Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia is a fun, sort of crazy and absurd new novel.
IT is very modern day, so there are many references to relate to. If you have lived in Boston there are references to places and if you are a reader the connections to Vincent Price and Edgar Allen Poe are terrific. Also if you are reader who loves a puzzle or playing games. That is what this book is all about. Many of the games my family likes to play on a Saturday afternoon were mentioned here, Settlers of Catan, Monopoly, and Clue, just to name a few.
This book is a puzzle within a novel. Tuesday Mooney is a fundraiser for Boston General Hospital. She prides herself on being unmemorable and also for investigating and knowing everything there is to know about the people she wants to approach for donations to the hospital. She is good at her job. She has a secret from her past that haunts her. She keeps to herself and does not make friends easily.
One evening at a fundraising event a famous entrepreneur dies at his table. After this Tuesday is pulled into a wild, extravagant treasure hunt that tests its participants and leads to the possibility of a large fortune as a prize.
Tuesday is involved with a few other players in this unusual game, Dorry Bones, a 14 year old neighbor, Poindexter Howard, Dex, who used to be a co-worker and Archie Arches who is from a wealthy family and knew the deceased. Dorry lives with her father across the hall from Tuesday. She and Tuesday strike up a friendship that includes takeout food and homework on Thursday nights. Dorry also has a sad memory that haunts her. Dex was a former co-worker of Tuesday's and also a friend who avoids friendships. All these characters are struggling with fitting in and have something important to learn.
Vincent Pryce, who died a wealthy man and wants to leave a legacy contrives this game that has our protagonists scurrying to find the clues Pryce has left around the city of Boston. His widow explains why, "Vince loved games," Lyle said, "And he thought too many people had forgotten how to play. They'd been brainwashed into thinking the entire point of play a game...was to win." ..."The point of a game is the experience of playing. The obstacles and the choices you make to get to the objective. The possibly of winning, the danger of loss, shapes the game. Risk and reward give the game suspense, a plot. But winning or losing is not the whole point."
This plot idea was very appealing to me. It was a clever idea and well executed.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Sunday, January 19, 2020
The Killer In The Choir
Simon Brett has written the 19th book in what is referred to as the Fethering series. The Killer in the Choir is set in the town of Fethering and features two older divorced women, neighbors who have a prickly relationship and cool personalities, but seem to work together to solve crimes in the village.
In this cozy mystery, Carole and Jude are neighbors who have a strange or is strand friendship. Jude is a practicing healer and Carole is just a lonely woman, who is relatively new to the village and keeps to herself. But is odd in that she likes to solve crimes. There is the local pub where the ladies go to meet the neighbors and the proprietor and trade gossip. There are the locals, who in this case are members of the church choir and also come to the pub for drinks.
When the wealthy Leonard Mallet dies under unusual circumstances, Carole cannot accept that it could just be an accident. She doggedly tries to investigate it as a murder. When his wife, who presents herself as a survivor of domestic abuse, is also killed then Jude and Carole are both independently investigating these deaths. Their relationship seems to be not be friendly this time and they are sharing some information but not working in tandem. Both seem to be secretive and not friendly in this mystery, but I do have the background to know if there has been a rift developing.
Though this is a cozy mystery it deals with some very serious topics, domestic violence, child abuse and PTSD. Not that it really gets involved with these topics they are mentioned and worked into the alibis and character development of the suspects. For a short novel there is quite a bit there.
Not one of my favorite mystery novels. This is the first one I have read in this series, so maybe I am missing the closeness I should feel for the characters that would have developed if I had read these from the beginning. But I do not get a feeling of closeness to the main characters, they seem cold and removed and so the mystery lacks in warmth and believability for me. Also did not get the feeling that I want to get to know these protagonists so I will not go back to start at the beginning of this series.
In this cozy mystery, Carole and Jude are neighbors who have a strange or is strand friendship. Jude is a practicing healer and Carole is just a lonely woman, who is relatively new to the village and keeps to herself. But is odd in that she likes to solve crimes. There is the local pub where the ladies go to meet the neighbors and the proprietor and trade gossip. There are the locals, who in this case are members of the church choir and also come to the pub for drinks.
