Cahokia Jazz

 

Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford 464 pages

 

I love this novel so much that I am going to claim that it will be one of the must-reads of 2024!

 

What Amazon says:  Francis Spufford’s Cahokia Jazz inhabits a different version of America, now through the lens of a subtly altered 1920s—a fully imagined world full of fog, cigarette smoke, dubious motives, danger, dark deeds. And in the main character of Joe Barrow, we have a hero of truly epic proportions, a troubled soul to fall in love with as you are swept along by a propulsive and brilliantly twisty plot.

On a snowy night at the end of winter, Barrow and his partner find a body on the roof of a skyscraper. Down below, streetcar bells ring, factory whistles blow, Americans drink in speakeasies and dance to the tempo of modern times. But this is Cahokia, the ancient indigenous city beside the Mississippi living on as a teeming industrial metropolis, filled with people of every race and creed. Among them, peace holds. Just about. But that corpse on the roof will spark a week of drama in which this altered world will spill its secrets and be brought, against a soundtrack of jazz clarinets and wailing streetcars, either to destruction or rebirth.

 

What I thought of it: This novel has it all! I was captivated by the opening scene that sets a harrowing stage of what is to come to the heartbreaking last scene. Part alternate history, part noir thriller, part mythology legends, with science, jazz, crime, mob scenes and the KKK all thrown in to make a highly readable novel.

 

Cahokia Jazz is a complicated, complex, easy to follow and fabulous novel. Therefore, it receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Veil of Doubt

Veil of Doubt by Sharon Virts 410 pages

 

Set in Virginia in 1872, “Veil of Doubt” tells the story of Emily Lloyd, a widow who is accused of murdering her youngest child, three-year-old Maud. Her death is gruesome and hard to watch. And what’s even more ghastly is that Maud’s autopsy takes place on her deathbed, right in front of Emily. (I admit I gagged a couple of times.)

 

Unfortunately, Emily is no stranger to death. Her other three children, her aunt and her husband have all mysteriously died. Maud’s death is the last straw. The authorities, and indeed the entire town, are convinced that there is something deeply wrong with the woman.

 

Her lawyer is Powell Harrison, a family who has recently returned to help his brother run his father’s law practice. When Powell is approached to defend Emily, he initially declines. He wants no part of it. But he relents, believing his strategy will be insanity. But as the investigation dives deeper and deeper, Powell is not so sure that she is insane. He believes that a prior traumatic event muddled her brain. It’s a slippery slope, but as his brother tells him, “you promised to defend her. You made no promise to defend the truth. It's not up to you to prove she is responsible for the deaths of her children or not.” 

 

“Veil of Doubt” got off to a slow start for me. Watching Maud die and Emily’s time in prison made for some difficult reading. But as the book progressed, I found it harder and harder to put down. As facts and the truth are uncovered, it’s obvious that Emily is not in her right mind. Or is she? I’m glad I was not one of the jurors; I vacillated between guilty and innocent from one page to the next. There are shocking and more shocking revelations as the story progresses. A shocking surprise ending made this novel worth the read. I think I gasped at least once every page of the trial. So many surprises and twists. And it was worth it!

 

“Veil of Doubt” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

 

NOTE: “Veil of Doubt” is based on a true crime.

 

 

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

The Last Heir to Blackwood by Hester Fox 336 pages

 

Readers can always count on author Hester Fox for a quietly eerie novel, and her latest doesn’t quite live up to the abilities she has shown in other works.

 

Twenty-three-year-old Ivy Radcliffe is alone in the world. She lost her brother and father in the Great War and her mother succumbed to the Spanish Flu. She is shocked when she is summoned to a solicitor’s office for the reading of the will of the late Lord Hayworth, someone with whom she is unfamiliar. Turns out, he was Ivy’s father’s third cousin, and the last of the Hayworth line.

 

It took the solicitor a while, but they finally connected Ivy to Hayworth, and with that knowledge, she inherited his Lordship’s estate, Blackwood Abbey, located on the Yorkshire moors.

 

When Ivy arrived, the sprawling mansion was in disrepair, yet the servants who took care of her ancestor were still there. I don’t recall in how long the period was between the Lord’s death and Ivy’s arrival, but it cannot have been overlong since they were still there. The mansion is dark and depressing, attributed to its gothic vibes.

