.  Hmm, I sniff some interesting parallels.  No children.  Little family to call upon.  Dating.  

Rubbing my chin and deep in thought, I asked myself: Was China going to give me cool lady tease?  Will she serve me candor and dry wit with an "over it all" attitude about life (my spirit was calling for this, by the way)?  Or was she going to be a stuffy planter?  Someone stuck in a straw hat while carrying a basket as she pooh-pooh'ed around keeping her hands marginally clean while solving murders (I need a girl who's willing to break glass to get into an office)?  In either case–given the series' herbalist hook–I kind of suspected finding a body in somebody's kitchen garden would eventually ramp up the fun.  So I took the bait and went to McDonald's for some fries.

Friday Reads ~ #SaveOurCozies

“Harper Connelly heads to Doraville, North Carolina, to find a missing boy–one of several teenage boys who have disappeared over the last five years.  And all of them are calling for Harper.  She finds them–buried in the frozen ground.  All Harper wants is to get out of town before she’s caught in the media storm, until she herself is attacked.  Soon, Harper will learn more than she cared to about the dark mysteries and long-hidden secrets of Doraville–knowledge of the dead that makes her the next in line to end up in an ice cold grave…”

~ An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris

Let’s see.  In 2009 I stopped reading this book on page 61.  Last I remember, dead-body-‘voyant-finding Harper Connelly (per finding herself struck by lightning to gain her abilities) was left in the hospital of the small town of Doraville.  As mentioned in the blurb, she was attacked.  I’ve never figured out what happened on forward, and can’t exactly recall why I stopped on page 61 and never came back.  Until now, I’ve never picked up the book since.  But, going along with the #SaveOurCozies readathon (from midnight today till midnight tomorrow), it appears I’ll finally get the answers I abandoned seven years ago.  That’ll be my Friday Reading.

Any hints as to what's in store?

#SaveOurCozies | Extended Haul

Because I’m so excited about #SaveOurCozies, I had to stock up on a few new titles.  Many listed has always been on my radar, but never quite made it home.  These are books I’ve noticed time and time again in stores, but have yet to slide into.  Until now!  But to be extra, extra clear, I had to be sure they were each the first in their respective reading order.  Never trusting the read order placed inside the first few pages of any given series, I took my time investigating these suckers.  Nothing’ll piss me off more than picking up a new series midway through; a personal aggravation of mine, if you will.  So let me list and share what each series (as well as their individual hooks) is about.  At least for those who are new to them like myself.  And no, the Nora Roberts Public Secrets (1990) book isn’t a cozy.  Though there is a kidnapping and possible murder involved.  I’ve just always wanted to read the damn book and found it for 25 cents!  (For those who have read it, please share your thoughts.  I’m an on/off Roberts reader outside of her J. D. Robb series.)

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An Ice Cold Grave (Harper Connelly #3)

Aurora Teagarden Series

2 Netflix Mysteries Featuring Woman Sleuths

While I’m a little miffed Netflix is going up another $2 this month, I can’t deny it's still one of the best things smoking.  At least not to answer the call to scale back and just stick with its competitors for a while.  Truth is, I’m too engrossed in two (though the third doesn’t pertain to this post’s theme, there is one) British serial mysteries currently streaming.  One, in all actuality, I finished in over a week.  The other, I’m comfortably working my way through night after night; lights low and a bag of chips at the ready.  Naturally, the two shows have a running element that has always captivated my attention: women solving murder mysteries.  And while one has a cozy texture to its storytelling, the other not so much.  Or, at least, it’s a hell of a lot darker to even brush a cozy.

So for those who love reading mysteries and its various sub-genres, I present to you these interesting TV shows you may find yourself binging on.

The Bletchley Circle 2012-2014

Rosemary & Thyme (2003-2006)

If you've watched any of these shows or have recommendations of the same theme, please share them in the comments below.

Until then, ENJOY!

Backroom Susan Too

Snoopy me was listening to a volunteer library worker sighing in the backroom of their used bookstore.  She had the door parted, and I glanced up and saw these two puppies sitting high on a shelf.  As the other two workers–men who held in their sighs with the recently trucked six boxes of donated books–cleared out of the stockroom to stock shelves, I stage whispered to the agitated woman could I step inside.  (Hell, I almost wished she asked me to help so I could peek through what was in the back.)  However, it wasn’t until the fourth, raised hissed that I got her attention.  I asked could I step inside and take a look at what was in back stock, but immediately went to these hardback Susan Wittig Albert books; as a part of Albert’s China Bayle series.

