#MarchMysteryMadness | My 6 Eye-Burner Mystery Reads

Hi, guys.  Here are 6 mystery books within any given series that has caused my eyes to burn (more so than glisten) with tears.

All links are Amazon affiliate (the books' descriptions are from Amazon as well)...

1.  Body of Evidence by Patricia Cornwell: https://amzn.to/2IZC0Zt

A reclusive author, Beryl Madison finds no safe haven from months of menacing phone calls—or the tormented feeling that her every move is being watched. When the writer is found slain in her own home, Kay Scarpetta pieces together the intricate forensic evidence—while unwittingly edging closer to a killer waiting in the shadows.

2.  Promises in Death by J. D. Robb: https://amzn.to/2Ia4YER

Amaryllis Coltraine may have recently transferred to the New York City police force from Atlanta, but she’s been a cop long enough to know how to defend herself against an assailant. When she’s taken down just steps away from her apartment, killed with her own weapon, for Eve the victim isn’t just “one of us.” 

Eve starts questioning everyone while her husband, Roarke, digs into computer data on the dead woman’s life back in Atlanta. To their shock, they discover a connection between this case and their own painful, shadowy pasts. The truth will need to be uncovered one layer at a time, starting with the box that arrives at Cop Central addressed to Eve, containing Coltraine’s guns, badge, and a note from her killer: “You can have them back. Maybe someday soon, I’ll be sending yours to somebody else.” 

But Eve Dallas doesn’t take too kindly to personal threats, and she is going to break this case, whatever it takes. And that’s a promise.  

3. O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton: https://amzn.to/2GdorUv

O is for once upon a time. . .

Let’s talk about Kinsey’s past. We know of the aunt who raised her, the second husband who left her, and her long-lost family up the California coast. But what about Kinsey’s husband number one? He was always a blip on the radar―until now.

4.  The Lily Bard Series by Charlaine Harris: https://amzn.to/2IVnemu

While trying to prove her innocence in the murder of her landlord, Lily Bard, karate student and cleaning service proprietor, finds plenty of skeletons in the closets of Shakespeare, Arkansas.

5.  When Death Comes Stealing by Valerie Wilson Wesley: https://amzn.to/2DZaiIQ

Struggling as a single mother to make ends meet on the mean streets of Newark, New Jersey, ex-cop-turned-PI Tamara Hayle races against time to find a murderer when someone begins killing her ex-husband's sons--and her own son might be next.

6.  Blind Descent (Anna Pigeon#6) by Nevada Barr: https://amzn.to/2GivefX

When a fellow ranger is injured in a caving accident, Anna swallows her paralyzing fear of small spaces and descends into Lechuguilla to help a friend in need. Worse than the claustrophobia that haunts her are the signs-some natural, and some, more ominously, man-made-that not everyone is destined to emerge from this wondrous living tomb. All the skills Anna has honed in the terrestrial world are called into play on precipitous climbs, exhausting treks, and descents into canyons that have never seen the sun. The terrain is alien and hostile, the greed and destructive powers of mankind all too familiar. In this place of internal terrors, Anna must learn whom she can trust, and, in the end, decide who is to live and who is to die.

#ReadSoulLit FauxCast | Ruby by Cynthia Bond

The audio quality drops mid-way.  I do apologize.  We have glitches we can't control at times.  

Ruby by Cynthia Bond (Amazon affiliate link): https://amzn.to/EBiagq

"Ephram Jennings has never forgotten the beautiful girl with the long braids running through the piney woods of Liberty, their small East Texas town. Young Ruby Bell, “the kind of pretty it hurt to look at,” has suffered beyond imagining, so as soon as she can, she flees suffocating Liberty for the bright pull of 1950s New York. Ruby quickly winds her way into the ripe center of the city—the darkened piano bars and hidden alleyways of the Village—all the while hoping for a glimpse of the red hair and green eyes of her mother. 

When a telegram from her cousin forces her to return home, thirty-year-old Ruby finds herself reliving the devastating violence of her girlhood. With the terrifying realization that she might not be strong enough to fight her way back out again, Ruby struggles to survive her memories of the town’s dark past. Meanwhile, Ephram must choose between loyalty to the sister who raised him and the chance for a life with the woman he has loved since he was a boy.

