Wrap-up of the Library Love Reading Challenge

I was required to take 12 books out of my public library to read and review for this challenge. I surpassed that requirement with 32 books as follows:

Brewed Awakening
Angel's Share
Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry
The Burning Chambers
The Persian Gamble
The Kinship of Secrets
The Christmas Boutique
The President is Missing
Saving Meghan
A Far Horizon
Courting Mr. Lincoln
The Queen's Promise
The Bookworm
The Satapur Moonstone
The Persian Always Meows Twice
Broken Bone China
A Plain Vanilla Murder
A Body in Barcelona
The Bengal Identity
The Enemies of Versailles
The Rivals of Versailles
The Sisters of Versailles
The Gown
The Malta Exchange
The Island of Sea Women
Harvest of Secrets
Tombland
Kid Gloves
The Splendor Before the Dark
Memento Mori
Drawing Comics
Fear

Favorite Book:  The Sisters of Versailles, a historical fiction novel by Sally Christie

Second Favorite Book: The Malta Exchange, a spy thriller by Steve Berry

Least Favorite Book: A Far Horizon, a historical fiction novel by Brenda Rickman Vantrease

I have signed up for this challenge again in 2020 at the Thrifty Reader level. This level requires that 24 books be read from the library. Let's start reading!

Brewed Awakening

Brewed Awakening is Coffeehouse Mystery number 18. This installment of the series opens with a marriage proposal to main character and amateur sleuth Clair Cosi from her long time boyfriend Mike Quinn. Clare's life suddenly takes a turn for the worse when 2 months later she finds herself waking up on a park bench in someone else's clothes. She is not sure why she is in New York City when she lives in New Jersey but decides to walk to the coffee shop her former mother-in-law owns, the Village Blend. When she arrives there Clare is surprised to see her daughter Joy looking 11 years older and that coffeehouse staff whom she does not know seem to know her. Clare has amnesia!

A few pages later we find out that Clare witnessed a crime that she cannot remember. She had been missing for a week and when she woke up in the park her memory did not register anything that happened in her life in the past 11 years. Society wife and hotel owner Annette Brewster went missing alongside Clare when an armed and masked man forced them in a car but Bewster has never been found. Clare is the key to locating her, if she can remember.

I thought it was creative for the authors to use amnesia as a way to slowly reveal the clues to the crime. It certainly breaks up their usual way of telling a story and keeps it fresh for loyal readers of the series. Her compatriots at The Blend also commit a crime, removing her from a hospital against her crazy psychiatrist's knowledge, and are themselves laying low from the police. The psychiatrist is planning to take Clare to a private hospital in the north part of the state for treatment that he refuses to describe to her family for up to a year. We have the tension of two crimes here which made the plot more interesting.

Brewed Awakening may be the best book in the series to date. 5 out of 5 stars!

Angels' Share

Angels' Share is the 10th installment of this wine country cozy mystery series featuring amateur sleuth  Lucie Montgomery. Lucie has a mobility impairment and owns a vineyard in Loudoun County, Virginia.

The summary from the inside cover blurb says "When Lucie Montgomery attends a Thanksgiving weekend party for friends and neighbors at Hawthorne Castle, an honest-to-goodness castle owned by the Avery family, the last great newspaper dynasty in America and owner of the Washington Tribune, she doesn't expect the festive occasion to end in death.

During the party, Prescott Avery, the ninety-five year old family patriarch, invites Lucie to his fabulous wine cellar, where he offers to pay any price for a cache of two hundred year old Madiera that her great-uncle, a Prohibition bootlegger, discovered hidden in the U. S. Capitol in the 1920s. Lucie knows nothing about the valuable wine, believing her late father, a notorious gambler and spendthrift, probably sold or drank it. By the end of the party, Lucie and her fiance, winemaker Quinn Santori, discover Prescott's body lying in his wine cellar. Is one of the guests a murderer?