When the wealthy Leonard Mallet dies under unusual circumstances, Carole cannot accept that it could just be an accident. She doggedly tries to investigate it as a murder. When his wife, who presents herself as a survivor of domestic abuse, is also killed then Jude and Carole are both independently investigating these deaths. Their relationship seems to be not be friendly this time and they are sharing some information but not working in tandem. Both seem to be secretive and not friendly in this mystery, but I do have the background to know if there has been a rift developing.
Though this is a cozy mystery it deals with some very serious topics, domestic violence, child abuse and PTSD. Not that it really gets involved with these topics they are mentioned and worked into the alibis and character development of the suspects. For a short novel there is quite a bit there.
Not one of my favorite mystery novels. This is the first one I have read in this series, so maybe I am missing the closeness I should feel for the characters that would have developed if I had read these from the beginning. But I do not get a feeling of closeness to the main characters, they seem cold and removed and so the mystery lacks in warmth and believability for me. Also did not get the feeling that I want to get to know these protagonists so I will not go back to start at the beginning of this series.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
The Kopp Sisters On the March
The Kopp Sisters are continuing their adventures. This time Mary Stewart has brought them to a army training site i New Jersey as women are being prepared to assist the army as the United States prepares to enter WWI.
They are learning to be nurses in the field and other practical skills that will help in the war effort.
Stewart says that she does not have any real proof that the Kopp sisters were doing this but she has again used factual evidence that this is what was happening in NJ and that women were really participating this way, so she has placed them in a real camp.
Once again Constance, who was relieved of her job as a female police officer, is taking charge of the National Service School at Camp Chevy Chase when the need arrises. Norma has brought her cart of pigeons with her to introduce pigeon mail service to the army and Fleurette, is there as the camp seamstress and helps with camp entertainment helping to set up a play for camp morale .
Also brought into the story is the real life Beulah Binford, who is seeking refuge from her own scandalous past under the cover of a false identity. She really did have a stint as a WWI nurse, but her past before that was quite scandalous . Born in July 1895, Binford was described as a "handsome but morally corrupt girl" who in 1907 fell in love with Henry Clay Beattie Jr., the spoiled and irresponsible son of a prominent Richmond businessman. She had his child out of wedlock and when he murdered his wife, allegedly to continue his affair, Binford was accused of conspiring with him.
Later released from prison, she led an anonymous life after being declared a pariah and died in 1973.
Amy Stewart always writes a fascinating novel with interesting characters and unusual information .
They are learning to be nurses in the field and other practical skills that will help in the war effort.
Stewart says that she does not have any real proof that the Kopp sisters were doing this but she has again used factual evidence that this is what was happening in NJ and that women were really participating this way, so she has placed them in a real camp.
Once again Constance, who was relieved of her job as a female police officer, is taking charge of the National Service School at Camp Chevy Chase when the need arrises. Norma has brought her cart of pigeons with her to introduce pigeon mail service to the army and Fleurette, is there as the camp seamstress and helps with camp entertainment helping to set up a play for camp morale .
Also brought into the story is the real life Beulah Binford, who is seeking refuge from her own scandalous past under the cover of a false identity. She really did have a stint as a WWI nurse, but her past before that was quite scandalous . Born in July 1895, Binford was described as a "handsome but morally corrupt girl" who in 1907 fell in love with Henry Clay Beattie Jr., the spoiled and irresponsible son of a prominent Richmond businessman. She had his child out of wedlock and when he murdered his wife, allegedly to continue his affair, Binford was accused of conspiring with him.
Later released from prison, she led an anonymous life after being declared a pariah and died in 1973.
Amy Stewart always writes a fascinating novel with interesting characters and unusual information .
Manhattan Beach
Jennifer Egan offers another very interesting novel. This time looking at New York during WWII with emphasis on the US Naval Yard and the people who worked on the ships, both builders and divers. Also exploring the underground mob and gangsters of the era.
Egan tells the story of Anna and her family. Growing up with a father who work world she did not understand and a mother who had devoted her life to Lydia, Anna's sick sister, we follow Anna as she becomes an adult and tries to make sense of all the unknowns in her world. Her father disappears when she is a preteen, now as diver at the Navel Yard, Anna decides to piece together her memories and try to find out what happened to him.