I'd already did my routine search around what was out front and found nothing.  But why, oh why do they always keep the good stuff in the backrooms?

Anyway, Bloodroot is China Bayles #10.  In this entry China goes back to Mississippi to confront, or uproot (heh), pieces of her past.  I’m almost certain her recovering alcoholic mother, Leatha, will be in the mix.

A Dilly of a Death is Bayles #12.  While there’s much more to the synopsis, this has the queen of a pickle festival (remember, these books take place in Texas) disappearing.  Rumor has it she sold her business and dashed.  Other rumors point to her missing boyfriend.

I just want to read the damn book and see.

I got a lot of ground to cover before I get to these entries.  Still I felt for a $1.50 apiece, I could hold them in stock for myself instead.

Problem solved.  And now they have a little more back stock room.  (Lowkey: not really.  That room was a mess!)

7 Mysteries/Series I Own But Haven’t Licked

Let’s get a couple of things out of the way first: the mystery genre is king of the serializing format.  Book after book.  Release after release.  Year after year.  We follow the misjudgments, drawbacks, and achievements of whatever leading star protagonist we’ve grown attached to.  Attached enough to carry us through book one to book... [insert your number here]. 

Some series are short-lived, and some are decades long.  Some series entries are strong, and some are weak.  In many cases, the author runs out of ideas and begins phoning in his or her stories.  But a few has consistent, formula-driven quality.  Whereas others hit-or-miss after about the fifth or tenth book.  Then there’s cases where an author loses some of his or her audience completely.  Whether it’s by pulling the trigger on loaded opinions, expressed through characters.  Or increasing the vulgarity behind plotted sex and/or crime.  Or–the worse offense–implanting shock factor techniques instead of fleshing out a plausible story.  You refer whatever occasion you've left an author's work for.  

Whether you chose to keep reading a series depends on your level of commitment to author and star.  And “commitment” is the operative theme of this post.

Recently–with so many books coming in–I struggled with what to read.  (Don’t you hate when you have plenty at your fingertips, yet feel you can’t define your mood enough to find which book will serve?)  I scanned my shelves and new-books pile reasoning with myself why this title may work versus this one.  I knew one of them needed to quell my reading thirst, especially with a thunderstorm coming into town.  Candles, books, the pattering rain and roiling thunder; a cozy reading session in manifested!

While I eventually found a book to read (Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon #4, Firestorm), I gaped at the number of mystery/thriller series I’ve abandoned to the shelves over the years.  Some are seven years within their abandonment.  And a few of the unreads I’m a little ashamed–given my love of the genre–to admit I've left to collect dust.  But where did all these books come from?  Who recommended them?  How old was I when I bought them?  And why did I abandon them in the hopes of retreating to them later, at a more desperate date in the future?

That’s what I want to ask and explore in this post.  For those who’ve read any of these books/series, please provide me validity for my issues at hand.  Or express how important it is to keep going.

1.  Robert B. Parker’s Family Honor

First in Parker’s Sunny Randall private-eye series, Family Honor has all the ingredients of the genre I love.  You know, a female detective doing her thing piecing together a murder conspiracy.  Yet, the unfortunate draw is I never finished the book.  It’s been years since I picked it up, so I can’t pinpoint why I bailed on Sunny’s debut more than halfway through.  But I have an idea, stirred by how certain memory imprints emerges after visual cues.  See while Parker is one of the kings of this genre, he left me unfulfilled.  But why?  Parker's the master of dialogue, right?  Well, it's his tool to swiftly get his scenes, narrative, and plot points in motion.  But maybe it was too much for me, whisking through Family Honor at top speed.  So while I can’t really compare the two, Family Honor read like a better written and somber Stephanie Plumb novel.  So fast-paced I never anchored to Sunny Randall herself.  Still, I’ve held on to the book for another attempt.  Though years later at this point.