 

Almost immediately, Ivy is bored. She knows no one and there is little for her to do. On an afternoon outing to the local bookstore, she meets Sir Arthur Mabry. He discloses the existence of a magnificent library housed in the crumbling abode, and that he would love to get a chance to see it.

 

The conversation leads Ivy to wonder what she isn’t being told, especially if there are parts of the   house where she is told she cannot investigate. But a library! Ivy loves to read and makes it a priority to discover its contents.

 

The library is magnificent, but strange things happen there…footprints in the dust that lead to a solid wall without another living creature present is only one example. Still, Ivy isn’t scared away. Until the night of the storm.

 

I had a tough time piecing this novel together. I didn’t understand what the Prologue has to do with the rest of the story. Even after I finished the book and re-read it, it did not seem to tie in. I am afraid this is one of those stories that the author knew and understood but was unable to draw the picture for the reader.

 

 The Last Heir to Blackwood receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

The Audrey Hepburn Estate

The Audrey Hepburn Estate by Brenda Janowitz 368 pages

 

One of my favorite movies of all-time is from 1954. Sabrina, starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. It is an important film, so much so that it “was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.’”

Author Brenda Janowitz, in her eighth novel, has taken the essence of the movie and of Hepburn to craft a warm and surprisingly twisty work. The story is told with two narratives, “Now” and “Then.” 

“Now” is current time. Emma, Henry and Leo grew up on Henry’s grandparents’ Long Island estate, known as Rolling Hill.  The grand mansion has fallen into such disrepair that it is beyond saving. Or so says Leo, who has recently purchased the estate and plans to raze it. Emma has not seen Leo in almost seven years. It had been even longer since she had seen Henry. “Then” fills in the backstory, giving the reader insight into the characters as children and young adults.

Since Emma was eight years old, she knew that Henry was the one for her. They were childhood sweethearts. Janowitz reverses male roles. Think Henry in the Linus/Bogart role. Leo, the driver’s son, had been in love with Emma since they played together as children. Leo has the William Holden role. Since Leo first met Emma, he knew that she was the one for him. Who will Emma cling to in the turmoil that lies ahead.?

Emma returns to Rolling Hill for a trip down memory lane. What she didn’t know was that the house held more than one secret. She tried to get to Leo not to raze the house, but she was talking to deaf ears. She goes so far as to join the local historical society in the hopes of obtaining an injunction against Leo and his company.  Along the way, Janowitz throws in a few twists that turned the story in a different, yet same, direction.

Be sure to read the Appendix, “Finding Audrey Hepburn in ‘The Audrey Hepburn Estate.’”

The Audrey Hepburn Estate receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

 

 

 

Zero Days

 Zero Days by Ruth Ware  307 pp.

Jack (Jacintha) and her partner (and husband) Gabe own a business where they try to penetrate building security both physically and online so that they can give the companies tips on how to improve.  Jack is at a building doing the physical aspect of the security check (and hooking Gabe into the online aspect) when she is caught by security personnel.  They don't believe her when she said she was hired to do the check since the company contact is not answering his phone, so the police take her into custody.  Her former boyfriend (Jeff) is a police officer and when he finds out what is happening gets her freed.  When she gets home to her house, she finds Gabe with a slit throat.  Because she is in shock, she doesn't call the police immediately which leads them to question the timeline of her actions and before she know it, she is a suspect.  From there, Jack goes on the run and is nearly caught several times.

Despite figuring out who the bad guy was fairly early on, I did not know the motive immediately.  The book had an action movie feel to it once Jack was on the run and I felt the author played fair with the mystery aspects of the story.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

 

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

384 pp

Everyone in Ern's family has killed someone, but not all are murderers. Erv is a writer of books to help writers write books in particular genres. He is joining his family at a ski resort in Australia (I did not know they had these!) for a family reunion since his brother is getting out of jail. Within 24 hours of arriving at the reunion, a body is found. Then (of course) a big storm comes in and cuts off all communication for the family with anyone outside of the resort.

Throughout the book, Ern recounts his different family members and who they killed.  I have read some reviews that said that they thought the book was like the  "Knives Out" series of movies.  Unfortunately, I thought the story required the reader to suspend belief several times and played upon cliches of the mystery/suspense genre.  Perhaps I read this at the wrong time to find the humor.