As Lucie searches for the lost Madeira, she learns about Prescott's affiliation with the Freemasons. More investigation hints at a mysterious vault supposedly containing documents hidden by the Founding Fathers and a possible tie to William Shakespeare. If Lucie finds the long-lost documents, the explosive revelations could change history. But will she uncover a three-hundred-year-old secret before a determined killer finds her?"

Angels' Share is the best written book in this series. Author Ellen Crosby has become a fantastic writer over the years since she began writing this series. All of the books are good. However, the writing is awkward in some sections of the earlier books. Crosby has finally hit her stride with this new novel.

I was somewhat surprised that most of the pursuit of mystery concerned the secondary plot around lost treasure. The solving of the crime, Prescott Avery's murder, took second place. The lost treasure hunt was exciting though and kept me reading but I wondered why, or rather how, it fit in with the murder. The choice for the title was interesting. The angel's share is the amount of wine that evaporates from a wine barrel between the time it is bottled and the time it is opened.

I learned quite a bit about Madiera wine from the book. As with all of the books in the series, a particular wine is featured and the reader becomes knowledgeable about that wine. I could use a glass of it right now since I just finished my Thanksgiving dinner. With the story beginning on Thanksgiving weekend it has a holiday feel to it. I picked the best book to read this week!

5 out of 5 stars!

Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry

Mary Higgins Clark has completed her 46th novel with this mystery; 56th novel if you count those she has co-written with other authors. Every year she continues to churn out book after book and it amazes me how much she has accomplished in her writing. Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry is another stellar piece of writing. Clark captures the reader's attention on page one and keeps you glued to the pages until the end.

The inside cover blurb summarizes the book as follows: "When investigative journalist Gina Kane receives an email from a 'CRyan' describing her 'terrible experience' while working at REL, a high profile television news network, including the comment, 'and I'm not the only one,' Gina knows that she has to pursue the story. But when Ryan goes silent, Gina is shocked to discover the young woman has died tragically in a Jet Sky accident while on holiday.

Meanwhile, REL counsel Michael Carter finds himself in a tricky spot. Several female employees have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. Carter approaches the CEO, offering to persuade the victims to accept settlements in exchange for their silence. It's a risky endeavor, but it could well make him rich.

As more allegations emerge and the company's IPO draws near, Carter's attempts to keep the story from making headlines are matched only by Gina Kane's determination to uncover the truth. Was Ryan's death truly an accident? And when another accuser turns up dead, Gina realizes someone-or some people-will go to depraved lengths to keep the story from seeing the light."

I read this book before reading the blurb. I am glad that I didn't because the entire plot, except the denouement, is given in the blurb. It's a little surprising, that's all. Another point that I would like to make is that while Higgins Clark is known as being the Queen of Suspense, there was no suspense here. The book is a well plotted murder mystery but it's not a suspenseful novel. As usual, her protagonist is a female, this time an investigative journalist. I think this was a great job for the sleuth to have and this character, Gina Kane, could be a continuing character in a series. Higgins Clark has never written a series before but this book could be the start of one.

5 out of 5 stars!

The Burning Chambers

The Burning Chambers takes place in France in the mid to late 1500s.  It is the first book in a trilogy about the Huguenot diaspora.  The plot concerns a disputed inheritance and a stolen religious relic, the Shroud of Antioch. The main characters are Marguerite "Minou" Joubert, the Catholic daughter of a bookseller, and Piet Reydon, a Huguenot soldier, who fall in love with each other.

This 575 page book seemed to drag on and on.  There were endless descriptions of the scenery, homes, inns, shops and clothing.  While I was interested in what was written, the plot was so slow that I did lose interest over time which is why it took me one month to finish this book.   The fact that I could summarize the plot in one sentence in the above paragraph is telling.  Not much happened here.  The premise for this trilogy is fascinating.  The how-to of the writing needs work.  A little less explanation and more action would be better.

If you like reading about atmosphere, this book is for you.  The author gives a fascinating description of the atmosphere of this period in French history.  However, if a book has no action, it's a little boring.