Told through the eyes of Anna as she goes from being a naive young girl growing up in a small apartment with her parents and sister to being a young woman negotiating war work and how to socialize in the world, her father, Eddie Kerrigan, who is caught up working for the mob before he disappears and joins the merchant marines, and Dexter Styles, a mob boss, who employed Eddie and who Anna recognizes as someone who can help her in search for her missing father.
Alternating chapters present a time in history from a very different angle. All the characters are drawn to the water and boats. Working on boats at the naval yard, sailing on warships, or just living at Manhattan Beach watching ocean liners and warships through binoculars from the beach outside the house. Each character is connected to the sea, even Anna's sister, Lydia, who is brain-damaged and was paralyzed at birth is temporarily reawakened at the beach.
Each of us has secrets we do not share and those secrets keep us from understanding others. They weigh us down like the weight of a diver's suit or the heaviness of lifting a paralyzed child. This is a book of secrets, regrets and trying to make the best of life in a world of unknowns.
Egan tells the story of Anna and her family. Growing up with a father who work world she did not understand and a mother who had devoted her life to Lydia, Anna's sick sister, we follow Anna as she becomes an adult and tries to make sense of all the unknowns in her world. Her father disappears when she is a preteen, now as diver at the Navel Yard, Anna decides to piece together her memories and try to find out what happened to him.
Told through the eyes of Anna as she goes from being a naive young girl growing up in a small apartment with her parents and sister to being a young woman negotiating war work and how to socialize in the world, her father, Eddie Kerrigan, who is caught up working for the mob before he disappears and joins the merchant marines, and Dexter Styles, a mob boss, who employed Eddie and who Anna recognizes as someone who can help her in search for her missing father.
Alternating chapters present a time in history from a very different angle. All the characters are drawn to the water and boats. Working on boats at the naval yard, sailing on warships, or just living at Manhattan Beach watching ocean liners and warships through binoculars from the beach outside the house. Each character is connected to the sea, even Anna's sister, Lydia, who is brain-damaged and was paralyzed at birth is temporarily reawakened at the beach.
Each of us has secrets we do not share and those secrets keep us from understanding others. They weigh us down like the weight of a diver's suit or the heaviness of lifting a paralyzed child. This is a book of secrets, regrets and trying to make the best of life in a world of unknowns.
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Fleishman is in Trouble
So many of us have troubled marriages. So many of us are trying to work out our differences with our spouse and try to keep our marriage together or work out an amicable divorce. but somehow this book was so hard for me to get through. I started it multiple times and could not get into it.
Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner....
But I was determined and finally came back to it and pushed my way through. I did not like any of the characters. Especially not Fleishman. He is a doctor working in a New York hospital, with a good reputation as a surgeon. he has two young children who he seems to care more about than his wife. His wife who is missing for most of the book, is a social climbing snob, who is working hard to keep up with Jones on the upper West Side of the City. She is not really a warm fuzzy parent. She is working hard at her own job to make money to keep the family living in the lifestyle she has always aspired to. She does not really seem to care if Fleishman or the children want that life. It is what she needs.
So now the marriage is estranged and she is missing and Fleishman has the children for the summer and has to balance child care and work. If that were all it was I would sympathize with him, but the author has added in this, what I think is, sick sex fantasy. He spends his time on dating websites that cater to women looking for sex, but not a longterm relationship. he is constantly looking at texts from women begging him to have sex and sending pictures of themselves. I found this very unrealistic and low. It made the women look bad and it made him look degenerate.
When his daughter gets in trouble for sending a picture of herself to a boy she is trying to attract the camp sends her home, and Fleishman is upset that she would think so unkindly about herself to do what this boy asked her to do. When his son is caught looking at porn sites on the computer Fleishman is also upset. But he never seems to see how they are doing exactly what he is doing and he sees nothing wrong with his own behavior.