The Bait

The Bait (Book 2 in the To Catch a Leopard Series)  by C.W. Gortner and M. J. Rose 125 pages

It’s been a year since a cat burglar who goes by “Leopard,” stole Ania Thorne’s most recent collection of one-of-a-kind designer jewelry in Cannes. And one year, since she met insurance investigator Jerome Curtis.

Together, they may not have been able to solve the theft, but they do know who did it, and Anika and Jerome have become lovers. Ania has been planning her next move since leaving Cannes.

Now it’s carnival time in Venice. Ania has been planning her next move since leaving Cannes. And it’s quite the elaborate plan! Unfortunately, things don’t go their way. They wind up in jail, accused of a crime they did not commit. Once again Ania and Jerome are thwarted when Leopard unexpectedly pops up. This time Ania is able to confront Leopard to no avail.

A fun little read that can be read in one sitting. I love the descriptions of Venice, but I wish there had been more.

 “The Bait” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

The Poet's House

The Poet’s House by Jean Thompson 320 pages

Author Jean Thompson is new to me. I really enjoyed her writing, and in reading about her and this book in various book newsletters and magazines, it sounds as though I am missing something by not reading her work.

While poetry is at the heart of this novel, this book is not about poetry. Art, yes. Poetry. No. There is also a mystery in the story that mostly stays in the background until near the conclusion.

Twenty-one-year-old Carla is a landscape artist. She has no plans; nothing seems to excite her, except hard work. A community college dropout, Carla feels stupid and unteachable. Unfortunately, she is suffering from un-diagnosed form of dyslexia; she doesn’t process the written word as others do. 

Carla likes her job. It makes sense to her. However, she life is drastically changed when she hears one of her clients, Viridian, reading her poetry aloud. She gets it!

Like Viridian’s friends and colleagues, Carla is drawn to the seventy-ish Viridian. She just wants to be around her, and Viridian notices her. For the first time in her life, Carla feels noticed. She begins to find excuses to go to Viridian’s where she meets all kinds of interesting and quirky people.

And if art is the heart of this novel, the mystery of a lost collection of poetry is its pulse. Viridian’s past lover---the great poet, Mathias---supposedly burned his last poetry collection. But no one seems to believe that he would do such a thing. Most people believe that Viridian has hidden it. But no one can claim to have ever seen it or where it could possibly be. And most don’t understand why Viridian doesn’t haul it out and put it on the auction block, since she is struggling financially. And as her physical health declines, what will become of the lost masterpiece?  Only readers of the book will know.

I enjoyed reading “The Poet’s House,” and it receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Zoey and Sassafras: Wishypoofs and Hiccups

Zoey and Sassafras: Wishypoofs and Hiccups (Book 9 in a series) by Asia Castro; illustrated by Marion Lindsay 96 pages

I look forward to new adventures in the life of Zoey and her beloved orange cat, Sassafras. In this educational and fun series, the duo helps magical creatures who seek their assistance with whatever problem they are experiencing. So far, Zoey, and her mom, have been able to help through science.

I love books that focus on science for girls. My step-granddaughters, who are now 6 and 4, love Zoey also. The oldest seems especially attracted to science.

In this episode, Pip the talking frog shows up at the barn with a long, luxurious head of curly green hair. He has come to Zoey for help as he has no idea of how he got it. The trio retrace Pip’s steps into the forest.

Something is amiss in the forest. All their friends are having problems. Tiny, the large unicorn, has shrunk, the monster twins and stuck together, Pip begins to lay eggs and all the characters from the other books have shown up with a problem.

Fortunately, readers are introduced to a new character, a wishypoof floating in the air! When the trio first encounter her, she is crying. She believes she is the cause of all the changes in the forest, but more important she has the hiccups and doesn’t know how to get rid of them!

I thought that this would be the chance for Zoey to conduct several scientific experiments. In all honestly, she does have one that she works with on with her mom. But when it fails, all she does is ask the other creatures how they get rid of hiccups.

I was disappointed in this latest adventure. There was little science. I was heartbroken that there weren’t any at-home experiments for readers. We barely saw Zoey use her scientific methods and her Thinking Goggles. Therefore, “Zoey and Sassafras: Wishypoofs and Hiccups” receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Nurse's Secret

The Nurse’s Secret by Amanda Skenandore 368 pages

I was attracted to this novel due to the cover and the setting---New York, 1883. I always enjoy medical stories from the 19^th and early 20^th centuries; they make me appreciate modern medicine. (An aside, for a fabulous historical medical fiction read, pick up a copy of Robin Oliveira’s “My Name is Mary Sutter.”)

