Middle Sister's February Reads

Hello, Gentle Readers, February was a fairly good month as far as books go (and I was able to catch up with a couple of magazine subscriptions that were stacking up, too, yea).

The Plot is Murder by V. M. Burns (Mystery Bookshop No. 1) The Plot Is Murder is the first entry in a new series set in a Michigan mystery bookstore. Sam Washington's husband has died, and she has decided to pursue the dream they were working towards together--to open a mystery bookstore. A unique twist to this series is that Sam has always wanted to write a mystery, and she has started to do so to help her through her grief. Sections from her book are included between chapters. I really enjoyed this book. Sam is a likable character, as is her supporting cast, e.g., Dawson, the former student now college football player who becomes her first employee, her Nana Jo, and her sister Jenna, an energetic attorney. Nana Jo's Golden Girl-esque friends supply a lot of humor, but are very one-dimensional and could easily start to irritate if they remain as cliched as they are portrayed in this novel. But Dawson, wannabe chef, makes up for them, and I'd love to see more of him. The mystery was okay, the pace pretty good, and the setting described well enough that even though I've never been to Michigan, I felt it to be familiar. I look forward to seeing how this series develops.

Alpha Alpine by Mary Daheim The 26th Emma Lord mystery comes after a hiatus of a couple of years in the series set in a small town in the Pacific northwest. I've read several, although not in order, and certainly not all of them, but enough to remember each time I visit Alpine the main characters who populate the small town. Maybe it would be best to read these in order, as Emma's life and those of her friends and family and fellow Alpiners change over the series. The town and its characters always feel familiar to me, and Daheim provides enough background that each can be read as a standalone or out of order. In this entry, several young women are killed, and Emma and Milo have to determine if there's a serial killer amongst their neighbors while they deal with an unexpected visit by Milo's brother and sister-in-law. I didn't enjoy this novel as much as I have other Alpine stories in the past, and I'm not sure if that's because the series is starting to sputter.

Murder in Thistlecross by Amy M. Reade Amy Reade has been compared to Phyllis A. Whitney and Victoria Holt, two authors whose novels I loved when in high school. Eilidh moved to Wales to rebuild her life by working as the estate manager for a friend of her family, and this scenario, plus the isolated setting and brooding, lonely atmosphere, definitely evoke Whitney and Holt. But I wasn't as drawn into Thistlecross as I always was into Whitney's novels. The inclusion of discussion questions at the end indicate that the author and publisher think the book would make suitable book group material, and it might, especially given the twist ending. Like the gothics of old, Reade does provide a definitive, happy ending for our heroine, which is no surprise to anyone familiar with the genre. I did appreciate the true to real life history created for Eilidh--the depression after her marriage collapsed and after the murders are solved, but found other plot twists unrealistic--Griff suddenly has enough money to buy the horses and a farm after the events of the murders. But overall a reasonably good book, well-paced, with a very atmospheric setting.

Middle Sister's March 2013 Books

The Alpine Xanadu by Mary Daheim  I prefer Daheim's other mystery series to this one, but thought maybe it was time I revisited Alpine. I almost wish I hadn't. I'd forgotten how annoying some of the characters are, how the author doesn't explain relationships or introduce people, assuming the reader will remember from previous books who everyone is, their history, and everything that makes characters leap from the page and become someone you care about. If you like a long-running soap opera with a little murder thrown in, you'll enjoy this series. If you like a clever or unusual crime, enough backstory to keep characters and their relationships and histories straight, this may not be the series for you. (NetGalley)

Crochet One Skein Wonders by Judith Durant and Edie Eckman Lovely crochet pattern book for one skein, quick projects. Unique arrangement by yarn weight, not pattern type, which I loved, as sometimes you don't want to search through an entire book to find a pattern for that sport weight yarn in your hand. Great little projects, lovely photographs, nice layout--all crocheters will want this book. (NetGalley)

Glimpses of the Moon by Edmund Crispin You know that Gervase Fen is one of my fictional crushes, so of course I'm over the moon to see him back in print. Late Golden Age of Mystery series with the most erudite amateur detective (an Oxford don) and some of the funniest, laugh-out-loud scenes ever put to page in a mystery. Who else can incorporate the words stridulating and paynimry and pleonasm and scybalum in a mystery? Who else can write sentences like ""She wallowed in Routh's respectfulness like a hippopotamus in a mud-bank?" This is the last of series, so if you've never read Crispin, start with the first and make your way through all nine stories. You will not regret it. And you, too, will become a FenFan. (NetGalley)

A Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim Charming short novel that will be enjoyed by all lovers of gardens and books. I adore that she calls her husband the Man of Wrath and yet so clearly loves him and is loved and respected in return. "Books have their idiosyncrasies as well as people, and will not show me their full beauties unless the place and time in which they are read suits them." "What a blessing it is to love books. Everybody must love something, and I know of no objects of love that give such substantial and unfailing returns as books and a garden." If you can read this in a beautiful garden, so much the better. (Kindle)