Too Old For This

 Too Old For This is anther in my pile of mystery novels about elderly women. Again the author, Samatha Downing may just be a little too young to understand that 75 years old is not considered so old these days.

As I get closer to the that age it dos not seem so much like the old ladies I remember as a young person.  We are mostly not the old lady stereotype that wears a housecoat all day and walks bent over with a walker.

Lottie Jones is living the quiet life she thought she wanted, bingo at church with friends, her son is getting married for the second time and she has two teenage grand children from her son's first marriage. The past is behind her until one day a young persistent woman rings her doorbell.

Plum Dixon comes calling with a file from Lottie's past, when she was Lorena Mae Lansdale.  Plum wants to make a documentary about Lottie and she says help clear her name from the three murders she was accused of killing forty years ago.

When Plum doesn't take a simple no as the answer, Lottie has to take action even though she really does not want ruin her idyllic lifestyle. 

This starts Lottie off on a killing spree to cover her tracks. As the list of missing persons grows, Lottie has to be careful not to make a mistake that will lead back to her. This is both a very entertaining look at an elderly woman trying to keep her secret safe and a disturbing story about a woman who kills first and asks questions later.

A funny, macabre novel with a great twist at the end.  You are enthralled with Lottie and her friends as they cook together and play bingo .  Then you are nervous anxious every time Lottie someone knocks on her front door.

A Study in Secrets

 A Study in Secrets, Last Chance Academy #1is written by Debbi Michiko Florence.

This book is a fun middle grade novel showing how friendship can be really strong or sometimes can go sideways.

Learning to trust friends is difficult and learning to be a trustworthy friend is hard.  

Meg is sent to a boarding school after her mother dies and because she thinks her father is too busy too live with her.  Her best friend from childhood has turned her back and Meg thinks she needs to only take of herself.  As her new roommate starts to get Meg to let down her guard a secret contest begins at the Last Chance Academy.  Along with two other classmates they start solving the puzzles that will lead to the prize, a vacation trip. Meg really wants to win, but is it all costs?  A lesson in working together , realizing that sometimes trusting your friends leads to a better outcome than working alone.

It looks like author, Debbi Michiko Florence has more plans for Meg and her friends at the Last Chance Academy.  

The Teacher of Nomad Land

 Another great middle school novel, The Teacher of Nomad Land by Daniel Nayeri teaches us all a great lesson.

This novel is a World War II story set in Iran. For me this was a new perspective of the war.  A country that I had not thought about being involved in the war. Iran was a neutral country but it was occupied by both British and Soviet forces.

We meet a two young children, a brother and sister, who have just lost both their parents.  Orphaned and afraid of being separated they set out to meet up with a nomad troop as they travel from their winter home to the their summer land.

Babak needs to prove himself useful to the leader of the tribe to be able to continue along with the nomads.  He carries the heavy blackboard his farther used as a teacher and offers to teach the nomad children as they travel.  His little sister, Sana, proves to be even more compassionate and understanding of the human condition than 12 year Babak.  Together they work against the odds to survive in a barren war torn country.

Along the way they meet a young Jewish boy trying to stay one step ahead of a Nazi hunter.  At first because of the language difference and his appearance they do not trust him. Then as Babak tries to communicate and the children all understand the situation they become allies. 

This is a story of survival, bridging cultural divides and the power of education and empathy.

Goldenseal

 Goldenseal is the newest novel written by author, Maria Hummel.  This is a short, simple story with a large, intense plot and message.

When two women have a very close long friendship that we learn about as it revealed from the present looking backwards.  The novel starts with the two women coming back together after years apart after a betrayal tears them apart.

Lacey grew up with her loving parents in a luxury hotel her father owned and managed. Her father, Papi, came to the United States from Germany before WWII.

Her mother, Mutti, is from a Jewish family who all lost their lives in the Holocaust. This affects her mother for the rest of her life.  Lacey is sent to summer camp for one summer which changes the direction of her life. She meets Edith at camp and they become fast friends.  Edith comes from a poor, uneducated family.  

Lacey and Edith prick their fingers, mixing their blood, the way young girls did in the 60's,  making them sisters. Their lives intersect and intertwine through their 30s.  Then a tragic event breaks them apart.  

Lacey retreats to the hotel and becomes a hermit until the fateful day that Edith comes to visit many years later as an elderly woman.  Over a carefully  planned dinner, each woman tells her interpretation of what happened revealing their hidden secrets. Each woman is searching for some remnants of their lost love or the ties that bound them.