2.  Joanne Fluke’s Chocolate Chip Murder

This is an unread debut stuffed inside my shelf for years (I’m thinking 2009).  Chocolate Chip Murder is first in Fluke’s Hannah Swensen cozy mystery series.  An obvious cozy mystery series themed around sweets and baked goods.  Yet, no matter how insanely popular this series is, I’ve yet to crack open my copy of the first book.  I have no explanation why, but I think it has a lot to do with its formatting.  Silly, I know.  But the print is so small and the book is so thick, with the extra short story and recipes.  So every time I pick it up I feel like it’s a high fantasy novel-level read, camouflaged as a cozy.  Weird, I know.  I’m a walking contradiction sometimes.  Big book.  Little book.  Big words.  Little words.  More details.  Less details.  It goes on.  Or maybe I'm just never in the mood.

3.  Greg Iles’ The Quiet Game

Eh.  So we know I don’t really sprint for leading male protagonist to serve my crime fiction.  On the occasion, maybe.  The Quiet Game came into my possession through the influence of a volunteer working my public library’s used bookstore.  At first she pushed me a copy of Greg Iles’ book, 24 Hours.  You know, as she raved about how amazing it was.  Sold by her enthusiasm, I took 24 Hours as she slipped me a copy of The Quiet Game to boot.  They were a dollar, so I didn’t really fuss.  And, fact is, once I cracked open the copy of 24 Hours, I read it in one sitting.  That’s how glued I was.  The book was a thrill ride you’d hate to put down.  Unfortunately, the same uhmph hasn’t quite caught up with The Quiet Game.  I can blame the thickness of the book.  I could say those 400+ pages to wallow through with Penn Cage (I’m sure he’s a great protagonist) in lead holds me back.  A number of excuses will do.  Yet at the end of the day, I’ve held on to my copy all the same.  One day.  Just one day I’ll get to it.  Who knows.  Maybe I’ll get hooked and engorge myself on the entire series.

4.  Frankie Y. Bailey’s Death’s Favorite Child

I've got an idea why I haven’t read this book after five years.  Why?  Because it’s not first in the Lizzie Stuart series.  I later learned A Dead Man’s Honor is the proper debut of this sleuth’s adventures.  Naturally drawn to a series with an African American female lead and writer; Death's Favorite Child is an easy necessary regardless of its position.  It just sucks I haven’t went back to correct my mistake by ordering the first book in the series.  You know.  OCD fully functioning and all.

5.  Eleanor Tayler Bland’s Whispers in the Dark

My most pitiful and shameful confession arrives with my stalling Bland’s Marti MacAlister series with book nine.  I was on a roll with MacAlister through 2012-2013.  Then I got to the ninth book.  Here, Bland took my favorite black female cop through the city and into the islands for two different plot lines.  One plot focused on MacAlister's profession, the other on a friend’s personal life.  There was just something about this book that drought'ed my thirst.  Well, my thirst for this specific chapter in the series.  So my resounding solution is to forget about this entry and move on to the next.  There aren’t enough Marti MacAlisters or Eleanor Taylor Blands out there for either to be forgotten.  And I still got five more books in the series to go.  Count me in still!

6.  Patricia Cornwell’s Southern Cross

Cornwell started writing this new third-person series before she took her famed forensic pathologist, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, out of the first person narrative and into third.  The changes in POV were experimental you could say.  But when that switch reached Scarpetta, it brought a string of books most dedicated readers cringed over.  Well, the same cringe can kind of apply for Cornwell’s Andy Brazil series–the original guinea pig of her expanding her writing chops.  As show above, Southern Cross is second in the Andy Brazil series.  (Somehow I made it through the maze of the first book, Hornet’s Nest.)  There’s only so much I say about Southern Cross.  Besides how crazy and directionless it felt.  For whatever reason, I feel almost obligated to take all three of the Andy Brazil books down.  “Down” as in swallow, but not "eject."  Nonetheless, I only got a quarter through Southern Cross when I realized it was a going to be a difficult test of my patience.  Something about digital fish swimming over a computer monitor's screen froze me out of the game.  I haven’t been back since the summer of 2011.