The Persian Gamble

I don't usually read Joel Rosenberg but a friend told me that I would like his new book.  It is a political/spy thriller taking place in the current time period with conflict between the governments of the U.S., Israel, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

The summary from the inside book cover reads: "Shot out of the air in enemy territory in the middle of the greatest international crisis since the end of the Cold War, former U. S. Secret Service agent Marcus Ryker finds himself facing an impossible task. Not only does he have to somehow elude detection and capture by Russian forces, but he must convince his own government to grant safe passage to the one man responsible for the global mayhem - Russian double agent and assassin Oleg Kraskin. While frantically negotiating with his contacts in the U.S. government, Marcus learns that the North Korean regime plans to use the international chaos as a smokescreen to sell nuclear weapons to Iran."

I thought that this was the perfect thriller except for one problem. 300+ pages into the novel his hero starts reading his Bible, Proverbs, and thinking about the grace of God right before he is going into a mission and will kill people. Is the author serious? How many international assassins muse over God's grace an hour before a kill? The hero keeps this Bible reading up for the remaining 200 pages. Is the author trying to convince the reader that an assassin is a Christian? I am pretty sure he is not. This is why I never read Rosenberg. Why take a perfectly plotted and written 500 page thriller and ruin it with 20 pages? This is disappointing!

He loses 1 star.   4 out of 5 stars.

The Kinship of Secrets

The Kinship of Secrets is a historical saga about the Cho family during the Korean War. Part of the family has emigrated to America and the rest of the family has remained in Korea. The chapters alternate between the point of view of two sisters, Inja and Miren, separated by their parents when the parents take Miren with them to America and leave Inja behind.

Calvin and Najin Cho have taken their daughter Miren with them to America while she is still a toddler as she has been sickly. The younger Inja has been left behind with the promise that they will return for her in one or two years. However, the North Koreans invade the South and war commenced, making it impossible for the family to travel. Miren grows up in the wealthy west but not fitting in with her peers because she is Asian. Inja grows up knowing where she belongs but has to scrounge for food and run from fighting soldiers.  She always wonders why her mother didn't want her. For several years Calvin and Najin desperately try to bring Inja to the U. S. but Inja hopes that it never happens. She loves her extended family in Korea, her friends and she is doing well in school.

I loved this poignant story of two sisters. One is raised in wealth but with no emotional security and is dependent on her family. The other is raised in poverty but is much loved and independent. One knows all the family's secrets and the other knows none. Can they form a sisterly bond when they actually meet? Read the book and find out!

Inja is the heroine as she has much more to deal with than Miren. At a very young age she has to deal with abandonment, hunger, running from war, and taking care of sick relatives. I loved her character and hope there is a sequel based on her life. Miren was not that interesting but from her side of the story the reader gets to read about the family's early life in America.

5 our of 5 stars!

The Christmas Boutique

The Christmas Boutique is an Elm Creek Quilts novel. This 21 book cozy series returns after a seven year hiatus and the inside cover blurb summarizes the book as follows:

"Just weeks before Christmas, severe wintry weather damages the church hall hosting the Christmas Boutique-an annual sale of handcrafted gifts and baked goods that support the county food pantry. Determined to save the fundraiser Sylvia Bergstrom Compson offers to hold the event at Elm Creek Manor, her ancestral family estate and summertime home to Elm Creek Quilt Camp.

In the spirit of the season Sylvia and the Elm Creek Quilters begin setting up market booths in the ballroom and decking the halls with beautiful handmade holiday quilts. Each of the quilters chooses a favorite work to display, a special creation evoking memories of holidays past and dreams of Christmases yet to come. But while the Elm Creek Quilters work tirelessly to make sure the Christmas Boutique happens, it may take a holiday miracle or two to make it the smashing success they want it to be."

More than half of the writing was backstory, which means of course that there wasn't much to this plot.  The prior 3 or 4 books in the series were also predominantly backstory so I have to wonder if the author  has run out of new ideas for this series. In the interim since the last book was published the author wrote several historical fiction novels. They were OK. She excels, however, in writing cozies so I think she should consider writing another cozy series.