Full of life, exquisitely written, and suffused with the pastoral beauty of the rural South, Ruby is a transcendent novel of passion and courage. This wondrous page-turner rushes through the red dust and gossip of Main Street, to the pit fire where men swill bootleg outside Bloom’s Juke, to Celia Jennings’s kitchen, where a cake is being made, yolk by yolk, that Ephram will use to try to begin again with Ruby." ~ On Amazon

CHOP IT UP (FauxCast): The Medusa Pool by M. K. Wren

The Medusa Pool by M. K. Wren (Amazon affiliate link): https://amzn.to/2pKvEUZ

"Election day in Wesport, on the magnificent Oregon coast, changes everything for Deputy Cornelia Faith Jones, the only woman and the only African American in the Taft County Sheriff's Office. As a result of a write-in campaign that Neely did not encourage, she is elected Sheriff --a job she did not want.

Neely accepts, however, when Jan Koto's body is found submerged in the jellyfish display tank in the Oceanographic Center. The victim is marine biologist Jan Koto and Neely's lover.

Grief and rage drive Neely to find Jan's killer, and she learns the hard way that small towns are not exempt from racism, rape, violence, and murder --and greed. When ex-sheriff Giff Wills is also murdered, Neely discovers she is dealing with a wide-ranging conspiracy." ~ On Amazon

#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: The Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron (#MarchMysteryMadness)

The Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron 

(Amazon affiliate link): https://amzn.to/2I9iAAr

This first novel in Maron's Imperfect series, which won the Edgar Award for best mystery novel in 1993, introduces heroine Deborah Knott, an attorney and the daughter of an infamous North Carolina bootlegger. Known for her knowledge of the region's past and popular with the locals, Deb is asked by 18-year-old Gayle Whitehead to investigate the unsolved murder of her mother Janie, who died when Gayle was an infant. While visiting the owner of the property where Janie's body was found, Deb learns of Janie's more-than-promiscuous past. Piecing together lost clues and buried secrets Deb is introduced to Janie's darker side, but it's not until another murder occurs that she uncovers the truth.

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.

#MarchMysteryMadness | The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino | BORROW PROMPT (35%)

#ReadSoulLit FauxCast | The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Earnest J. Gaines

#MarchMysteryMadness | SHELF PROMPT TBR (17%)

#ReadSoulLit FauxCast | Reading Highlights ~ The Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

Authorlight: Juniper Leaves by Jaz Joyner

Juniper Leaves: The Otherworldly Tale of a Lonesome Magical Girl

By: Jaz Joyner

Title: Juniper Leaves: The Otherworldy Tale of a Lonesome Magical Girl

Author: Jaz Joyner
Publisher: Black Pansy Books

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Length: 248

Release Date: OUT NOW (Ebook & Paperback)
ISBN: 978-0999538616

Synopsis:  Kinky-haired blerd Juniper Bray used to believe in magic, until she lost her best friend: her grandmother. Now this 15-year-old shy girl is headed to her father’s research trip on a farm hundreds of miles away, with a family she barely knows and the opposite of a best friend, her new arch nemesis, Bree Mckinney. As if she wasn’t miserable enough. Little does she know the next few months Juniper will discover magical powers she never knew she had, get a crush on a girl she never knew she’d like and well, quite frankly, save the world. Juniper Leaves is a fantastical coming-of-age tale of a girl who learns to let go, live a little, and best of all, believe in herself — all before her sixteenth birthday.

Jaz Joyner is a black trans essayist, humorist and author residing in Brooklyn, NY. Their work has been featured in Teen Vogue, Afropunk, The Establishment, and others. One of Jaz's essays is featured in the LGBT anthology Outside the XY: Queer, Black and Brown Masculinity​. Huffington Post Queer Voices interviewed Jaz to talk about their non binary identity as a person of color and experience as a writer. Most recently they've become a regular on the hit YouTube discussion show TheGrapevine. In 2016, Jaz started their passion project, a humor site called QUNTFRONT with the goal of uplifting QTPoC voices in comedy.  Follow Jaz Joyner on Twitter: @JazJoyner.  Visit Jaz Joyner's website by clicking HERE.

#ReadSoulLit Poetry Readings

#ReadSoulLit

Hosted by: Brown Girl Reading @ http://bit.ly/2lYNoZu

#ReadSoulLit reading Toni Morrison's Tar Baby.  Goodreads Group: http://bit.ly/2mVOoAC

"Heartbeats"

Melvin Dixon, 1950 - 1992

Work out. Ten laps.

Chin ups. Look good.

Steam room. Dress warm.

Call home. Fresh air.

Eat right. Rest well.

Sweetheart. Safe sex.

Sore throat. Long flu.

Hard nodes. Beware.

Test blood. Count cells.

Reds thin. Whites low.

Dress warm. Eat well.

Short breath. Fatigue.

Night sweats. Dry cough.

Loose stools. Weight loss.

Get mad. Fight back.

Call home. Rest well.

Don’t cry. Take charge.