7.  Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

No explanation needed.  Only bask in my shame as I unveil the biggest misstep in my crime fiction reading career.  That’s right.  The first Temperance Brennan novel has sat unread on my shelf for close to six years now.  A hot ass mess indeed.  I pick it up year after year, but can never seem to get pass the first chapter.  So I set it aside and save it for the following year.  It’s pitiful.  It’s a shame.  You’d think I'd glutton my way through a series revolving around a female forensics anthropologist.  But I haven’t.  Those are the sad facts.

Well that’s it, guys.  My list of shameful owned but unreads mysteries/series is complete.  Give a guy a round of applause for admitting some of these faults!

#MarchMysteryMadness | Challenge #6: The Pet Detective

Well, #MarchMysteryMadness is coming to an end in a couple of days.  Color me sad, especially with two and half challenges still stuck in my lane.  I took a break from reading mysteries to take in Ruth Pointer’s autobiography, Still So Excited!  It was a necessary, necessary task to take.  And one I enjoyed.  If anything, the autobiography re-charged me to tackle the remaining challenges.  Beginning with the 6th #MarchMysteryMadness challenge, The Whispering Pet Whisperer mystery.

Of course Rita Mae Brown is my go-to for reading pet detective mysteries.  I adore her window into the perspectives of animals, with their given abilities used to help their human companions solve crimes.  So the idea was the read the first book in Brown’s Mag Rogers series.  The series is about an ex-Wall Street employee who decided to make a break for her aunt’s Nevada ranch.  In turn, the two–along with their pet dogs–solve a local crime.  The crime begins with someone pipe-bombing the community’s water pumping station.  Knowing Brown some level of politics comes in hand.  But it sounds interesting, right?  

Well, it was.  Then I realized I would have to take on a new cast of characters populating a new community with new dynamics.  You see, Rita Mae Brown packs her series with characters.  Lots and lots of them.  So many she includes a mini List of Characters dossier before the story even starts.  You know, for the reader to revert to during the story's progression.  Should the reader become disorient during a scene where many characters, with different purposes, converse and perform.

Really, I wasn’t in the mood to take on a whole new cast.  No ma'am.  Not this late in the game.  I had my heart set on the book at first, though.  Yet, three chapters in, I was already flipping back to the mini dossier.

It was just too much work trying to warm up to this new crew.  So this is where my emergency care package fell in.

Hell, I went back to pick up where I left off reading Brown’s Mrs. Murphy series with book #10, Catch as Cat Can.  And I picked it back up with a sigh of relief.  It was a familiar stage.  Familiar climate.  Familiar tone.  Hell, even the damn streets' layout was already embedded in my brain.  Yet, most of all, the cast of characters were fictional friends.  I’ve already spent 10 books getting to know them (had trouble in the beginning, but obvious managed).

I devoured the book over the weekend and enjoyed every second of it.  Tiger cat Mrs. Murphy and corgi Tee Tucker saved me on this one.  Had I not sprinted back to their territory, I believe I would’ve been stuck in Brown’s A Nose for Justice.  And, subsequently, furthering my slothfulness this late in the challenges.

Lord, forgive me.

Man, but seriously.  This cozy mystery series is such a treat to me.  I get excited every time I start a new book.  And I long to pick the book back up when I'm away from it.  Maybe it’s because I don’t have pets but always wanted one.

This WINNING Rita Mae Brown Mrs. Murphy Haul 

Mystery Madness
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#MarchMysteryMadness | Challenge #5: The Syndicating Spell-Caster

(Taken from my Goodreads #MarchMysteryMadness post announcing my choice for this challenge.)

With the beginnings of every series comes a personal story. Comes a reason why we pick them up. And another reason why we decide to keep reading book after book. A lot of that dedication has to do with our interest in the character. And sometimes, we don’t even have explanations of how/why we connected.

I found this happening with Madelyn Alt’s witch character, Maggie O’Neill.  I decided to pick up the first book back when I was shelving books at this bookstore. It was a mystery involving a witch–which was intriguing enough. But then I thought it could help me with my own writing, seeing how Alt was another cozy author blending genres. It’s taken some years, but I’m slowly making my way through this series about this low-key witch solving murders in a small Indiana town. Maggie is not exactly flashy and quick-witted like, say, Kinsey Millhone. She doesn’t have the legal brains or athleticism of V. I. Warshawski. And she certainly doesn’t have an ugly/dark past like Eve Dallas (though it looks like her family is making a profound appearance in this fourth book). But I like Maggie. Maybe because she isn’t all those things. Yet she’s a witch in the subtlest sense because she doesn’t look at herself in terms of power. She’s just a woman who happens to be able to do small, little witchy things that helps her solve these murders she falls into.