Una Kelly is a grifter who is about to become homeless. Her mother died in a fire and her father died of a drug overdose. Una is about to pull a scam and cheat her fence out of deal when the new fence she plans to meet with is found murdered. She does have a run-in with the coppers but manages to elude them.

On the run and nowhere to go, Una spots an article in the newspaper that Bellevue Hospital is recruiting nurses. Bellevue is a training hospital and is renowned for following Florence Nightingale’s nursing principles. Bellevue is the first hospital to do this in the country.

Una defrauds her way into the training program. It’s not like anything she expected, but she finds she has a knack for it. Following the restrictive role, she must play as a nurse is tough on the young woman who is used to doing things her way. She also finds things she has never had before: friends and romance. When murders begin to happen at the hospital, Una sets out to discover who is the guilty party.

This novel is a little light in depth and tension, but it was interesting. While I didn’t find it a page-turner, other reader might. “The Nurse’s Secret” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

The Satapur Moonstone

 The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey; 360 pages

The second in the Perveen Mistry series, inspired by the real-life first woman lawyer in India. What I loved about the first book in this series was the description of 1920s Bombay: the culture, the diversity, the food, etc., so I was initially disappointed that this book took Perveen Mistry out of the city and into an isolated world of royalty and wealth. But that didn't last long because the writer transported me to this world right away!

In this story, Perveen is called upon to meet with a royal family in India to resolve the educational path of its future monarch. She is selected primarily because the two women (the mother and grandmother of the future ruler) who cannot come to an agreement observe purdah and cannot meet with a male lawyer. Luckily, Perveen is smart and resourceful and soon finds that there is much more than just a disagreement in regards to schooling that is keeping the palace in turmoil. Between stolen jewels, hidden identities, poisoning attempts, and a possible love interest, Perveen has her work cut out for her. There's a lot happening in the plot, but I never lost the thread. In addition, moving the action out to the countryside of India allowed me to learn more about the small kingdoms of the time and the uneasy relationship between Indians and British colonialists.

I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series.

The Lamplighters

 The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex.  I read a galley - 340 pages

Summary from Goodreads: Cornwall, 1972. Three keepers vanish from a remote lighthouse, miles from the shore. The entrance door is locked from the inside. The clocks have stopped. The Principal Keeper’s weather log describes a mighty storm, but the skies have been clear all week.

What happened to those three men, out on the tower? The heavy sea whispers their names. The tide shifts beneath the swell, drowning ghosts. Can their secrets ever be recovered from the waves?

Twenty years later, the women they left behind are still struggling to move on. Helen, Jenny and Michelle should have been united by the tragedy, but instead it drove them apart. And then a writer approaches them. He wants to give them a chance to tell their side of the story. But only in confronting their darkest fears can the truth begin to surface . . .

And here's what I thought: I often felt like I couldn't quite get into this book. The pacing is a little uneven and there were so many viewpoints, often going quickly from one to another, that I felt I should have made a chart of sorts to keep track of who's who. Add to that going back in forth from the past to the present, and I just couldn't quite connect with the story.

I did enjoy the mystery elements of the story and how the story slowly reveals itself through the different characters' viewpoints and stories. Because you have this mysterious event right at the beginning, you know it's going to be a slow reveal through the story. There is a lot in this book about love, and grief, and misunderstandings. And, with the very realistic details of what it's like to work on one of these lighthouses (which, by the way, is not on a nice little slice of land, but is right out there in the water, where it's very dangerous), sometimes gave the book a claustrophobic feel which heightened the atmosphere of the story. 

However, I often couldn't keep the characters straight and as a result, didn't quite connect with any of them. I also found it difficult to find many of them to be sympathetic, so I sometimes just didn't quite care what happened to them. Interesting story and maybe I'll have a different reaction to it if I read it again.