No sex. Eat right.

Call home. Talk slow.

Chin up. No air.

Arms wide. Nodes hard.

Cough dry. Hold on.

Mouth wide. Drink this.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

No air. Breathe in.

Breathe in. No air.

Black out. White rooms.

Head hot. Feet cold.

No work. Eat right.

CAT scan. Chin up.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

No air. No air.

Thin blood. Sore lungs.

Mouth dry. Mind gone.

Six months? Three weeks?

Can’t eat. No air.

Today? Tonight?

It waits. For me.

Sweet heart. Don’t stop.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

"Coal"

BY Audre Lorde, 1934-1992

I

Is the total black, being spoken

From the earth's inside.

There are many kinds of open.

How a diamond comes into a knot of flame   

How a sound comes into a word, coloured   

By who pays what for speaking.

Some words are open

Like a diamond on glass windows

Singing out within the crash of passing sun

Then there are words like stapled wagers

In a perforated book—buy and sign and tear apart—

And come whatever wills all chances

The stub remains

An ill-pulled tooth with a ragged edge.

Some words live in my throat

Breeding like adders. Others know sun

Seeking like gypsies over my tongue

To explode through my lips

Like young sparrows bursting from shell.

Some words

Bedevil me.

Love is a word another kind of open—

As a diamond comes into a knot of flame

I am black because I come from the earth's inside   

Take my word for jewel in your open light.

2018 #MarchMysteryMadness Challenges & Hosts

New J. D. Robb, Dark in Death, Release

FauxCast | 5 Years of Thanks & #ReadSoulLit Links

All Right Then, Sue Grafton

CHOP IT UP: Guardian Angel by Sara Paretsky

CHOP IT UP: The Book of Night Women by Marlon James

CHOP (DUBBED) IT UP: Maxed Out by Cal Lewis

Protecting Book's Dust Jacket with Mylar Sheet

Not a BookTube Newbie TAG

Subscriber Requests: More Sailor Moon Videos | Sailor Moon Materials Collection Art Book Stroll 1

Library Picks | Hit Or Miss, Nah?

Book Outlet Haulin'

Good Ole Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody Used (Library) Book Haul

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

CHECK IN/CHECK OUT ~ #MARCHMYSTERYMADNESS

2017 #MarchMysteryMadness TBR (Long Version)

First of all guys I want to apologize.  I wish (on everything I love) that I could make those simple, snappy videos.  Some people are so good at it.  But I’m long-winded at times.  When I look back at videos I wrestle with providing information on the book(s) or keeping matters as brief as possible.  But, at the end of the day, I hate just throwing books up without talking about them.  So, like last year, I just went ahead and made a short/long version of my 2017 #MarchMysteryMadness video.  It was the only way I could keep my sanity on this one.

Link to #MarchMysteryMadness TBR SHORT Version

Link to #MarchMysteryMadness TBR LONG Version

Anyway, add links and such to your TBR in the comments.  And let’s have fun!

As Whitney once said: “Love is a Contact Sport.”  So thanks for hanging out with me and ish.

#MarchMysteryMadness Goodreads Group

#MarchMysteryMadness on Twitter

#MarchMysteryMadness Co-host on the YouTube

Elizabeth on YouTube

Di on YouTube

My Blog Post on the Challenges

Books mentioned via Amazon (affiliate links):

