A Slice of Murder

 A Slice of Murder is the first mystery novel in the Abigail Murphy series, written by Sophie Maddon. 

Abigail is a socially awkward young woman who works in the IT department, working on a new computer system for  a biscuit making factory.  She has set routines that work for her, like eating the same lunch everyday for a week and then switching to something new. Buying certain cheeses at the local shop after taste testing some new varieties.  She is not very sociable, but likes to spend time with her best friend, Hannah.  Abigail also likes to solve puzzles like Sherlock Holmes. 

When her tyrannical boss asks her to investigate an anonymous letter she received Abigail has no chose.  Then her boss is missing and the office director gives Abigail a promotion,  her boss' job.  Now she has to do the work of both positions. 

Abigail tells Hannah she knows something is wrong and when her boss turns up dead, it is time to put her dection skills to work. How would Holmes follow the clues?  Abigail and Hannah start doing some sniffing around and are ready to share information with the police to make sure they do not think Abigail is the number suspect. 

A light entertaining cozy mystery.  Easy to follow and there are some good red herrings.  I was on the wrong trail for the killer .. 

Theo of Golden

 I really did not want to read this book.  Everyone is talking about it.  There is so much publicity about how great it is , touching the heart strings, making you feel good in a time when people are so angry and bad tempered.  So I held out as long as I could and finally the stars aligned.  My book group put it on the to read list and just as I had thought maybe I will skip the meeting to discuss Theo of Golden, the book was sitting on the pile fo returns when I walked in to the library.  Ok I guess I was meant to read the book.

It is what everyone is saying, a feel good book about an elderly man who shows up in a small southern town to live for a short while.  He wants to do something good in life before the end.  He wants to give to others in need without the thought of thanks or reward. 

Walking into a small coffee shop in Golden he sees portraits hanging around the room of townspeople.  He decides to buy them and give them to the person in the painting.  We meet the members of the community as Theo meets them as he gives them each their portrait.  He learns their life story. Using the art of evasion he does not answer their questions. 

I kept reading because I knew somewhere in the end there had to be a connection  that has brought to this town and these people.  Of course I will not ruin the surprises but needless to say there two twists at the end that bring the story around to full closeure.

It is a feel good book with a happy ending that ties up all the loose ends in a neat package. 

This is Not About Us

I just finished reading Allegra Goodman's newest book, This Is Not About Us.  

I am blown away.  It was an incredible collection of stories that tied together so well I forgot at times I was not reading a novel.   The book spoke to me in so many ways.  So many of the life experiences were so relevant to my life like sibling rivalries. So many overlaps of the places I have attended and am still involved with.  Camp Ramah Palmer, Emerson College, Brandeis University.  I closed the back cover and announced to the empty room, " I am in love with Allegra Goodman!"  

This is a collection of short stories that follow a family through many lifecycle events.  

Reading this book and learning the perspectives of the various characters is enthralling.  You are pulled into the family dynamics, agreeing with some and finding fault with others. It is like living with your own relatives. Meeting up at get togethers and holidays and seeing the interaction between siblings, cousins and the aunts and uncles.

We meet the three Rubenstein sisters who are the matriarchs of the family. Jeanne, the sister who held the family together, is dying from cancer leaving Helen and Sylvia to figure out their place in the puzzle that has lost a piece of the whole.  At the shiva Sylvia turns up with an apple cake. Helen says that was her recipe and sees a slight in Sylvia's behavior.  It is not really about the apple cake, it is the competition and fighting for attention that siblings experience that never leaves the relationship. The estrangement will last through all the family lifecycle events that follow.  

In each story we meet the children and the grandchildren of this family. Seeing lfe from their perspective as they negotiate the everyday experiences of family and life. The balancing of carpools and after school activities, preparing for Bar/Bat Mitzvah and getting home to make dinner.  Keeping a marriage together or figuring out the divorce with children.  

We meet their families and see how the different personalities all work in concert with each other.  It is an incredible book that I think touches on so many personal issues that all of us can relate to.  I really felt like the author knew me and was paralleling my world. Every family has drama and disagreements.  Every family member just wants to be seen and loved. How we all fall into the traps of birth order and the competition for approval.

The author captured the personalities and needs of people, blending them between the short stories seamlessly. The book reads like a novel, not a set of individual stories.

The Murderous Affair of Judith Potts

 The Murderous Affair of Judith Potts is the latest in the Robert Thorogood mystery series about Judith Potts and her friends in Marlow. 

We have watched Judith, Becks and Suzie solve many murders assisting the police of Marlow, led by their friend DI Malik, with their crime board and access to old newspapers piled in a spare room in Judith's exotic home. They also have the ability to interview and question people who will not speak to the police.  They have been dubbed citizen investigators by DI Malik, but this time their badges have been taken away and DI Malik is taken off the job, suspended.  

Now two celebrities have been murdered and it is up to our friendly trio to solve the mystery of the connection between the two seemingly unrelated cases.  First a professional soccer player and then a thriller author turn up dead.  Judith seems distracted and not paying attention to the clues that Becks and Suzie are sharing with her.  Without Judith will they be able to solve these murders?  Will her friends be able to find out what is bothering Judith and bring her back to their group in time?  this could finally be the disclosure of the nagging history that has been following Judith since she moved to Marlow... What was she trying to escape?

