Middle Sister's July Reads

It was a hot and stormy month... Last year's summer rainy season was a bust, but we have had record or near-record rain this year. Those rainy nights are perfect reading weather! Surprising and unexpected mini-themes: midlife weddings and home invasions.

Strangers on a Skein by Anne Canadeo The Black Sheep & Co. yarn shop and its owner, Maggie, have solved several mysteries over the life of the series that tangentially relate to knitting and yarn. In this latest entry in the series, Maggie's employee Phoebe has struck out on her own, serendipitously landing a stall at the Plum Harbor Farmer's Market after the death of the stall's previous renter. Phoebe is excited to start her own business selling finished knit items and yarn kits, hoping this new venture will take her mind off of her recent break up with her boyfriend, Harry. Then she discovers that her stall is right across from Harry's aunt's stall, and the uncomfortable situation is made worse when vandalism and a suspicious death stalk the market. Like all the books in the series, the yarn shop and knitting are just the hook to attract readers and don't contribute to the story. These books never read as if the author herself has experience with knitting.  Minor goofs, like 'casted off' for beginning a project (it's casting on) and vague wording (like "Maggie helped her finish the sock") signal very clearly that Ms. Canadeo isn't a knitter. So diehard knitting fanatics who want to read descriptions of yarn and more meaningful connections between the knitter and her project should pass on this series. This entry is a little better than previous stories in that none of the Black Sheep regulars are suspected of murder, although one of them is involved with a major suspect. The story was fairly fast paced, and Plum Harbor seems like a nice enough little town. A couple of chapters before the end, I began to suspect who the murderer was, but it still came as a surprise that Ms. Canadeo went in that direction. I want to like Maggie more than I do: she's middle aged and has started all over again, found romance, lives in a lovely little town, doesn't have to really work for a living, is surrounded by a group of close friends--but I just don't care that much for her. She's kind of bland. She doesn't like tacos! I'm not sure I can like a character who doesn't like tacos. Her groups of friends have more interesting and distinct personalities. It's a pleasant enough read, and when I stumble across one, like this, I will read it, but this is not a series I'd seek out or eagerly wait for.  Net Galley

On Deadly Tides by Elizabeth J. Duncan The Penny Brannigan series is another that I've enjoyed in the past enough that this new title in the series caught my eye. I've enjoyed the locale, Wales, very much, and had hoped we'd read more about it in this story, which takes place in Anglesey. Penny and a friend are taking an artist's retreat with a retired and famous actor. Penny meets both a handsome, intriguing wildlife photographer and a very nice young journalist from New Zealand in the hotel bar, but is horrified when she finds the journalist dead the next morning. Penny embarks on a whirlwind romance with the photographer, and befriends the journalist's mother after she travels from New Zealand to accompany her daughter's body home. The location outside Penny's small village sets this story apart from others but in some ways was underutilized: we're not really shown the sites of Angelsey, and there do seem to be one or two coincidences too many. And the discovery of the final clue was a little too pat and too unbelievable. But the series is still pleasant, despite the annoying villagers who think Penny's marriage is their wedding (who would let them dictate to her where and how the wedding takes place?), and on that level, it's a perfect beach read. Net Galley

Murder by the Bookend by Laura Gail Black This is the second in the series, and I have not read the first, but I often feel that is actually a benefit--the reader can often tell how good the author is by how deftly they write in enough details to fill in the characters' relationships and history without making it read like a sales sheet blurb for the previous story. Jenna Quinn's uncle owned an antiquarian bookstore which she inherited after his murder (the subject of the first book). In this second book, she's re-opened the bookstore under a new name and is eager for a new life in a new town. Things get complicated when someone is murdered with a bookend from her store the night of her grand opening. Jenna is a suspect again, and this time, her new boyfriend Keith, a police officer, cannot help her because he's not allowed to work on her case. Detective Sutter is assigned to the case, and he still holds a grudge after Jenna solved her uncle's murder. Jenna and her new friends decide they have to solve the murder before he completely messes it up and allows the real murderer to escape. The story was ok, although I wasn't as enamored of this small town as I have been of other fictional small towns that served as the settings for stories read this month. The romance is very much a dominant plot line, and of course Keith is too good to be true, so much so that I found the romance was getting in the way of the mystery. I didn't feel I had to play catch up to understand the characters and their relationships to each other. The murderer's motive was a little cliched and they are easy to identify, but again, this is the kind of easy beach read that doesn't make demands on the reader. However, I doubt I'll read another in this series as it just didn't pique my interest that much. Net Galley

