October was a busy month, but I was able to spend vacation time visiting my favorite fictional town, Sea Harbor, and get more plane reading done while traveling to a conference.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: A Re-Creation by C.L. Cook I don't like scary stories, but having grown up in the northeast, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a local classic. This cute re-telling makes all the characters cats, and has adorable illustrations. Short enough to read aloud to little ones before Halloween.
The Greek Coffin Mystery by Ellery Queen I had a bit of driving to do mid-month, so thanks to my local public library, I was able to listen to another audiobook of a classic mystery. The book begins after the death of Georg Khalkis, a Greek art dealer whose will appears to have disappeared after the funeral. After a fruitless search, the police, Inspector Queen, and Ellery decide that someone must have hidden it in the one place no one would search--the coffin. But they are not ready for what they find in the exhumation. Great read (or listen), with international intrigue, missing persons, a beautiful secretary who might be more than she seems, greedy relatives, and a late autumn setting in a New York full of gray skies and leaf-swirling windy days. I love reading classic mysteries, and this one, first published in 1932, is great.
Death Comes to Santa Fe by Amanda Allen (Santa Fe Revival Book 3) I love Santa Fe, and seeing a new-to-me series set in old Santa Fe of the early 1920s was a must-read. The author has clearly done a lot of research to make sure the basic underpinnings of the series are correct with re: who was mayor at the time, the history of the city, what it would have looked like then, etc. But I found the main character, Madeline Vaughn-Alwin, a little too much of something I can't articulate. The series really should be read in order, as there are allusions to recurring characters and what has happened to them in the previous books. It's not so bad that someone couldn't start in mid-stream, as I did, but perhaps I'd have liked the main character better if I'd seen her change or new her better. I still love the setting, but Madeline as a fledgling artist making her mark in a glitzy, roaring '20s Santa Fe just felt off to me somehow. The writing is solid, and as I said, the setting is one I love. (Net Galley)
Death by Cashmere by Sally Goldenbaum (Seaside Knitters 1) I've enjoyed the recent Sea Harbor books so much, I decided to go back and read the ones still in publication in order, even though I'd read several before. In Death by Cashmere, we are introduced to our four main characters: Nell, Izzy, Cass and Birdie. Izzy has just opened her yarn store in the small coastal town of Sea Harbor, and to help defray the costs of the mortgage on both the yarn store and her little cottage, she rents out the small apartment above the store that she used to live in. Angie Archer, her tenant, grew up in Sea Harbor, but was always a bit too ambitious for many in the town, which is why her her return too work in the Historical Society raised eyebrows. But Angie loves her work there, and has started dating Cass' brother Pete. Then she's found dead, and the heartbroken residents are further traumatized to learn she was murdered. Who on their sleepy little seaside town would want to kill one of their own?
Patterns in the Sand by Sally Goldenbaum (Seaside Knitters 2) Patterns in the Sand takes place a year after Death by Cashmere, with the summer tourist season in full swing. Monthly evening art exhibits at the Canary Cove art galleries have become extremely popular, but there are undercurrents between the resident artists. These undercurrents swell to the surface when one of the artists is murdered, and secrets start bubbling to the surface. As always, Nell is my favorite of the four women around whom the series centers. Cass and Birdie, who'll emerge to center future stories, are present but not the strong characters they will become in future books. The book did need a little editing--I started tracking the changing colors of Birdies hair: first a smooth silver cap, then gray, than sticking white. As a middle aged woman whose hair is turning color, these are most definitely different colors!
Buried in a Good Book by Tamara Berry I enjoyed books 2 and 3 in this series, which I read from Net Galley this year, so much that I had to get book one to read how Tess and Gertrude wind up in Winthrop, WA. This story did not disappoint. We meet Tess and her daughter as they are moving into Tess' late grandfather's cabin fora month. Tess' divorce is just 6 months old, and with her ex-husband having decided to completely disappear from their daughter's life, she's hoping that some distance and new experiences might help Gertrude make her way through that terrible hurt. But her plans are upended when, while standing on the porch of the cabin near the lake, they suddenly are showered by human remains that were blown up by someone doing some fishing by dynamite. Add in big foot and mysterious sightings of exotic animals, and Ms. Berry has created her signature blend of farcical outlandishness with reasonable explanations wrapped up in real human drama. The one irritating part was Tess' mental wanderings into what her Detective Gonzales would say or do, and the the tracking of the book she was writing based on these experiences, but the author backs off of those in books 2 and 3. Hopefully, there will be a book 4.
Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow! by Donna Andrews Faithful readers know that Meg Langslow is one of my favorite characters, and Donna Andrews one of my favorite authors. In this year's Christmas book, Meg gets drawn into a reality TV show when her mentor, Faulk, is injured on the set of a blacksmithing challenge that he's participating in. Despite her misgivings, Meg agrees to take Faulk's place. She discovers right away that things are not as they seem, that tension not he set is high, and that some contestants will do anything to advance their chances to win the challenge. There've been numerous reality-tv-inspired mysteries, and I've read several; this is one of the best. The challenge is locate in the mock castle Meg's friend Ragnor, ex-metalhead, has built in the Virginia countryside, and I'm sad we didn't get to see more of the castle in the book. Michael and the twins are present, as are Meg's parents, but unlike other books, we hardly see them or Rose or some of her other family members. And that makes the series string--the author knows we might get a little tired of the same supporting cast, and introducing new folks for Meg to interact with keeps her fresh and entertaining in our minds. That, and there are fewer than usual references to her engagement book that is usually brought up more times that I care for. I enjoyed the mystery, and while I had figure out the whodunnit buy about 3/4 of the way through, getting Meg there was well plotted and well written. As always, highly recommended. (Net Galley)
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