The Marlow Murder Club

 The Marlow Murder Club is the start of a new series of murder mystery novels. This time the amateur detectives are women of a certain age.  Written by Robert Thorogood, a British screen writer and novelist.  His latest excellent television series is Death In Paradise.

This is the start of a delightful relationship between between Judith Potts, a single woman who has recently inherited her wonderfully eclectic and messy home from an aunt, along with two women from the small English town of Marlow, Suzie, a professional dog walker and Becks, the vicar's wife.

In this first novel of the series the scene is set as we meet Judith for the first time.  She has run away from something which is never revealed.  She is living in this cluttered mansion, writing crossword puzzles and drinking whiskey and surprisingly swimming in the all together down the Thames.

One day while swimming she hears a gun shot from the shore near her neighbor's house. She calls out but there is no answer.  She swims home and calls the police. They take her concerns with a grain of salt, do an cursory investigation and find nothing. Judith is not convinced they are correct, so she investigates herself and finds clues to the death of her neighbor.  From there she meets her fellow detective friends and they solve the crime.  

So entertaining between the interesting characters and the small town of Marlow this is a setting for a wonderful series of mysteries for one to follow and try to solve.

Dreidels and Dead Ends

Memories of sitting under the hairdryer at the beauty salon with your head full of curlers and reading a magazine came back to me as I enjoyed reading this fun mystery novel. Maybe a more modern version is sitting reading this novel while waiting for the hair color to set.  Dreidels and Dead Ends by Nancy J Cohen is an entertaining mystery novel for reading at the hairdresser.

Cohen has created the perfect setting and real time job position for an amateur detective to have while trying to solve local crime in a small town.  Where would there be a better place to interview suspects than while they are having their hair styled.  Also the women that come in for a wash and cut are always ready to share the news they have heard.

This novel is the newest in this long running A Bad Hair Day Mystery series.  Hairstylist Marla Vail owns the Cut 'N Dye salon and is now married to Dalton, the newly retired police homicide detective.  She and Dalton have teamed up solving crimes in their small town in Florida.

When a diamond studded hairbrush is stolen from the local museum, Marla and Dalton are on the trail to get it back and save the museum from having to close down. Marla was asked by her friend Becky Forest, the curator for the local museum, to fill in last minute as a featured speaker for a fundraising event and Marla agrees.  That puts her and Dalton at the scene of the crime. The antique hairbrush, on loan, an heirloom with a family curse, is stolen during the opening night event and the injured security guard is sent to the hospital. When more unexplained accidents start occurring to people involved with the museum Marla is not convinced it is the curse. She is sure someone is behind the unpleasant problems.  Then another security guard turns up dead and the pressure increases to find out who stole the hairbrush and return it to its rightful owners.

An added characteristic to this mystery series is that Marla is Jewish and the author has added many Jewish references to her novels. In this novel the winter holidays are just around the corner and as she is interviewing suspects, Marla is also thinking about her holiday parties and her gift lists.  She has to pick out Chanukah and Christmas presents for her new extended family along with getting the latkes and donuts for their son, Ryder's, daycare class Chanukah party. 

 

The Half Life

 The Half Life is the newest novel by author, Rachel Beanland. She is the author of another excellent novel, Florence Adler Swims Forever.

Exploring historical themes in her novels, Beanland writes historical fiction that really is a history lesson in disguise.  in The Half Life, the reader enjoys a moving plot about two young people living in the southern United States during the Vietnam War years. Twenty three year old Eileen O’Malley meets the handsome naval officer, Paul Archer in a department store.  Their relationship develops quickly and when Paul gets his orders o ship out to the tiny Mediterranean island of La Maddalena, he proposes to Eileen.  She has never traveled away from her hometown.  Having lost her brother recently in the Vietnam War, Eileen is ready to leave her home and have an adventure, though she is concerned about leaving her parents.

In La Maddalena, Eileen joins the other navy wives and finds ways to learn about her new home.  She takes Italian language lessons from a local woman, who also teaches her to cook local foods.  She becomes involved with a group of Italian scientists and activists, who along with environmentalists are concerned about the American submarine base on their island. They are concerned that the nuclear powered submarines could be depositing nuclear contamination into the water.  

Eileen becomes aware that the United States government in an effort to make sure that Italy doesn't vote Communist in the next election is willing to do whatever it takes even though it could endanger the wildlife in the water off the island.  They members of the island are protesting and Eileen is starting to side with Italian citizens.  Her marriage is on rocky ground and she can see that the US thinks it is superior to the citizens of La Maddalena. 

Eileen needs to choose, her husband and her country or the new friends she has made and their best interests.  This is a story of love, loyalty and the awakening of a woman realizing she can make her own choices.

The Half Life takes an incredible story of American history that is not taught in school and shows the reader the horrific ways the United States has through history put its interests first with thoughts of exceptionalism.  We are still participating in this practice today.