Lye in wait

 

I've been doing some pretty heavy reading lately and needed something lighter to read. This book fit that need perfectly.

This book falls into the gentle mystery genre that focuses on a domestic craft. Joanne Fluke has written mysteries around a baker and Diane Davidson-Mott has more cooking mysteries. I know there are some based on quilters and others on knitting. This book is centered around a Sophie Mae, a soapmaker. She finds her handyman dead in her basement after drinking lye. On the surface it appeared as a suicide but sinister characters lead Sophie Mae to think otherwise. An investigation ensues with some danger and the usual cast of shady characters.

The story was a bit predictable, but in an enjoyable way. I liked it as it offered me a break from my other reading. It went fast. I did read the kindle version, which I found through a free promotion. The Kindle version had some formatting issues with inappropriate line breaks and messed up quotation marks. Even so, it wasn't too annoying.


The books I select for review are books which I personally select from my local library. I do not receive any reimbursement from authors or publishers or free books. I do provide links to Amazon as a convenience to the readers of this blog. I do earn a small referral pittance which is not even enough to buy a soda.

Behind a Mask

Louisa May Alcott is well known as the writer of Little Women, but she is far more prolific than was previously known. Over 35 years ago literature scholars have discovered that Ms. Alcott wrote under a pseudonym, A. M. Barnard. This information was found in one letter that Alcott wrote where she mentions the pseudonym. Scholars have long suspected she did write under a pseudonym but could never prove it until Madeleine Stern found the telling letter in the 1970s. Because Alcott's father could not hold down a job and squandered her mother's inheritance, Louisa took up writing to pay the bills. Her stories were gothic thrillers and romances with murder and intrigue. You could call it pulp fiction, in a way. Alcott wrote these stories to support her family and herself, but did not want to be connected to them in any other way.

I recently borrowed Behind a Mask, a collection of thrillers by Louisa May Alcott. The book contains 4 short stories, of which I only read 3. My favorite of the stories is The Mysterious Key and What it Opened. This story was the most developed and had interesting characters. It also had a somewhat happy ending, even with tragedy. There are moments of darkness that is rather puzzling and I was left guessing true motives until the end. Behind a Mask and Pauline's Punishment both were very dark stories with dark endings. I tried to read the Abbot's Ghost but just couldn't follow any of it.

I rarely read short story collections but I am glad I did in this case. I learned a lot about Louisa May Alcott and I can appreciate her writing skill even more. I imagine more stories will be discovered in time by literary scholars and we will be able to discover again a talented writer.

The Eyre Affair

I really wanted to like The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. It was supposed to be one of those witty, fun mysteries with interesting characters. This book goes a step further and inserts literary nuggets for book lovers. Clearly there is a fan following because there are several books in the series.

The main character is Thursday Next and she investigates crimes involving literary works. The world of Thursday Next is an alternate, futurist version of our own and the author kind of gets lost in describing it. In some ways it is fun to read, in others hard to keep track of when so many things are twisted.

I had a hard time following it and gave up on it in Chapter 4. I can't give this book a totally bad review because it will probably appeal to true book loving nerds and it does have a lot of fun witticisms.

A Cry In The Night

A Cry In The Night is a Mary Higgins Clark mystery. A recently divorced mother of two gets swept off her feet by a handsome, wealthy artist and farmer. How any sane woman could get married to a guy within one week of meeting him and not recognize some warning signs, I'll never know. Right off the bat I could recognize the guy was no good and you know he is going to do some bad things. Really, the story reads like a bad Lifetime movie. Ya know the kind of movie where a creepie guy is able to be abusive because the woman thinks she is in love. The kind of movie where an emotionally fragile woman melts and submits because a good looking guy says, "I love you." and excuses all kinds of bad behavior.

I did finish the book. Mary Higgins Clark does know how to right a suspenseful mystery. Thing is I figured most of it out within a couple of chapters. I finished the story to see how it all played out but mostly to see how long it would take before the woman recognizes her mistake and runs. I should have known better because she realizes her mistake when it is almost too late.

I am not opposed to reading more Mary Higgins Clark in the future, but only for some mindless reading.