The Last Exit

 The Last Exit by Michael Kaufman  298 pages

Summary from Goodreads: Set in Washington D.C. 20 years from now, climate change has hit hard, fires are burning, unemployment is high, and controversial longevity treatments are only available to the very rich. Enter resourceful young police detective, Jen B. Lu, and her 'partner', Chandler, a SIM implant in her brain and her instant link to the Internet and police records, and a constant voice inside her head. He's an inquisitive tough guy, with a helluva sense of humor and his own ideas about solving crimes.

As a detective in the Elder Abuse unit, Jen is supposed to be investigating kids pushing their aging parents to "exit" so they are eligible to get the longevity drug. But what really has her attention are the persistent rumors about Eden, a black market version of the longevity drug, and the bizarre outbreak of people aging almost overnight, then suddenly dying--is this all connected? Is Big Pharma involved?

When Jen's investigations of Eden take her too close to the truth, she is suspended, Chandler is deactivated, and her boyfriend is freaked out by "the thing inside her brain." This leaves Jen to pursue a very dangerous investigation all by herself.

And here's what I thought: I liked this spin on the near-future with AI. The story is a combination of science fiction and mystery and I thought rhe main characters of Jen and her AI, Chandler were interesting. However, the story often didn't keep my attention and I put it down a few times before finishing it. Jen isn't super-likeable, which doesn't matter too much to me -- but the pacing sometimes lagged and I think that's where I would get stuck. So, interesting book and maybe I'll try it again at some point to see if I can more fully engage with it. 

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict  288 pages

One of the most highly reported disappearances of the 20^th century is from 1926 and has largely been forgotten. That is where author Marie Benedict excels—exploring the past. In this, Benedict’s fifth novel, up and coming mystery writer Agatha Christie has seemed to vanish from the face of the earth. Her abandoned car is found near Silent Pool---“a small spring-fed lake,” that Agatha found inspiring, but no sign of her. Suicide is quickly ruled out.

She turned up eleven days later in an elegant, nearby hotel. Where she had been, and why, has, still in 2021, not been explained. Even Agatha did not address the event in her autobiography.

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie is written in two of my favorite styles---dueling timelines and multiple viewpoints---are fictionalized diary entries. The first is a section called “The Manuscript”---which I didn’t understand why---is from Agatha’s point of view from 1912 to current day, which is 1926. It revolves around her courtship and subsequent marriage and life with Archie Christie, and her budding career.

The second section is from Archie’s viewpoint and takes place in December 1926.  It revolves around his coping with his wife’s disappearance, their child, their marriage, his mistress, and the fact that he is the police’s prime suspect.

A third, overarching section, only has one entry, but it dictates Archie’s every move during those eleven days. Agatha left Archie a letter in which she states that if he doesn’t do exactly as the letter says, he will never see her again. The police only learn of the letter near the end of the eleven days, which heightens their suspicions. However, Archie had burned it, so the police have no idea what Agatha could have written, which only fueled their suspensions.

 I’m a huge fan of Benedict’s work, but I was truly disappointed in this one. There was no real tension, no sense that Agatha was in any real danger. Even Archie didn’t seem to care much about Agatha and was more worried about his reputation. The “supposed” reason Agatha left was lame. The Mystery of Mrs. Christie receives 2 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

The Widows of Malabar Hill

 

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey, 385 pages

Mystery! History! Lots of fascinating female characters! Great descriptions of food and culture! What's not to love? I admit I judge books by their covers, and this one made me want to know more. I'm so glad that the cover of the book did not deceive.

This is the first of a series inspired by the real-life first female lawyer in India. Perveen Mistry finds herself entangled in assisting three widows in understanding and agreeing to their inheritances. The widows were the wives of one man and they follow strict rules forbidding any contact with men. Perveen is soon drawn in to their lives and their stories. The narrative moves between 1921 Bombay, as Perveen is working for her father's law firm, and 1916-1917 as Perveen's personal story and tragic past are revealed. Perveen's history shows another side of how Zoroastrian women in India lived, and I found her story as compelling as the experiences of the Muslim widows in 1921.

The descriptions of the city of Bombay with its diverse population and fascinating culture, food, and architecture, as well as the experiences of women of the time and the uneasy relationship with the British colonialists make this a great read. Add a compelling mystery and I couldn't stop turning the pages. I can't wait to read more!

The Last Story of Mina Lee

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim 384 pages

First-time novelist Nancy Jooyoum Kim tackles some tough subjects in this novel: the power of language, immigration, death and the meanings of family and home.