The characters in the series are fascinating but I think the most interesting ones were from the beginning of the series who have now passed away. The series is supposed to be about the Bergstrom family but only one member is still alive and she is not the main character.  In fact, there really isn't a main character. There is a group of women who make up the core of characters in the series.

Quilting was not as prominent in this installment of the series. I am a quilter and would have loved to have read more of the usual so-and-so selected such-and-such pattern to sew and the sentimental reasons why the selection was made.

While I have written some negative comments that does not mean that I didn't enjoy the book. I did. It was nice to get reacquainted with characters who seem like friends to me. Having a significant amount of background is not bad given that there has been 7 years since the last book in the series was published. I had forgotten much of each character's past and needed to be reminded.

4 out of 5 stars.

The President is Missing

Former President Bill Clinton co-authored this political mystery with James Patterson. It is eerily similar to Clinton's presidency.

The synopsis from the publisher:

"As an unprecedented cyberterrorist attack cripples the United States, the president must face an unthinkable truth:

There is a traitor in the White House.
His life is in danger.

And the only way to stay ahead of the shadowy forces tearing at the heart of America is to go off grid, leaving behind his presidential protection. The president must go missing and he may never resurface... Set over the course of three days that shake a nation to its core, The President is Missing
sheds a stunning light on the inner workings and vulnerabilities of the American government."

I expected alot from this book. I heard many friends say they couldn't wait to read it. If I was using my brain I would have realized that no one said anything else about the book.  At the midway point in reading this novel I read a few reviews of it because I was disappointed with it. Most of the reviews were negative. It finally clicked in my brain that the problem was the plot.

In The President is Missing there is something that never happens...the president never goes missing. Why this title was chosen is a conundrum.  The main character, the president, was basically Bill Clinton. This president faced an impeachment, was the former governor of a small southern state, met his wife in the law library at Yale law school, hired his best friend whom he met in kindergarten to work for him in the White House and failed to capture a foreign terrorist. As these details about the character unfolded, I was disappointed. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it just wasn't creative to use the author's background for a character.

The plot wasn't believable. First of all, I kept waiting for the president to disappear. Second, there were several groups of commandos shooting characters and I couldn't tell who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. The story was confusing. Third, there is no way in hell the Secret Service would allow a president to go off grid and meet someone who is probably a terrorist without protection. In the book the president orders the Secret Service to not follow him and also orders his physician to not treat him for an illness which is about to kill him because the drugs he needs will cloud his judgment.

The story was written with suspense to keep you reading. While I was bored and disappointed at the halfway point, I kept thinking that there was more to this story than I could see. Also, with the synopsis telling me that there is a traitor in the White House, I expected to read about this traitor early in the book. The reader doesn't read about it until the conclusion of the story. Why the build up in the media about a traitor when there's no build up in the story? Finally, it would have been nice for the authors to have written a Note to the Reader describing their writing collaboration.  Who contributed what? I wonder how much writing Clinton contributed to the novel, if any. 

Saving Meghan

Daniel Palmer has written another amazing medical mystery with Saving Meghan. With this novel he examines the illness called munchausen's by proxy.

The Gerard family is falling apart due to daughter Meghan's undiagnosed illness and her mother Becky's constant demand for her to see new doctors and have more tests. Husband Carl doesn't seem to believe that his daughter is really sick.  Meghan, a former high school athlete, is now homebound with nausea, cramping, fevers, fatigue and dizziness. However, every medical test keeps coming back normal until the family meets Dr. Zach Fisher who thinks she has a mitochondrial disease. She begins treatment but White Hospital is considering an intervention. They think Becky is intentionally making Meghan sick.

This novel was one heck of a page turner! I had to stay up until 2 am to finish it this morning. The plot moved very quickly and each chapter ended with a bang so I had to continue reading. I was familiar with Munchausen's so I knew what to expect from the mother's character. However, the daughter's character surprised me. By age 15 she had already learned what made her mother happy so Meghan was somewhat complicit in acting out her illness. I had no idea that was normal in these situations.