1.  The Conjure-Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher

2.  Burn Marks by Sara Paretsky

3.  Death Assemblage by Susan Cummins Miller

4.  My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due

5.  Babysitter’s Club Mystery #26 by Ann M. Martin

6.  The Bride’s Kimono by Sujata Massey

7.  Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen

8.  Hitler’s Furies by Wendy Lower

#MarchMysteryMadness Challenges & Link Video

2017 #MarchMysteryMadness Challenge

GROUP & LINKS

#MarchMysteryMadness GOODREADS GROUP

#MarchMysteryMadness on TWITTER

CO-HOSTS ON YOUTUBE

DI'S CHANNEL

DI'S BLOG POST

ELIZABETH'S CHANNEL

~~~~~ 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?

#ReadSoulLit ~ 1st 100 Pages of Bedrock Faith

Up Date: "Y is For..." by Sue Grafton

Amazon finally gave us a summary of Sue Grafton's next-to-final Kinsey Millhone book, Y is for...

"The darkest and most disturbing case report from the files of Kinsey Millhone, Y begins in 1979, when four teenage boys from an elite private school sexually assault a fourteen-year-old classmate—and film the attack.  Not long after, the tape goes missing and the suspected thief, a fellow classmate, is murdered. In the investigation that follows, one boy turns state’s evidence and two of his peers are convicted. But the ringleader escapes without a trace.
Now, it’s 1989 and one of the perpetrators, Fritz McCabe, has been released from prison. Moody, unrepentant, and angry, he is a virtual prisoner of his ever-watchful parents—until a copy of the missing tape arrives with a ransom demand. That’s when the McCabes call Kinsey Millhone for help. As she is drawn into their family drama, she keeps a watchful eye on Fritz. But he’s not the only one being haunted by the past. A vicious sociopath with a grudge against Millhone may be leaving traces of himself for her to find… "

OUT AUGUST 22, 2017!

#Readsoullit Photo Challenge (So Far)

 Join #ReadSoulLit on Twitter

@BrownGirlReading

@danidanydanie

Challenge #3: Book and a Drink

Challenge #4 & 5: Made You Cry/5 Star Reads

Challenge #9: Books & Arts & Crafts

Challenge #11: Book and a Bag

Challenge #12: Currently Reading

1st Book Haul of the Year

Book Issues: Taking Character's Advice Ever Happen to You?

This picture is what happens when you read 15 Susan Wittig Albert herbal mystery books in one month. You start to listen to the characters. Particularly that of the series heroine (and herb shop owner), China Bayles, as book after book she expresses her love of lavender oil. Why? Well, folk medicine aside, supposedly the scent of lavender eases anxiety and insomnia. Not that I suffer from either of the two (well, from a marginal standpoint I would say I do). Nonetheless, the scent is for relaxing oneself. And, hell, anybody can do with that.

So I went out and bought some.

The effects concerning myself? Not really sure yet, as it may work best with a diffuser. Or to dilute it with water in a spray bottle. By itself the oil can be overpowering, which leads to a sinus headache if you apply too much. Very much the opposite of its purpose. LOL.

All the same, sometimes we get so rooted and invested in book series/fictional characters that we sometimes find ourselves taking their advice on certain things. Out of curiosity? Maybe. For a true solution to our personal concerns? Most likely. In either case, it's our way of building rapport with whatever beloved character we enjoy spending quiet evenings with. And my time in January with China Bayles certain became an example of the case.

So has this ever happened to you? Your favorite fictional character inspired you to, well, take their advice about something?

(SIDEBAR: Once while reading the Kinsey Millhone series back to back, I started to take on Kinsey’s hungry for Quarter Pounders with Cheese. I would stop reading to go grab one. And I don’t even like them.)

#ReadSoulLit TBR

All right. I need to bring my ass back to the blog and get to work. No, for real. I do. Still, I wanted to spend January reading. No social media, and very little blogging. I wanted nothing but books to kick off 2017. And I managed to read 15 books, all included in Susan Wittig Albert’s China Bayles series. Hell, I ain’t never read so many books in one month. I took them down one after the other and had fun the whole way. Lowkey: I kind of miss them already. Anyway, I’m now current with the series, and awaiting April’s new release. So it’s all good.

With that said, I’m kind of prepped (as well as pumped) to flush in some readings for Black History Month. Particularly through the running hash tag #readsoullit. Here’s the stack that I have planned to read. Instead of going out to buy books, I pulled each of these from my shelf. And I wanted to make sure I mixed things up. Including tossing in that Toni Braxton autobiography that I bought in September. As well as another Barbara Neely mystery, and even some sci-fi (Octavia Butler and Seressia Glass).

This is going to be fun.

And for those who didn’t catch my last announcement video. We’ll be reading Bedrock Faith by Eric Charles May. Everything you need to know about the read-along noted in the Goodreads group linked here: http://bit.ly/2kU2GPo

I’m rushing to write this post so that I can go read. I haven’t figured out which I’ll pick up first, though.

Sue Grafton's NEXT Kinsey Millhone Books, "Y is for..." (Apparently NOTHING!)

It's finally been announced!  The next-to-final Kinsey Millhone Alphabetta series installment, Y is for... will be released on August 22, 2017!  Who else is dying to get it, while apprehensive of the fact that this decades running series is slowly coming to an end?

I have no idea what it's about yet (no synopsis up on Amazon or Goodreads), but what the hell does it matter?  Give it to us!

No 2017 Reading Goals | Reading Announcements, Though

Coffee With Cornwell?

More Tess Gerritsen in 2017!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, 2017 is finally upon us.  It’s always exciting when a new year starts, because you never know what’s in store for the next 12 months and 365 days given.  You never know what’s in store at all.  Despite that unknown, and many set-ups already in place to usher in the new year either on a bright foot or dark, it’s a time to be optimistic.  To forge on with hope.

SO… HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Let’s see what 2017 have in store for us all!