Autumn is subtle in the desert. The air begins to dry out and the view to the mountains becomes clearer. It's still hot, but overnight temperatures start to drop slowly, so that one can stand outside under the inky black sky sprinkled with stars, and breathe. My flagging energies are always renewed this time of year. Reading comes less of an escape from oppressive heat and more a simple delight.
In the Shadow of Vesuvius by Tasha Alexander I often listen to audiobooks while doing other things around my house or while driving. My library's collection is ever increasing, but they don't often have series in their entirety, so I often jump into a series well in its arc. Such happened this month with In the Shadow of Vesuvius, the fourteenth book in the Lady Emily series, a series of which I had never heard. The brief description mentioned murder in Pompeii and archaeology; I was sold. I'm not sure I like Lady Emily; she's strong and late twentieth-century modern yet falls back into simpering nineteenth-century femininity by turns, so she and several of the other women in the novel, set in 1902, are not convincing in their presentation. I truly dislike when authors and publishers set stories in historical settings and yet then have the characters speak as if they were walking around today: "turns out" and "you lot" used by a convent-educated woman, for example, seemed incongruous. The constantly shifting point of view, between 1902 and 79 AD, was handled well but the ancient story was so predictable that it detracted from the murder Lady Emily and Colin were investigating. The character of Kat was as annoying as one might expect, but did demonstrate some character growth that will make her less of a distraction in future books. The mystery was intriguing: while touring Pompeii, Emily, Colin, and Ivy, Emily's friend, discover a modern body encased in an ashy cement and posed between the remains of humans killed during the ancient volcanic eruption. The investigation is handled well enough considering the author set her story in time long before telephones and instant access to information. I may read another in the series to see if they are more interesting as straight-up mysteries. While many like shocking family secrets, I am not a fan of melodrama and soap operas, and there was a lot of that in the background. The narration was adequate. (Audiobook)
From Here to There: The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way by Michael Bond I used to use and survey maps for a living, which (only partly) explains my love of books with maps. A book about how humans navigate sounded fascinating to me, and it was indeed engrossing. Mr. Bond started off with a detailed but not too esoteric background on the biological basis of how our brains map spatial data, and then moved on to some cultural differences between different human groups and their perceptions of space and how they learn to perceive locations. Particularly poignant were the stories of people who got lost and died, reminding us all that even in the day of GPS on our phones and watches, there are still wild areas where one can get dangerously lost. I would have to agree that current reliance on GPS is causing some humans to lose their navigating abilities. I worked with someone who, for an entire week, took the same wrong turn because the GPS told him to. Well written, fascinating and recommended.
After reading The Plot Thickets last month, I decided I had to read the first two books in the series. Pruning the Dead by Julia Henry is the first entry in the Garden Squad series, and it's here that the Garden Squad forms and begins its clandestine beautification projects around Goosebush. Lily's husband died two years ago, and she's been living in a fog since then. But her friends have managed to convince her that her beloved garden needs her tender care, and that a garden party would be a gentle way to rejoin Goosebush society. It's a huge success and Lily begins to slowly emerge from her widowhood, only to find that some changes in town have happened over those two years that she doesn't like. But what she really doesn't like is when her ex-husband's wife is murdererd, so Lily decides to find out who the real murderer is. One note: Roddy is introduced here with an Irish accent, but later books say his accent is English; one notices little things like this when you read three books back to back. All in all, it's a good first book, with a mystery that's not too intricate for the reader to guess but which is a pleasant introduction to the small town and the loyal friends who make it special.
Tilling the Truth by Julia Henry I love Lily Jayne's best friend, Tamara; she's bright, funny, and in a wonderful marriage. But someone is out to destroy Tamara's reputation as a realtor by playing nasty pranks that ruin her open houses. Tamara is determined to sell a coveted beach house despite the pranks, but it may not be just the commission she loses when the woman who lives next door is found dead, with Tamara standing over her. The entire Garden Squad swings into action to help save one of their own from being falsely accused of murder. The mystery in this series is secondary to the warm, considerate, kind cast of characters that Ms. Henry has created in the people that surround Lily. Goosebush is a pleasant place to visit, despite the murder rate. I envy the close and supportive relationships this group have with each other, and that's really the draw for the series for this reader.
Dashing Through the Snowbirds by Donna Andrews I guess I'm in a sentimental frame of mind, wanting to vicariously live in either a town like Goosebush, where strong friendships have created a fictive family that takes care of each other, or in Caerphilly, where the extremely large Langslow family, with its dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles, constantly pour in and out of Meg's kitchen and life, always ready to pitch in and help with the task at hand, whether that's cooking for a crowd or solving a murder. Meg Langslow has so many relatives that pepper her mysteries that sometimes I get confused over who is who, but that's not the case this time, in the latest book in this long running series. It's Christmas in Caerphilly, and Meg's house is overrun with the employees of a genealogy company her brother's company is in the process of buying. There's a deadline looming on the project they are all working frantically on so that they can return to Canada for Christmas. But then the boss is murdered, and everyone's plans change. Ms. Andrews has this formula down to an art, yet somehow manages to make each book read fresh, and this is no exception. Meg's large family is still present, but their involvement in the murder investigation is scaled back from other books in the series, which means the cast of characters is not unwieldy and their oft-crazy shenanigans don't upstage the murder. I wish I had a big family that was always underfoot, like Meg, so a visit to Caerphilly is always wonderful. This soon-to-be-published book is a great holiday read, and I recommend it (and the whole series). Net Galley
Mystery at Magpie Lodge by Clare Chase I know there are a number of Eve Mallow mysteries in print, but this is the first for me (number 7 in the series). I love a mystery set in a small English village, and I loved that the protagonist of this series, Eve, is a fifty-plus woman with a career, a secret lover, a dachshund, and a life she's comfortable with. The black sheep of a local prominent family returns, down on his luck and desperate for money. He starts leading tours around the village, but he focuses on the scandals the locals would rather were forgotten. When he is murdered, there are several villagers who are happy he's no longer around to stir up trouble, but Eve is troubled. She liked Emory and found him sincere, and she is determined to find out who killed him. I figured the whodunnit out about three-quarters of the way through, which is much later than usual; Ms. Chase did a good job of sprinkling her clues and red herrings about. I enjoyed this book enough that I may have to back track to read more about Eve and how she came to the little town of Saxford St. Peter and her clandestine romance. Net Galley
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