Margot Lee has lived in Portland, Oregon, for the last few years while her mother, Mina, lives in Los Angeles. Her friend, Miguel, is moving to LA and Margot offers to drive him.  She plans to surprise her mother, but in reality, she is going to check up on her. Mina hasn’t answered the phone in two weeks.  Upon their arrival, Margot and Miguel find Mina dead in her Koreantown apartment.

Margot feel guilty that she didn’t follow up sooner, but the two weren’t close, yet they weren’t estranged. Margot hated talking to her mother as her mother spoke mostly Korean, but Margot barely speaks that language so phone communication is strained at best. Although Mina appears to have died from natural causes and the police do not suspect foul play, Margot has an intuition that murder is more likely and begins to look into her mother’s life.

The story alternates between 1987, when Mina came into the United States as an illegal immigrant, and 2014, the time of Mina’s death.  The 1987 version is told from Mina’s point of view, while the 2014 is from Margot’s.

The plot is rather slow-moving, but I enjoyed it. As Margot digs, she learns Mina’s secrets, rather shocking secrets that were the highlights of the novel.  I believe that Author Kim did this on purpose---while the secrets are nothing that hasn’t happened to others before, the slowness of the plot makes them stand out.

There were lots of mentions of Korean food and other words that I could never really figure out what exactly Author Kim meant. That also slowed the plot a bit. Every time I thought this would be a 3-star book, a secret was revealed elevating it to a 5-star read.  Therefore, The Last Story of Mina Lee receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Zoey & Sassafras: Bips and Roses

Zoey & Sassafras: Bips and Roses (Book 8 in the series) by Asia Citro; illustrations by Marion Lindsay  96 Pages

My step-granddaughters, especially the five-year-old, love this series about a girl who loves science!  That alone makes my heart sing.

Zoey and her cat, Sassafras, eagerly await the next time the doorbell rings in the barn because that means that a magical creature that lives in the woods behind their home needs help!  Today was their lucky day---the doorbell rang. Well, they hate that there is a problem, but they love to solve problems. When they open the door, there stands Pip, a talking frog whom Zoey’s mother first befriended years and years ago.

Pip tells them that the hippogriff babies are in danger! Magical grasshopper have swarmed through the forest and eaten almost all the roses.  The hippogriff babies need the magical roses. On the roses leaves, bips, or tiny bugs that are as cute as a button, become the hippogriff babies’ first food, which helps them grow their wings.

Pip, Zoey and Sassafras must come up with a way to restore the rosebushes so that the hippogriff doesn’t become extinct.

I was a little disappointed in this book. It didn’t seem to have many experiments at the end of the story as in the previous stories, and the story seemed rushed---not as fleshed out as the previous books. Still, it was filled with magical creatures, science and animals. Therefore, Zoey & Sassafras: Bips and Roses receive 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Post from July 31 - One Fatal Flaw

One Fatal Flaw by Anne Perry  308 pages

"When a desperate woman comes to Daniel Pitt seeking a lawyer for her boyfriend, Rob Adwell, Daniel is convinced of the young man's innocence. Adwell has been accused of murder and of setting a fire to conceal the body, but Daniel is sure that science can absolve him--and Miriam fford Croft is the best scientist he knows. Miriam connects Daniel with her former teacher Sir Barnabas Saltram, an expert in arson, and together, they reveal Adwell's innocence by proving that an accidental fire caused the victim's death. But it's not long before Adwell is killed in the same fiery fashion. If these deaths are, in fact, murders, what essential clue could Daniel and Miriam have missed?"

This is a solid entry in Perry's Daniel Pitt series, and I very much liked that there was more focus on Miriam and her forensic science. This is historical fiction at its best, I think, with plenty of realistic details and a storyline that explores political and social mores, women's history, and also a story with twists and turns. I appreciated that Perry did her research with this, and it was pretty interesting to read about the forensic science of the time and how death from fire was determined (i.e. whether a broken skull was the result of a blow or the result of intense heat).

Books in the Stephanie Plum series

I must confess: Janet Evanivich’s Stephanie Plum series is my feel good place. I didn’t realize how far behind on the series I was until I noticed that I had to catch up on the most recent three books. The characters are quirky and the plots are implausible and each story reeks of every literary trope

known...I love it! There is absolutely no depth to any of these books, which makes them a perfect escape - highly recommend if you're in the mood for silly and predictable.

