Middle Sister's Mid-Month Review

One for the Hooks by Betty Hechtman

Many years ago I read the first couple of books in a then-new crafty mystery series by Betty Hechtman. Members in a crafting forum I was a moderator at were very excited because this series was centered around crocheters; most of the fiber craft mystery series featured knitters. I wasn't too impressed by the series, so after two or three books, I gave up. But I recently came across the latest in the series and thought I'd give it another try. Sometimes an author needs two or three stories to hit their stride, and I thought that might be the case here. 

I was wrong. The character and the story were even worse than I remembered. I hate to pan a book, much less an entire series, but I really can't do otherwise here. Ms. Hechtman is now writing 3 or 4 different series, and their output always suffers when authors start writing this much. That may be the problem here. Or, it may just be that this series is bad. I'm not going to try her other series to determine which is true.

The main character, Molly Pink, works in a bookstore as assistant manager and event coordinator. In addition to book groups, she's organized a group of crocheters who meet regularly in the bookstore. In the first book, she became romantically involved with the police officer investigating the murder. At some point, they broke up and she started seeing a lawyer. In this book, Molly has to face her attraction to both men. Barry the police officer has moved on and is dating again, and Mason, her new boyfriend, has asked her to quit her job to work with him, and told her that he wants to marry her. She is attracted to both men and strings both of them along. She is jealous of and snide toward's Barry's new romantic interest to his face. She makes derisive comments about Carol using a home meal delivery service because she (Molly) doesn't need pre-packaged ingredients to make a meal. What gourmet meal is Molly preparing while she's mocking Carol? Scrambled eggs.  Haute cuisine. She lies to Mason about her feelings for Barry repeatedly. 

Molly's behavior to Barry is juvenile and offensive. She constantly accuses him of being constipated emotionally (as if a police officer can let his emotions be visible to all). She agrees to help him investigate what looks like an accident but may have been intentional. Barry tells her that he will contact her as she is assisting unofficially, and she becomes petulant when he doesn't call and angry when she calls him and he doesn't want/can't to talk to her. Hmm, Molly, maybe he's at the police station and will get in trouble if it becomes known he's working with you? She answers every question he asks about the case with a question, refusing to answer until he practically begs for it, then diverts the conversation into accusations about his emotional self-control, and then finds his impatience with this childish behavior objectionable. Rise and repeat, and repeat, and repeat. By the third identical conversation with Barry, this was tedious. 

Her personal behavior is also objectionable. She steals keys and breaks into two houses, she withholds information, she repeatedly tells the reader that Barry and the police can't do their jobs so she has to solve the crime for them. She acts as if they are Keystone Kops bumbling about, and doesn't consider that her behavior not only impedes their investigation, but could cost them a conviction in a court of law if they try to rely on her fraudulently obtained information.  She prides herself on being a better investigator than professionals yet gets physically locked in an easement because she doesn't think to check the lock. Yet later, when she needs to get out of that same water easement area, she finds a different gate/door that is the only one that doesn't lock like all the others, and guess what? It just happens to be the gate to the murderer's house.

Other unbelievable coincidences abound, like jogging a computer awake with her elbow and being able to access all the files because it's not password protected (really?). She can answer a cell phone without seeing the name on the screen (how is that possible when you have to touch the screen to answer the call?). A book group regular just happens to be a neighbor of the woman where the murder occurs. The final coincidence, which ties the murderer into a separate subplot, was one too many and made me want to scream. There are inconsistencies in the story. After hundreds of pages around a key plot element--a neighborhood is angry that a resident wants to start letting her house be used as a vacation rental a la VRBO, after the resolution to the murder suddenly the entire neighborhood signs up with that homeowner to star in a reality television show about short term rentals. So the idea of a short term rental house next door was horrible until they could make money off the situation? This flies completely in the face of the personalities of neighborhood characters, all of whom had been suspects and therefore were recurring characters throughout the novel.  

The plot has been completely ripped from recent headlines with no attempt made to disguise it. The book is an amalgamation of lazy writing techniques, unbelievable coincidences, and unlikeable characters, and makes for an annoying reading. I actively disliked Molly by the end of the story. She is irritating, annoying, juvenile, self-centered, arrogant.

So I won't be giving this series another try. I suggest you avoid it, too.

Middle Sister's Two-for-One! February and March Reads

 BOGO. Two-for-One. 

I apologize, gentle readers, for missing a month of posting about the books I'd read. A bathroom remodel and floor improvement project was supposed to start the first week of February, so I spent the last week of January boxing everything up. Then, because of a glitch, the start date was delayed two weeks to mid-February. Then, instead of two weeks, the project took just over four weeks. I have a beautiful new bathroom and beautiful new flooring throughout my house that I love, but it meant chaos in my house for almost 6 weeks; actually, six weeks plus, as I still haven't unpacked everything that was boxed up. Half of most of what I own is still on my patio. But I love the new look my house has, so it was worth it.

That means I didn't read as much as I would have liked and didn't get to post what I did read. However, any reading is good reading, yes? Thanks to the remodel, I won't be able to take a vacation anywhere this year (or next), so I decided to travel through my books for the next few months.