The books are harder and harder to come by, and I think Alt no longer has a contract. But I had to use this Challenge to order and read the 4th book, NO Rest for the Wiccan. If anything, I want to see more of Maggie (and secretly find out how she’ll resolve her relationship issues with two men.)

Relate with me; does anybody have a series you love diving in and out of but isn't sure what is it that resonances with you?

Mystery Madness
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Claws & Effect ~ Another Rita Mae Brown Junction

I spent a quiet weekend taking book number nine in Rita Mae Brown’s Mrs. Murphy series down.  And I enjoyed every minute of the cozy experience.  However, I feel as if I’ll be repeating myself talking about these books and series.  Nonetheless, I’ll try.

So what’s happening in Crozet, Virginia in book number nine?  For starters we’ve moved into the winter season; Brown rotates seasons throughout each book.  Even so, the residents of Crozet are suffering from something like seasonal depression.  To keep entertained, they whisper faux concern for bickering hospital staff members.  Particularly the hospital's plant manager and a doctor who've found themselves in a shove match inside the local post office.  What could be the issue?  And how wonderful it is for gossip during this freezing season?  Well, the townsfolk will chew over the reason among one another–for entertainment.  Until the plant manager turns up dead in the hospital's boiler room.  A boiler room rumored to contain a secret passage to the Underground Railroad from the Civil War.  And one in which operating and manufacturing secrets appear kept out of sight.  

With so many secrets abound, Harry and her canine/feline sleuthing duo investigates.  Of course with unsolicited service.  As more murders pop up, and the killer threatens Harry’s life, the clock races to catch the town's killer.  But now Harry will need to work with the police to remain safe while luring out the culprit.

As always, I just can’t get enough of this fluffy series.  I’ve often wondered what has drawn me most.  Is it the cozy, small-town atmosphere?  Or maybe it's Harry herself?  I love how she's amateurish, rugged and discerning.  She has an observational sense of recognizing the nature of her friends and neighbors.  As well as who has the potential to murder.  Or is it the treat–or hook of the series–of a cat and dog sleuth?

Ah, hell.  It’s a blend of all those elements, and the sometimes referenced humor as well.  And Brown does interject her thoughts and narrations on certain topics, but I’m hardly distracted enough to slip out of her stories.  Hardly!  So what if she wallows on and on about fox hunting during certain segments?  Besides, the horses and foxes expressing their grievances "live" make up for any commentaries.

Lastly, this is out of the blue, but I kind of dislike Mrs. Murphy gets more credit than her canine counterpart, Tee Tucker.  Why is the series named Mrs. Murphy Mysteries when Tee Tucker (and another cat named Pewter) are just as present?

Anyway, on to book ten!  The cozy mystery fun never stops.

A Charming Thyme | Susan Wittig Albert

“Susan Wittig Albert's novels featuring ex-lawyer and herb-shop proprietor China Bayles have won acclaim for their rich characterization and witty, suspenseful stories of crime and passion in small-town Texas. Now, when China's friend Jo dies of an apparent suicide, China looks behind the quaint facade of Pecan Springs. Though she finds a lot of friendly faces, China is sure that one of them hides the heart of a killer.”

~ Thyme of Death | Goodreads

Thyme of Death took a little adjusting to the character of China Bayles.  As well as her small-town Texas environment's structure.  Eventually I got it.  And by the book’s end–I loved it.  As the first book in Albert's series, I found myself dedicated soon after the last page.  

Nevertheless, the book features China’s first-person voice and perspective.  And having her strum through her range as ex-lawyer to herb shop owner was unique and effective for her situation.  So I loved her blend of pragmatic sense (lawyer voice) with her knowledge of herbs and their effects.  Those two elements worked well for my investment in her character–and of course the plot.  Equally, I appreciated her character and backstory on her extreme change in occupations.  There was something there and present to her character.  Something I found authentic and magnetic.  And there was just enough personality and open-end developmental avenues available to her.  Especially concerning her rocky love life.  On top of that, she was witty and straightforward.  Just the way I love my female sleuths.