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman This is the second inthe delightful Mrs. Pollifax series. Mrs. Pollifax has settled back into ther quiet life in New Brunswick, New Jersey, after her unexpected yet thrilling first adventure for the CIA. SHe's happy to be called into action once again, for a simple courier job: getting apassport and money to defecting spy in Turkey. Of course, nothing is every simple when Mrs. Pollifax and the CIA are involved. The usual formula for the series was followed: a seemingly straightforward job is highjacked by unexpected complications, Mrs. Pollifax finds a ragtag group of innocent bystanders who prove remarkably adept at international spying, and ultimately she has to rely on her own wits to save her life and that of her companions. Despite being formulaic, the series is so well written, and the characters so genuine and real, that even the dated storylines can be overlooked (for example, in this book, the Cold War spy is defecting from Russia). I read these about 25 or more years ago, and decided to re-read the series. I'm enjoying it just as much as I did the first time around. (audiobook)

A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell Excellent biography of Virginia Hall, an American WWII spy who was instrumental in helping the French resistance but whose contributions were unknown outside a small circle of intelligence specialists. This is one of the best books I've read in 2021. I listened to the audiobook, read by Juliet Stevenson who did a great job, but I do wonder if I missed some photos that might have improved my appreciation of the woman and France during the war. Hall served as a wireless operator, rescued 12 agents who'd been arrested and imprisoned, completed a harrowing escape on foot across snow-covered mountains, and armed and organized hundred of French resistance fighters. Klaus Barbie was obsessed with identifying and arresting this mysterious agent, but ms. Hall outwitted him and the Germans at every turn. I'm so surprised this book and Virginia's life have not been made into a movie, as it has everything: drama, tragedy, war, romance. Parts of the book are not easy to read, notably the descriptions of the horrific tortures the Nazis inflicted on their enemies, but perhaps it's important that we read and remember as those who witnessed the horrors die and leave only their memoirs to remind us. (audiobook)

A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn The third in the Victoria Speedwell series, this was the first I had read. Victoria is the illegitimate daughter of the heir to the British throne who has led a life of unimaginable adventure and excitement, often in exotic locations. But in this adventure, Victoria and her mysterious partner, Stoker, are asked to find an amateur archaeologist who has disappeared in England after returning from a successful Egyptian excavation season. Is it a mummy's curse, or something more wordly? The adventure is made more perilous as the missing man is married to Stoker's former wife, and Stoker is himself the number one suspect in the man's disappearance and possible murder. No, Victoria and Stoker do not act like real Victorian-era people would have, even the well-known real Victorian explorer, and generally that lack of historical accuracy annoys me. But if you can suspend your expectations and beliefs, this can be a fun romp to read, and it, too, would make a rollicking movie. 

Murder Has a Motive by Francis Duncan Mordecai Tremaine is off to visit his friends in Dalmering and walks right into a murder mystery. Who would want to kill Lydia Dare, a popular and friendly young woman who doesn't seem to have an enemy in the world? Unless it's the man who has been not-so-secretly in love with her for years who is incensed to learn she has fallen in love and decided to marry after a whirlwind romance. But then another body is found, and a third, and the evil simmering under the surface threatens even Mordecai's life. I know some dislike Mordecai Tremaine for not being a heroic kind of amateur detective, quick off the mark and smart and handsome, but that's actually why I really like him. He's smart but human and can be fallible. 

Middle Sister's June Reads

It is hot in the desert, so during these dog days of summer, naturally, one of my July books had to have a dog or a cat involved.

Picks and Chews by Linda O. Johnston Cute idea but with a little too much scattered behavior that read as unreal. I could totally buy Carrie working only part time as a vet tech, as most of the techs at my vet work part time (with a couple of full timers) and a couple work for two different hospitals so they can have full time work. I didn't buy her working part time as a vet tech and running not one but two bakery businesses on the side. Despite being told that she arose early to go get the baking done before the people and dog bakeries open, I just was incredulous that Carrie was falling asleep behind the wheel of her car or over dinner with her hunky vet boyfriend--and I found that perfection a little irritating.  I've always worked at least two jobs and I'm tired all the time; c'mon, Carrie, admit you're tired, we get it, we will like you more for your confession. I loved some of the secondary characters, but thought the portrayal of Raela was a little over the top. As a long time volunteer with several dog-related and other charities, the community outpouring of support at the fundraisers was a little too unrealistic and again, too perfect. But it's an easy summer read, with generally genial characters, and what more can a reader ask when the temperatures are in the triple digits? (NetGalley)

The Marmalade Murders by Elizabeth J. Duncan I had read a Penny Brannigan mystery before and enjoyed everything about it--the setting (a small hamlet in Wales), the protagonist (Penny, a middle-aged salon owner who is effortlessly elegant), and the plot, so was eager to visit the series again. Penny was a little more irritating this time in her perfection (geez, it must be the heat, or maybe authors think readers don't want a main character whose hair is sometimes a mess and who runs out without makeup on because she overslept?). A couple of the supporting characters were also a bit more irritating (Mrs. Lloyd is one), but the overall tone had remained the same. This brief glimpse into a Welsh agricultural show will be familiar to anyone who has been to a county fair, and the jealousies surrounding who wins and who doesn't are all too familiar. Kudos to the author for inserting a twist in the form of the return of a former resident who is not quite the person who left. I would have enjoyed that plot twist a little more if there had been at least one negative response to the circumstances surrounding the return of the native, as everything was a little too utopian and politically correct, but that's a pretty minor quibble. All in all, another easy summer read with pleasant characters and, yes, a black labrador retriever. (Net Galley)