The book also tells the story from the viewpoint of an old girlfriend who also has personal problems, smoking pot and drinking, when she should be appreciating the life she has with a loving husband and children. In the end we do hear the story from the viewpoint of the wife, but it may a bit too late, for any sympathy in her direction. But I will admit that once I was reading her view, I could sort of see how the marriage had fallen apart.. maybe they can repair the damage.
Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner....
But I was determined and finally came back to it and pushed my way through. I did not like any of the characters. Especially not Fleishman. He is a doctor working in a New York hospital, with a good reputation as a surgeon. he has two young children who he seems to care more about than his wife. His wife who is missing for most of the book, is a social climbing snob, who is working hard to keep up with Jones on the upper West Side of the City. She is not really a warm fuzzy parent. She is working hard at her own job to make money to keep the family living in the lifestyle she has always aspired to. She does not really seem to care if Fleishman or the children want that life. It is what she needs.
So now the marriage is estranged and she is missing and Fleishman has the children for the summer and has to balance child care and work. If that were all it was I would sympathize with him, but the author has added in this, what I think is, sick sex fantasy. He spends his time on dating websites that cater to women looking for sex, but not a longterm relationship. he is constantly looking at texts from women begging him to have sex and sending pictures of themselves. I found this very unrealistic and low. It made the women look bad and it made him look degenerate.
When his daughter gets in trouble for sending a picture of herself to a boy she is trying to attract the camp sends her home, and Fleishman is upset that she would think so unkindly about herself to do what this boy asked her to do. When his son is caught looking at porn sites on the computer Fleishman is also upset. But he never seems to see how they are doing exactly what he is doing and he sees nothing wrong with his own behavior.
The book also tells the story from the viewpoint of an old girlfriend who also has personal problems, smoking pot and drinking, when she should be appreciating the life she has with a loving husband and children. In the end we do hear the story from the viewpoint of the wife, but it may a bit too late, for any sympathy in her direction. But I will admit that once I was reading her view, I could sort of see how the marriage had fallen apart.. maybe they can repair the damage.
An Old Man's Game : An Amos Parisman Mystery
Andy Weinberger has created the mystery detective of a retired aging Jewish P.I. in Los Angeles.
He seems like a cute little older man who is coming out of retirement to find some excitement in his otherwise boring, depressing life. He is living with his wife, who is suffering from the beginnings of dementia . He has a caretaker who is coming in during the day to help his wife, so he is looking for something to keep him busy.
When the Rabbi of the local synagogue falls over dead in his matzah ball soup at Canter's famous deli in Los Angeles, the synagogue president calls Parisman in to help get tot he bottom of the situation.
Parisman calls on his assistant, who is a former small time criminal, to cover his back. He stirs up some trouble to try and shake out the killer. Many times during the book, you are not really even sure if there was a crime, it could have just been the Rabbi died of natural causes.
But of course there will be other deaths before we get to the final conclusion and find out the whole
scenario that pulls it all together and lays out the plot that leads to murder.
The Rabbi is controversial, but the ideas that he is chanting about are not believable. It is a fun mystery to read, especially if you know Los Angeles and are Jewish. So many fun connections to relate to.
He seems like a cute little older man who is coming out of retirement to find some excitement in his otherwise boring, depressing life. He is living with his wife, who is suffering from the beginnings of dementia . He has a caretaker who is coming in during the day to help his wife, so he is looking for something to keep him busy.
When the Rabbi of the local synagogue falls over dead in his matzah ball soup at Canter's famous deli in Los Angeles, the synagogue president calls Parisman in to help get tot he bottom of the situation.
Parisman calls on his assistant, who is a former small time criminal, to cover his back. He stirs up some trouble to try and shake out the killer. Many times during the book, you are not really even sure if there was a crime, it could have just been the Rabbi died of natural causes.
But of course there will be other deaths before we get to the final conclusion and find out the whole
scenario that pulls it all together and lays out the plot that leads to murder.
The Rabbi is controversial, but the ideas that he is chanting about are not believable. It is a fun mystery to read, especially if you know Los Angeles and are Jewish. So many fun connections to relate to.
The Mousse Wonderful Time of the Year
The Mousse Wonderful Time of the Year, the newest in the Gemma's Tea Shop mystery series
by H. A. Hanna.