As for the actual mystery I’m going to say this: cozy, charming, and ridiculous.

The tone of the book fit smoothly into the cozy mystery genre.  It read like a dribbling, syrupy small-town mystery.  There were lots of “sit down” talks with drinks.  Lazy strolls through neighborhoods.  Conversations with eccentric locals with eccentric hobbies.  And even the dusty detective viewing murder with his cigarette ashes sweeping over the scene.  (You could consider such a character in a cozy mystery a cliche.)  So much of each was present for the book's tone, a tone in which I would analogize to sipping tea in low country.  However, despite the book’s languid resonance, I have to admit the determination and assiduous China and friends stole my attention.  So I was never bothered or bored with the actual mystery's unfolding.  In fact, I found myself absorbed and guessing the solution comfortably along the way.

All went out the window at the end of the book, though.  It seemed like Albert spent time serving languid small-town murder that she felt the end needed to switch into overdrive.  I won’t give away the details; but I’ll let it be clear how I felt the ending seemed rushed, ridiculous and out of place.  Oh, and unbelievably coincidental.

Yet.  I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.  

On top of my love of China Bayles’ voice, and the book's wiggling abrupt shift in tone; I really enjoyed several of the themes Albert toyed with.  Secret lovers and new age concerns are only a few.  And the last piece of highlight: China–herself–pays reference to Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone.

A win.

PASSAGES/QUOTES FROM CHINA

"I rolled my sherry glass between my hands.  With any luck, tonight would get me the proof Meredith was asking for.  But if I told her what I was up to, she'd want in on it.  As wired as she was, she'd blow the whole thing.  She'd get herself or Ruby hurt.  She'd get me hurt."

"I didn't doubt that show business was no business in which to find true love and happiness.  It was probably a lot like the legal business–full of arrogant, greedy people glad to take their bite ad then some.  And it wasn't any fun to keep looking over your shoulder, wondering who was going to slip it to you next.  If that was why Roz had turned down the contract, I could certainly sympathize.  I might even applaud.  But I didn't particularly want to listen to her chorus of complaints.  So I just gave a non-committal 'hmmm.'  Luckily, we were almost at Meredith's, and there wasn't time for any more confidences."

"I dropped my arms with a sigh.  I knew the signals.  I could forget about sex for the moment."

"The door opened and I followed the cat into the semi-darkened living room, which smelled of furniture polish, dusty drapes, and stale cooking odors.  Violett stood clutching a navy cardigan around her.  I could see why Constance had sent her home.  She had the look of someone teetering on the edge.  Her hair was in strings, her eyes deeply shadowed; lines etched her mouth.  There was a tic at the corner of her right eye." 

The ULTIMATE Rita Mae Brown Mrs. Murphy Housekeeping (Haul)

Something in my spirit told me to do this–to go to my local public library.  My intention was to get off my ass and actually write my thoughts out on J. D. Robb's Devoted in Death.  And I got some of that done AFTER I raided the library's used bookstore for an opportunity only a fool would pass up.  Well, only if you're into cozy mysteries where pets help solve the crime.  

I came across a slew of mint (hell, I'd call them new) condition Rita Mae Brown hardbacks.  And by Rita Mae Brown, I mean her Mrs. Murphy cozy mystery series.  You know.  The series I've been screaming and crying about all year on this blog.  Click on the tags below to get what I mean.  

But how much were they apiece?  $1.50!  While there were eight (the last one wasn't in good condition), I walked out with seven.  The real kicker is they are in READING ORDER!  And even more exciting, they're in reading order following the book I just finished!  (Literally, I don't have to go to Amazon and throw money on books and shipping.)  With 24 books to date in the series, this is a decent chunk I've just collected.  

So let's sum this up.  Like-new condition.  Hardbacks.  $1.50.  Reading order.  Nothing was stopping me from this opportunity.  I overheard the workers speaking to one another about cleaning out the library's attic, and can only wonder if this is where these books came from.

Here's what I got.  I'll link each book to their Goodreads profile as well...