Hiss and Hers by M.C. Beaton I've never even tried to keep up with M.C. Beaton's series--just too prolific an author. But watching the Acorn TC Agatha Raisin series 1 on television made me want to catch up with Agatha, and I grabbed this recent title. Aggie's come a long way since I last visited with her: a marriage and divorce, and starting up a private detective agency. I wasn't overly impressed with Agatha the professional, to be honest, and thought the wider supporting cast, while accomplishing the task of giving us some likable main characters to sympathize with (I know one person who cannot stand Agatha Raisin one bit and refuses to read the series), diffuses the action, and at times I can see where there might be too many cooks and not enough Bill Wong. (audiobook)

My book group selection for May and June was Waverly by Sir Walter Scott. I have enjoyed several of his books, but have to admit that I got no further than halfway through this very long novel. While I did like Edward Waverly and his adventures enough, the book is just too long with too much thick description, dialogue written in early 19th century Gaelic, and entire French paragraphs that I cannot translate for this heat. Sorry, group; I may keep plugging away at this for the rest of the year as I am learning a lot about the Jacobite rebellion.

Middle Sister: Murder on the Hour and Murder on the Half Shell

Two Net Galley reviews to post this week, both with promise and both with Penny's, but neither without their problems.

Murder on the Hour by Elizabeth J. Duncan This is the seventh in the Penny Brannigan series, but the first that's come across my nightstand. There were a lot of things to like about this book: the setting: a small town in Wales, typical of the Golden Age of Mysteries that I so adore; numerous secondary characters, well crafted and fleshed out; tight plotting and pace; a trendy back story: an Antiques Roadshow-type traveling tv show for Welsh TV is in town and everyone is dragging their family heirlooms to the manor to be appraised.. A slightly unusual twist--we meet the victim very early and get to sympathize with her; I was very sad when she was murdered as I'd hoped we'd get to learn more about her. The few things I didn't like: Penny is just too perfect. I wanted to like her; she's just over 50, still working, single and dating; except for the dating part, she could be me. But she's too chic, too perfect, and I found it hard to really see the story through her eyes. At one point, instead of surreptitious snooping (what we expect in our amateur detectives), her questioning came across as just nosy and prying. And the typos! I have no idea how long this galley was available, and therefore how long before I read it that the copy had been set, but the fourteenth typo was the number for a chapter: Thrity. Yes, thrity. C'mon, folks, thirty is not an unusual word in the English language. Does nobody at the publisher use spellcheck? All in all, I like the series for the setting and the support characters, and will look for more. Perhaps Penny is warmer and more real in other titles.

Murder on the Half Shell by Shawn Reilly Simmons Another Florida mystery for me, this is the second in the Red Carpeting Catering series. First the pluses: the author did a fine of setting the scene--I felt like I was on an island in Florida (there's an awful lot of condensation on glasses and people in this novel). The plot was fairly tight, with few extraneous or unnecessary scenes, and overall the pace was good. The downside: again, I'm just not crazy about the main character. I understand she's got a reputation and a business license to protect, so lecturing her underage servers on their time off about drinking is understandable, but it felt stiff and preachy. The romance with Joey fell flat: she spends the night at his hotel, but the day before, when they both change into swimsuits, they each go into the bathroom to change. Why even mention this? All it did was underscore what I saw as a lack of intimacy between two people we are repeatedly told are a couple. Their big romantic scene at the end felt like a middle schooler asking a girl to go steady with him. Now, I am not one for lots of sex or steamy mysteries, but if there is a romance, I want it presented realistically and this one didn't cut it for me. And FYI, Ms. Simmons, there is no NJPD, or New Jersey Police Department, as she later tells us. There are municipal police departments in every city and township, and there are New Jersey State Troopers, but Joey, a homicide detective, would work for a city PD. I haven't read the first novel, so don't know if Ms. Simmons has set Penelope in a fictional town in NJ or a real one, but yikes, what a glaringly stupid or naive statement to make repeatedly. The usual problem with typos and inconsistencies: e.g., on one page, Penelope "polishes off her beer," and on the next page, she takes a sip of her beer. Am I likely to read the first novel in the series? Nope, and even if I come across it with nothing interesting awaiting me on my Kindle Voyage, I'll likely skim it really fast just to see how badly she portrays my old home state, NJ.