The Truth About Baked Beans by Meg Muckenhoupt  I grew up just outside of New England, and have been fascinated by that region and its place in American history since a little girl. I was intrigued by the premise of this book--an investigation of the history and cultural impact of 'New England food.' The author begins by dispelling notions about food we typically think of as representing New England. She summarizes historical demographic data to identify which ethnic groups resided in New England at different points in time, and what their cuisine was. This archaeologist found a few glosses that are slightly misleading (she is correct in that honeybees are not native to the New World, but bumblebees are, and no, they don't produce enough nectar to make honey, so she is right, they didn't contribute any sweet element to native foods; her understanding of the trinity in Christianity is incorrect: "rejecting the trinity for a single God" is wrong; the divine mystery is that these are three representations of a single god, but many theologians and philosophers have also had trouble with that concept), but her wry sense of humor makes up for them ("The fishes' thoughts on the matter are not recorded."). She also doesn't hew to her own criteria for identifying typical cuisine of the area, which includes that they are eaten every day, not only on holidays, by deciding that the best food that fits all her criteria is Marshmallow Fluff. I can assure her that New Englanders do  not eat Marshmallow Fluff every day and it's eaten by people here in Tucson, which is pretty far from New England. If you're interested in regional or national history and happen to be a foodie, too, you'll find the book interesting and well written, with a sly sense of humor that suddenly appears when you least expect it. 

A Tourist's Guide to Murder by V.M. Burns I generally like the premise of the series--widow buys bookstore to fulfill the dream she and her late husband had, and she decides to try her hand at writing a mystery novel. The secondary characters are generally likable and distinct enough that they won't confuse someone stepping in the series in mid-run. Watching Sam rebuild her life resonates with many readers. But I have to confess I'm getting tired of one plot device the author relies on (too heavily in my opinion)--that the book Sam is writing helps her subconsciously solve the mystery. This time, that connection was just too direct and too coincidental and it showed how relying on that trope is causing the series to fray at the edges. I like Sam and Nana Jo and the other ladies a lot--they're spunky and plain spoken. I like Sam's boyfriend Frank, who is sweet and supportive. And I like the premise of this particular story--the ladies all go on a mystery readers' tour of England, and naturally stumble into a mystery. But I was irked, repeatedly. One thing that irked me a lot--Sam uses her cell phone to call home all the time, but we're not told if Sam has a recent and therefore unlocked phone, or if she enabled international calling (roaming) before she left, and if she uses Wi-Fi for those calls (otherwise, hello horrendous cellular roaming charges)? Yes, a pesky detail, but as someone who has traveled abroad a lot, and had to make calls back to the states and figure out how to do that (back when there were no cell phones at all, you know, when dinosaurs roamed the earth), that jumped out at me. Also, has the author watched Downtown Abbey? I didn't, but I didn't need to in order to know that Lady Elizabeth's cook could not whip up a dinner party with only a couple of hours notice. Nor do I think people of the era of Sam's book (England 1939) spoke the way she has them speaking: "Well, I never" or the butler saying "I'll see to it" to his employer. It would just be "yes, ma'am."Also, I've been through customs many, many times. There is no way you could sneak a dog through customs into England. England has very strict animal policies because they do not have rabies. And one more tiny thing (I know, I know, I'm picking on little things, but little things add up and I've not mentioned several other little things in this review that I could that irked me)--English people and people raised in England use the generic word wool for all yarn, regardless of the fiber. My mother, who lived in England for 4 years, did this her whole life. The mystery itself isn't bad, but having the exact same murder weapon used in Sam's book and this story is too much. Also, some chapters were only a page or two long before we jumped into Sam's book, and it seems like they were presented after almost every chapter of the murder mystery we're reading. That frequency is too much. Sam is not as good a writer as Ms. Burns, and I' far more interested in what Sam and the ladies are up to than Lady Clara and Lady Elizabeth and all those other people. More Sam, less fake fiction, and I may like the series better. 

Auntie Poldi and the Lost Madonna by Mario Giordano If this one title is any indication, the Auntie Poldi series are a rollicking, funny, laugh out loud, very welcome addition to the mystery shelf. Auntie Poldi is a 60-year-old Bavarian woman living in Italy. She drinks (a lot), she loves (a lot), she hates to fly (a lot), and she finds herself in seemingly inescapable scrapes from which she extricates herself and those she loves with panache and moxie. The book starts with an exorcism, proceeds through sitar music, smoothies, menacing twin hoodlums, a lovesick nephew, and Poldi swearing off booze and sex while she tries to solve a mystery for the pope. Yes, the pope is a character in this book and I think the real pope wold enjoy this fictional version of himself. There is a hint of paranormal in the books, and really, that was the one thing I didn't really care for, but Giordano did make Death a funny cast member whose relationship with Poldi is grudgingly respectful, on both sides. I won't even bother trying to summarize this book, but if you are looking for a funny, well-written book for your staycation (or if you're brave enough to take a real vacation somewhere while a pandemic engulfs the world), Auntie Poldi and her nephew are great companions to take with you.

Winter Pasture: One Woman's Journey with China's Kazakh Herders by Li Juan The author lives in northwestern China, and she decides to accompany acquaintances of her family to their winter pasture, where they will spend months living in a small tent while they pasture their cattle, camel, and horses on the steppe. This semi-sedentary lifestyle typified Kazakh herder culture for centuries, if not longer, but has been changed by modern technology and governmental interference. Li Juan's prose, as translated, is often transcendent, and the reader will feel as if they are with Cuma and his family in the freezing cold, lonely pasture. Li Juan learned many lessons about herself, self reliance, her preconceptions and others, about time and patience and just about everything that anyone who steps completely out of their world to immerse themselves in a completely strange place and time will learn. The reader gets to travel with her to this place seen by so few, and experience those same lessons, in this lovely and fascinating memoir.