Book Review - A Christmas Carol Mystery; Heather Redmond

 

A Christmas Carol Murder; Heather Redmond

Kensington - 2020

This Christmas mystery is actually Book #3 in "A Dickens of a Crime Series."  Although I never read the other two books, this one can definitely be enjoyed as a standalone mystery.

Set in 1835 London, this one had the feeling of a retelling of the original Christmas Carol many of us have read and enjoyed.  There are actually a couple of mysteries going on here. Charles is working as a journalist and amateur detective. As he is covering the story of a fire in which a woman has lost her life, her sister claims that Charles is the father of the newborn baby boy. He is mystified and since he works for his soon to be father-in-law and doesn't want to upset his fiancee Kate, he must find someone to care for the baby while he gets to the bottom of this potential scandal.  

The second mystery happens when Charles and fiancee Kate are out for a walk and they witness the body of Jacob Harley tumbling out of a second floor window.  He is also wrapped in chains.  Harley, has a "counting house business" (think loan and mortgage company) with his partner Mr. Screws in the same building. Their relationship has been strained but, Harley had some enemies as well. But, when the body seems to vanish and the ghost of Harley visits Charles or is he just seeing things?

I really thought this was well done, an old fashioned story with a somewhat modern feel as well.  Although I liked this one, the modern feel at times felt off. I liked the Charles character, he was a good journalist and detective who had a way of getting to the truth in a nice sort of way. The descriptions of old London's Victorian era was also great. I thought this was a nice change from Christmas romance fiction.

Rating - 4/5 stars

Book Review - 142 Ostriches; April Davila

TITLE:  142 Ostriches

AUTHOR:  April Davila

PUBLISHER:  Kensington

PUB. YEAR: 2020

SETTING: CA - Mojave Desert
FORMAT: eGalley
RATING: - 4/5

Tallulah Jones hasn't had much stability in her young life, as a result of an irresponsible mother.  However, when she was 13, her grandmother Helen, came to her rescue and live with her.  Helen had an ostrich farm in the Mojave desert and, truth be told, she needed help so Tallulah filled that need.  Now in her early 20s, Tallulah has decided she wants more out of life an has accepted a job in Montana which she is to begin in a few weeks. However, when her grandmother dies unexpectedly, Tallulah has the birds, a farm, and a house to deal with before she can just pack up and leave.

142 Ostriches was a unique coming of age story. It's a story steeped in family dysfunction and, it's also a story about ostriches - (I never realized the size and power this amazing creatures possess.)  There are some sad and even violent moments in this story but, there are also moments of joy as well. I liked the protagonist and found her character well-developed. This was ultimately a different kind of coming of age story with a nice ending as well.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - 142 Ostriches; April Davila

Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, now hosted by  Socrates Book Reviews. 

Thanks to Yvonne for taking over FCFPTI.

142 Ostriches; April Davila

Kensington Books - 2020

One

Four days before the ostriches stopped laying eggs, Grandma Helen died in an accident that really wasn't an accident.  It was a Sunday, when almost everyone was in church, when the only other trucks on Route 66 were bigger than hers, their immense grilles roaring toward her, then escaping one after another, until a tomato trailer out of Sacramento proved too enticing.

Isn't the cover beautiful?  I'm hoping this one is a winner as the reviews have been pretty good.

Would you read more or pass?

What I Remember Most; Cathy Lamb

What I Remember Most; Cathy Lamb

Kensington - 2014

What I Remember Most was a terrific story and one that kept me wondering as I eagerly turned each page.  Part mystery, part contemporary fiction, the only thing that the reader knows for sure is that the protagonist, Grenadine Scotch Wild, had a horrible childhood and as an adult her life is still unsettled.

Something happened to both of Grenadine's parents when she was only six years old, She became lost in a failed foster care system with numerous placements -- some more horrible than the one before. The one comfort through all her turmoil was her love and talent for art. As an adult she married a user who implicated her in a white-collar scheme.  With bank accounts frozen, she flees a comfortable lifestyle with just a few hundred dollars and her car full of clothes and a few personal items, desperate to start a new life even if it means living in her car for a while.

As the story progresses the reader learns pieces of her past through DCYF case worker reports, and also more about her marriage and her reasons for fleeing.  There is also brief references to some crazed individual who writes short, disturbing nursery rhymes. Grenadine is such a well developed character. She is a strong woman who was easy to root for based on her resilience and what she had been through. Even the minor characters in this novel were interesting.