The plot had incredible twists and plenty of suspense but the final resolution of the story caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting it and I don't think it fit the story well. Still, it was a fun read and I am looking forward to Palmer's next novel. 

A Far Horizon

This is the second book in the Broken Kingdom Series about the English Civil War of the 1640s where Charles 1 is on the throne with his Catholic wife Henrietta. A Far Horizon primarily is about three women trying to survive on their own during the war.  Caroline Pendleton leaves her home for London after her husband is killed in battle. Lucy Hay is a widow who takes care of the two youngest royal children while their mother is in exile in France. Queen Henrietta is always on the run from her husband's enemies.

The book had a slow start. I had a difficult time getting interested in it as I couldn't find a storyline. The characters were reacting to news about the war and that's about it. Most of the historical characters bored me and there were many of them to keep track of. However, at the midpoint the story picked up. This is where the author used created characters to enhance her story. These characters were appealing and they carried the book.

I can't figure out why Vantrease wrote this kind of book. It's drastically different from her historical mysteries which I think were fantastic. I hope she returns to writing the mysteries because that is where she shines.

Courting Mr. Lincoln

Courting Mr. Lincoln is a fictionalized account of Mary Todd and Abe Lincoln's courtship and eventual marriage.  However, the story alternates between the point of view of Mary and Joshua Speed, Lincoln's best friend and roommate.  Can I presume that they were both courting Lincoln since they are both telling the story?

While Speed and Lincoln had a deep bond of friendship, there is a hint in one chapter that Speed may have wanted more from Lincoln. It was unclear whether Lincoln understood that or considered extending the relationship. He seemed to waver at the thought but my impression was that that Lincoln just had something else on his mind. He always had something else on his mind.

Mary Todd captivated Lincoln with her political intellect.  If Speed was ever really a romantic interest for Lincoln, Speed could not compete with Mary's brain. Politics is what Mary and Abe had in common and its what their relationship was based on.

I think Speed was gay.  When he eventually married, his wife did not want to have sex with him. He was OK with that arrangement. Twenty years later when Speed and Lincoln were again together, traveling to his inauguration, it was mentioned that he and his wife still had no children.

This was an enjoyable, fast read. I am curious how much of the book is fiction, especially the part about Mary's political instincts.  It would make sense that 2 people with nothing else in common would want to be together for a joint political future. I know plenty such couples today.  Politicians look for spouses like that and politically astute people are attracted to politicians.

5 out of 5 stars!

The Bookworm

The Bookworm is a fantastical thriller set in both WWII and the modern era. It provides an interesting theory on why Adolph Hitler decided not to invade England after the Blitz and instead send his army east toward Russia.

Lara Menelova Klimt "the bookworm" is a geohistorian.  She studies how geography determines a people's history, rather than its politics.  When not teaching classes at Moscow State University, Lara spends time in the Osobyi Arkhiv reviewing Nazi documents and listening to Dictaphone recordings of the dictated letters of Hitler, Himmler and others in the Third Reich.  One day after class she is approached by a stranger who hands her a shopping bag full of six Dictaphone cylinders for her to listen to and tells her that they have the testimony of one man who started the Great Patriotic War. Then the stranger abruptly leaves.

The man giving his testimony is none other than the actor Noel Coward.  In real life he worked as a British spy during WWII.  The transcripts also show a young John Kennedy coming up with an idea to trick Hitler into invading Russia instead of England. This trick, of course, protects the U. S. because if England fell then the U. S. would be next to be attacked by Hitler. The trick? Have a fortuneteller say that Hitler would be successful in invading Russia. The fortuneteller?  Nostradamus. Hitler was known to be a mystic and the idea was that if a page in a book could be created with a Nostradamus rhyme to convince Hitler of his success that he would decide not to invade England. It is a historical fact that after the Blitz Hitler did not invade England. No one knows why he decided not to invade. He made several similar decisions that his generals opposed and they resulted in his defeat.