To anyone unfamiliar with Stephanie Plum, know that what New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum lacks in skill and experience, she makes up for with tenacity, luck, and her true talent... the ability to attract disaster, killers, and general nut jobs. If she needs help there is always her mentor, Ranger, a security expert with a dark past, and Trenton P.D.’s Joe Morelli, a homicide detective who shares a past - and sometimes a present - with Stephanie. Family and romantic partners, friends and colleagues, memeses, and supporting characters - human and otherwise - are all shake-your-head, laugh-out-loud, over-the-top additions to each story. 

Posted by: Regina C.  

Hardcore Twenty-Four

by Janet Evanovich   285 pages

Trouble comes in bunches for Stephanie Plum. First, professional grave robber and semi-professional loon, Simon Diggery, won't let her take him in until she agrees to care for his boa constrictor, Ethel. Stephanie's main qualification for babysitting an extremely large snake is that she owns a stun gun - whether that's for use on the wandering serpent or the petrified neighbors remains to be seen.

Events take a dark turn when headless bodies start appearing across town. At first, it's just corpses from a funeral home and the morgue that have had the heads removed. But when a homeless man is murdered and dumped behind a church Stephanie knows that she's the only one with a prayer of catching this killer.

Look Alive Twenty-Five

by Janet Evanovich   311 pages

There's nothing like a good deli and the Red River Deli in Trenton is one of the best. World famous for its pastrami, cole slaw and for its disappearing managers. Over the last month, three have vanished from the face of the earth, the only clue in each case is one shoe that's been left behind. The police are baffled. Lula is convinced that it's a case of alien abduction. Whatever it is, they'd better figure out what's going on before they lose their new manager, Ms. Stephanie Plum.

Twisted Twenty-six

by Janet Evonovich   306 pages

Grandma Mazur is a widow...again. This time her marriage lasted a whole 45 minutes. The unlucky groom was one Jimmy Rosolli, local gangster and heart attack waiting to happen...well, the waiting is over. When Jimmy’s former “business partners” are convinced that his widow is keeping the keys to their financial success for herself, Stephanie Plum has to find them quickly.

Threads: A Depression Era Tale

Threads: A Depression Era Tale by Charlotte Whitney 327 pages

I was excited when I won this book in the giveaway section of the Shelf Awareness newsletter. I was dismayed when the book opened with “A Note on Mid-Michigan Farm Dialect.”  Ninety-five percent of the books I read with dialogue aren’t very good—the dialect gets in the way. Not so with this intriguing tale of three sisters over the course of 1934. It sort of got in my way in the beginning, but it soon evened out. 

To tell a story with three different narrators is challenging, even for a seasoned writer, which Whitney is not.  But she does it superbly!  And to keep the voices clear and recognizable to each sister is quite the feat!  I never had a problem knowing which sister was talking at any given time.

This is the story of three sisters:  Nellie, seven; Irene, eleven, and Flora, 17.  Remember the old adage that there are three sides to every story?  Two who tell the story and the truth.  Here we get three sides of each story, as each sister gives her account of what is happening.

And there is a lot happening.  The girls live on a farm in mid-Michigan, and reads are treated to what life is like in this hardscrabble time. 

Nellie is still too young to really know how the Depression is affecting the family.  She visits the farm animals every day, especially the cows that stand under the cherry blossom trees. She even has an imaginary friend, ZeeZee, who is an alien.  But one day, Nellie finds a shallow grave of a dead baby.  Whose it is and how the discovery affects the little girl runs through the entire novel.

The middle sister, Irene, seems to have more faults than good qualities. She finds faults with the world in general and especially with her sisters.

The oldest sister, Flora, wants to get go on dates and get married.  She eyes a schoolmate and fellow church member, Henry, as her savior from spinsterhood.  But when rumors start to fly that the dead baby Nellie found is Flora’s, well her chances to wed seem to disappear.

There are a lot of other interesting characters that the readers meet in the small farming community. By the end I felt as if I had been part of the lives of these people.  I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, always looking forward to my reading time every evening. 

As I read,  wondered how on earth could Whitney without leaving the readers hanging. Easy-peasy---an epilogue that thakes place forty years later.

 “Threads: A Depression Era Tale” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.