Remembering how close my early friendships felt made this story come alive for me. Now at a older age, I can think back to where those friendships diverted and how we each changed over the years. This short novel packed a large punch.

The May House

 Jillian Cantor has written a new novel titled, The May House.  This is a very captivating novel about the lives of three sisters.  The plot follows them from childhood to becoming adults and how their lives develop and their reationships change.

We meet the May sisters as they visit their grandmother at her beach house on Coronado Island in California for a week in May. This becomes a family ritual, to visit the house the same week every May as the girls are growing up and they look forward to wonderful visit with their grandmother.

When they are in the twenties, away at school and starting their first jobs, visiting at the same time gets more complicated.  When their grandmother dies, she leaves them the house with the stipulation that they need to continue their visits.

Julie, Emily and Nora are not close as adults, thy different interests, they are busy in their own lives, they keep secrets from each other. The week every May at the beach house is the only connection between them. 

 The year Julie down't show up at the house changes everything.  Nora and Emily are worried and as they start to search for Julie they start to uncover the secrets that have been pulling them apart. 

The book is told in alternating voices of each of the sisters. Learning how family secrets, experiences and memories have shaped each of their personalities and their lives helps bring them closer.  It is a story of family ups and downs and learning how important sisters are. 

The Clementine Complex

 The Clementine Complex is a quirky mystery novel written by Bob Mortimer, a British comedian.  

The novel is written in a comedic style and is the story of a young man who seems to be very awkward socially.  Gary Thorn works for a law firm as a legal assistant.  He wears the same cheap suit everyday to work and carries a plastic briefcase.  He lives in an apartment that he has never really furnished or decorated.  He tells his next door neighbor that he is not sure how long he will be staying, though he has been there for two years. 

One night a coworker, Brendan asks to meet for a drink at the local bar.  While they are talking Brendan gets a phone call and says he needs to leave.  Gary stays a while longer striking up a conversation with a woman at the end of the bar.

A few days later, two policemen meet up with Gary to say he was the last person to see Brendan alive.  Gary tries to find the woman he thinks of as Clementine from the bar to give him an alibi.  These two actions set in motion the circumstances that follow. Gary does not seem very smart as he gives away information and doesn't seem to understand what is happening around him as he gets further and further mixed up in the dealings of these unsavory characters.

In this bumbling plot, Gary also spends time asking advise from a squirrel he sees when he is walking.  He assumes it is always the same squirrel and he carries on a conversation with it.  I did not really find it added much to the plot.

A simple mystery and a quick read, but not a book I would reccomend.

Boy From The North Country

We read books for entertainment, for education and for escape. Sometimes a book will surprise you and draw you into the pages, not letting you leave even after you close the back cover.  It stays with you for a while.  

Boy From the North Country is that kind of novel.  Some people have actually described this book as an autobiographical novel. It is based on the author, Sam Sussman's, real life experience with his mother, Fran Sussman.  Writing it as novel gives the author room to explores feelings and emphasize where he would like to and not worry about quotes and exact details.

Sam, or Evan in the book, comes home from studying in England when his mother, June, calls to tell him she has been diagnosed with cancer and is scheduled for surgery.  Evan comes home to the farm in upstate New York where he grew up.  He and his mother will go through the ordeal of chemo treatments and trying to fight the cancer taking over his mother's body.  

June has lived a holistic lifestyle on this north country farm.  She eats all the foods that she has read will help with the reactions to chemo, including extremely rare burgers.  Evan will overcome his aversion to red meat, as a vegetarian, to cook his mother this possible life saving food.  

Evan as a youngster could not wait to get away from this life. As soon as he was eighteen he ran off to college and to England to study.  He has been working on a novel that is never finished.  But now he promises to stay with his mother through her whole sojourn.

June has never really spoken about her life or the past with Evan.  She had divorced Evan's father when he was very young.  Over the years there have been a few men who have played the role of stepfather until the relationships became too toxic and June told them to leave.  But June is still a strong believer in the power of love.  She is still looking for and telling Evan the importance of finding true love.

Now as they sit through long hours of chemo treatments, June shares her story with Evan. Talking about her childhood, her time at college and her adventures in New York City.  She was an actress and took painting classes with Bob Dylan.  Many people over the years as Evan grew up told him he resembles Dylan.  Evan has always wondered if Dylan is really his father.  

With this little mystery running pushing the plot along, June and Evan really come together supporting each other.  Sussman writes beautiful prose as he describes the house, farm and nature.  He explores his feelings about losing a parent, themes of love, loss, grief and healing.  He learns to put into perspective the seduction of money, power, and fame.  As an observer you will have a wonderful journey reading this novel.