Again I will say that H. A. Hanna is prolific. She has a number of mystery series running at the same time. This one features, a young woman Gemma, who has left the world of high finance to come home to her hometown and open a tea shop. She runs the shop with her oldest best friend. They have someone who bakes the best scones in the area working for them. A small group of elderly ladies like to hang out in the shop in the afternoon, referred to as the Old Biddies, and they are always there to help solve the mysteries.
This is mystery takes place around the Christmas holidays so now Hanna has written the Christmas mystery that so many series have in their repertoire . This is a fun locked room mystery. meaning that everyone involved arrives at the mansion for a Christmas party. Someone is murdered and a snow storm keeps all the people involved stuck in the house and no one can come or go until the storm abates. So the murder is definitely in house. No police can get to the scene of the crime so Gemma and the Old Biddies are there to get as much information and clues before the scene is disturbed. Gemma now gets to interview all the suspects, guests.
Things reach a climax just as the storm ends and the police can get through to finish up the solving of the crime. Hanna is good at creating a clever entertaining mystery even though they are not very intricate, and they are definitely following a formula.
I look forward to her next novels.
by H. A. Hanna.
Again I will say that H. A. Hanna is prolific. She has a number of mystery series running at the same time. This one features, a young woman Gemma, who has left the world of high finance to come home to her hometown and open a tea shop. She runs the shop with her oldest best friend. They have someone who bakes the best scones in the area working for them. A small group of elderly ladies like to hang out in the shop in the afternoon, referred to as the Old Biddies, and they are always there to help solve the mysteries.
This is mystery takes place around the Christmas holidays so now Hanna has written the Christmas mystery that so many series have in their repertoire . This is a fun locked room mystery. meaning that everyone involved arrives at the mansion for a Christmas party. Someone is murdered and a snow storm keeps all the people involved stuck in the house and no one can come or go until the storm abates. So the murder is definitely in house. No police can get to the scene of the crime so Gemma and the Old Biddies are there to get as much information and clues before the scene is disturbed. Gemma now gets to interview all the suspects, guests.
Things reach a climax just as the storm ends and the police can get through to finish up the solving of the crime. Hanna is good at creating a clever entertaining mystery even though they are not very intricate, and they are definitely following a formula.
I look forward to her next novels.
Murder at the Book Club
Murder at the Book Club written by Betsy Reavley.
This is the first in a cozy mystery series.
It is entertaining but not that intriguing. There are so many characters it is hard to keep them all straight. The book very much follows the cozy formula with a set up of the book discussion group, most of the characters being introduced, then a murder, then some clues and another murder and the murder revealed and the conclusion to pull it all together. Slow and not very interesting dialog and so many sad unhappy characters.
The idea for a mystery novel about a book club is a clever idea but this book does not take full advantage of the medium to use the sources available to its full potential. You could develop the characters according to types of books they like to read. You could explore different kinds of mystery novels they could be reading and see if that makes them more likely to be the killer depending on how the victim had been murdered. So many ideas come to mind and this author did not take advantage of any of these thoughts. All the characters are sad depressed and have problems in their lives. So sad.
I did not like any of the characters and was not drawn in enough to want to try and figure out who done it. I just kept reading to see how the author would pull it together at the end. Not so convincing.
This is the first in a cozy mystery series.
It is entertaining but not that intriguing. There are so many characters it is hard to keep them all straight. The book very much follows the cozy formula with a set up of the book discussion group, most of the characters being introduced, then a murder, then some clues and another murder and the murder revealed and the conclusion to pull it all together. Slow and not very interesting dialog and so many sad unhappy characters.
The idea for a mystery novel about a book club is a clever idea but this book does not take full advantage of the medium to use the sources available to its full potential. You could develop the characters according to types of books they like to read. You could explore different kinds of mystery novels they could be reading and see if that makes them more likely to be the killer depending on how the victim had been murdered. So many ideas come to mind and this author did not take advantage of any of these thoughts. All the characters are sad depressed and have problems in their lives. So sad.
I did not like any of the characters and was not drawn in enough to want to try and figure out who done it. I just kept reading to see how the author would pull it together at the end. Not so convincing.
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