At first I thought the cover did not seem to fit the story, but as I read and saw how important painting and drawing was to the protagonist's life, it made perfect sense.  This book is definitely worth reading, if you don't mind a little sadness your fiction, especially when you read some of the case worker's notes.  I liked how the story came together at the end as well.

4.5/5 stars

(kindle purchase)

A few quotes I jotted down ---

• "We laughed the type of laugh you laugh when you want to cry and fear has its claws in you and is pulling you down but your keeping your chin up and holding it together because if you don't, you'll be flat wiped out."
• "It was one of those moments in life where you have to stop. You have to put aside the problems, all the stress, all the worries, and be in the moment.  Be happy. Be grateful. Be glad to be alive."
• "You don't know how much you need a mother nagging over you until you don't have it."

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - What I Remember Most; Cathy Lamb

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where I share the first paragraph sometimes two from a book I am reading or thinking about reading soon.  Here's my pick for this week.

What I Remember Most; Cathy Lamb

Kensington - 2014

1

"I hear his voice, then hers.  I can't find them in the darkness.  I can't see them through the trees.  I don't understand what's going on, but their horror, their panic, reaches me, throttles me.

They scream the same thing.

Run, Grenadine, run!

It's them.

What do you think -- keep reading or pass?  (I'm at the 30% mark and so far this book is fantastic.)

(Feel free to join in this week by posting your intro  link below)

Liar's Bench; Kim Michele Richardson

Liar's Bench; Kim Michele Richardson

Kensington - 2015

Liar’s Bench, is a fairly brief (approx 250 pages) multi-generational mystery that  takes readers back to rural Kentucky, in 1972. It was a time when many people there were not happy about the changes being brought about by the Civil Rights Movement or women's rights.

The protagonist of the story is a young girl named, Mudas Summers. Mudas is just 17 when her mother, Ella, dies unexpectedly -- found hanging. Th town's police rule her death a suicide by, but Mudas doesn't believe that was the case.  Angry with her father, she is determined to find out the truth about what happened to her mother. More than willing to help her is her mixed-race friend Bobby Marshall, a boy whose own ancestor was hanged many years earlier for a crime she did not commit.  The set up makes the reader wonder what the connection here is, and in the process of their amateur investigation, many once buried secrets are revealed, including the significance of the "liar's bench".

The story is told from Mudas’ point of view. At times she came across as a bit too wise for her age.  Some of the things that happened seemed a bit to convenient and contrived.  Despite this, the story is a nice mix of coming of age story, historical story and also the 1970's mystery, that mostly held my interest. For a debut novel, I felt the author did a decent job capturing the tension, bigotry and hatred that was prevalent at that time.

Fans of Southern historical fiction and mysteries might want to consider this novel.

3.5/5 stars (review copy)

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Liar's Bench; Kim Michelle Richardson

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where I share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book I am reading or thinking about reading soon

Liar's Bench; Kim Michelle Richardson

Kensington - 2015

A Cornerstone

August 1860

"When a lie seeps into the very heartwood of a town, soaks the beams and posts that hold it up from the earth, the rot sets to its work. The ruin that cruelty brings is always just a matter of time.  And ruin had fully taken hold in August of 1860, when Mrs. Evelyn Anderson, mistress of Hark Hill Plantation of Peckinpaw, Kentucky, reported that she had been poisoned by her house slave, Frannie Crow."

What do you think, would you read more?

(feel free to post your own first paragraph and link below)

Memorial Day Weekend Kicks Off My Summer Reading Plans

My reading choices always seem to change a bit when summer approaches. Instead of chunky, more intense reads, I tend to choose, shorter books, novels with fewer characters, and other stories that require less concentration -- mostly because in summer, I find myself busier, more easily distracted and yes, when I'm on the beach or in a park with a book, I'm a people watcher --plain and simple.

Here are some of the books that will likely take center stage on my beach blanket this summer.

Creatures of the Day: and other Tales of Psychotherapy

 Irvin Yalom - Basic Books - 2015

Finders Keepers; Stephen King

Scribner - June 2

Summerlong; Dean Bakopoulos
Ecco - June 16th

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

Fredrik Backman - Atria - June 16th

Language Arts; Stephanie Kallos
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt- June 9th

Liar's Bench; Kim Michelle Richardson
Kensington - April 2015

House Breaking; Dan Pope
SImon & Schuster - May 12th

The Undertaker's Daughter: a Memoir; Kate Mayfield
Gallery - January 2015

Find the Good; Heather Lende
Algonquin - April 2015

How about you, any summer reading plans?