Book Rating: 2 stars

Up next: Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell

Someone to Watch Over Me

Written by Jill Churchill, Someone to Watch Over Me is a gentle mystery in the same style as Agatha Christie. I am sure Agatha Christie fans would enjoy this book and others by the same author. I call this a gentle mystery because there is little objectionable material in the book. This particular story is subtitled A Grace and Favor Mystery. Grace and Favor is the name of the mansion where the two main characters live.

The two mystery sleuths, and also main characters, are a brother and sister team. In order to earn their inheritance, the two most learn to make a living while maintaining a family estate. The town assumes they are well to-do, but they are actually penniless. Their inheritance is controlled by the family lawyer. In the mean time there are two mysterious deaths which must be solved.

Unfortunately, our library only has one of Churchill's mysteries. I think I will suggest getting more. I know there are many patrons who would enjoy them.

Book rating: 4 stars

Up next: A Mary Higgins Clark book.

Crooked House

This was my first foray into Agatha Christie mysteries. I usually don't read mysteries because they become so cliche and predictable. Agatha Christie is a true master and she keeps you guessing until the last minute. This story did not feature her usual detectives, Inspector Poirot or Miss Marple. Instead the detective is the son of a police chief. Many consider this to be one of her best stories. I have only read a few, so I can't compare. Still, it was enjoyable.

Over the weekend I finished up Witness for the Prosecution and Three Blind Mice. Neither of those stories had the usual detectives. They were fun and quick reads too.

Lots of fun information about Agatha Christie and the official website.

Book Rating: 4 Stars (all three books)

I am moving on to a new author before I burn out on Agatha Christie, but I will definitely pick up some of her other stories again!

A Gathering of Spies

The dust jacket of A Gathering of Spies makes a rather bold statement, "Every once in a while, a new thriller writer emerges with such an instant command of his craft that readers everywhere take notice."

For a debut novel, John Altman does all right. The story is fast paced and action packed. It is set in World War II and revolves around a female German spy. The British attempt to capture her and manipulate the Germans with their double agents. There is a lot of double cross and mystery.

The novel grabbed me almost instantly. I liked the clean writing of the author. He doesn't bog you down with lots of extranous details or unnecessary characters. Unfortunately, mystery and spy novels are not my favorite. I became bored about two thirds of the way through. I don't know how it turns out or finishes. If you like this genre, you might like this one. For me it was one to many double crosses and near death escapes.

I gave this book 3 stars for being entertaining, at least somewhat. The book does contain some violent moments. It is apparently out of print. An interesting note: The original edition of the book contains a dust jacket featuring a swastika. At some point the publisher changed that. In any event, you will probably have to find this book at a library.

The Crime of the Century

I really tried to read The Crime of the Century. Originally Kinglsey Amis wrote this story as a newspaper serial in a British paper, The Sunday Times, in the 1970s. While it may have worked as a newspaper serial, it definitely did not work as a book.

The difficulty I had was the number of characters introduced in the first 30 pages. I have not counted them (I am guessing around 20). It was extremely confusing to turn a page and find YET another character introduced. I read the first 25 pages twice. After the second reading, I set the book down for a week. Picking it up again, I discovered I would have to read the first 25 pages again. I could not remember who the characters were. That was it for me. Back to the library it goes.

Even more annoyingly, the author wrote a brilliant introduction. It was entertaining and well written. It made me excited to read the book! How disappointing! If only he could have written as clearly and lucidly for the story.

If anyone has read this book and could write a Cliff notes version - please let me know! This book appears to be out of print.

Book rating: 1 Star for effort.

Murder on the Lusitania

I have never liked reading mystery novels. I assume they will be predictable and stereotypical. Murder on the Lusitania, by Conrad Allen, started off like most mystery novels. The introduction begins with the detective traveling incognito with first-class passengers. He is young, attractive, and loves Shakespeare. Ok, I had to roll my eyes at that one. The other cast of characters are upper middle-class, and wealthy, with a few attractive, single women.

A sign of a good mystery novel is that it holds its mystery until near the end. This book does at least that. There were a few side stories thrown in to keep the reader guessing "Who dun it?" I won’t spoil the mystery for those who choose to read it.

Book Rating: 3 Stars. It was entertaining. It could have received a higher rating if Conrad Allen had at least hired a better editor. There were enough grammatical mistakes to make the book slightly annoying to read.