The book goes back and forth between WWII and the current year.  There is a G20 summit in Moscow going on and a new American president who is loud mouthed and a womanizer with a wife from Slovenia is present. Lara has been snagged to be the moderator at a townhall meeting with the American president and the Russian people.  After discovering a plot that he has to drill oil in Alaska,  which will have a disastrous effect on Russia's economy, she comes up with a plan to expose it.

Kudos to the author for his creativity in devising this plot.  It may seem fantastical but it sure was entertaining.  I was totally absorbed in this book from the first page.  It has been a long time since that has happened to me and it felt sooooo good.  Adding in a Trump-like president and Nostradamus in one book was a genius idea.  I was laughing all the way through it.  As far as suspension of belief is concerned, the only thing that bothered me was having John Kennedy come up with the trick.  I don't know why he had to be in the book.  It did not seem very natural because he was in college at the time and had his girlfriend, Marlene Dietrich, with him.

The Bookworm is Mitch Silver's second book and I will have to check out his In Secret Service soon.  What I would love to see from him is another book featuring another made-up Nostradamus rhyme for another politician.  I just thought this was hilarious.  

The Queen's Promise

This is the first book in the Broken Kingdom Series by Brenda Rickman Vantrease.  It takes place in 1642 England. The book is quite different from Vantrease's earlier books. It is a strictly historical fiction novel while her prior books, i.e., The Illuminator and The Mercy Seller, were historical mysteries.

The book opens with Henrietta, the wife of King Charles, leaving England for Amsterdam with their 10 year old daughter.  The purpose is to marry her off.  However, the real reason is the Queen's unpopularity due to her Catholic faith. Henrietta leaves behind her three youngest children. Shortly after her departure, the Duke of Buckingham is executed for doing the King's bidding in Catholic Ireland. Charles goes on the run to set up an army but has his two youngest children cared for by Buckingham's mistress, Lucy Hay who is also a close friend of the Queen. Hay runs the fanciest salon in London and is a Protestant like the King. She agrees that she will not teach the Catholic mass to the children and is regularly visited by the King's enemies in Parliament and questioned about it.

This was a short book, only 230 pages, but it had a fast pace. I was kept interested enough in the plot to read the book in one sitting. This was a pleasant surprise given my dissatisfaction with some of the books that I have read in the past two months.

While the title is The Queen's Promise, Lucy Hay is the main character in the book. The author has written her to be a sympathetic character even though she cannot be without a lover. It seems strange that a woman who can't stop herself from committing adultery is the sympathetic character but she is. The reader doesn't get to know Queen Henrietta much. Hay's strength is prominent as she tries to protect the children from the warring factions in England who would love to use them as tokens in their war against the king. While the Queen eventually returns to England she must disguise herself. Her character as a queen was not prominent or interesting.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Satapur Moonstone

This is the second book in the Purveen Mistry Mystery Series by Sujata Massey.  Here Purveen is invited by Sir David Hobson-Jones, councillor to the Governor of India, to travel to the princely kingdom of Satapur to speak with 2 maharanis about the education of their 10 year old heir to the throne. The maharanis are in a state of purdah due to the recent death of their maharaja and cannot see a male attorney. Purveen, being a female attorney, can discuss the issue with them.  The heir's mother wants him to be educated in England while his grandmother wants him to be educated at home.

I enjoyed the book but must admit that it moved a little slower than the first book in the series.  There wasn't a crime to solve as there was in the first book and that plot error affected the pace. This is a historical mystery series, not a historical fiction series. However, there was no mystery here. It still was a lovely book to read. I love reading about other cultures and the author gave the reader her knowledge about travel in 1922 India, especially for women. The differences between the religions that coexist in India were described in detail. The feelings of the Indian people toward their English rulers was also apparent as the Indian characters whispered their thoughts about them to one another.

The moonstone pendant in the title of the book was not mentioned until page 100. It was not mentioned again until page 246 but was only mentioned superficially. Up until that time in the plot there were basically only meals that  Purveen had with the maharanis about the heir's education. Then the 10 year old maharaja disappeared and the remainder of the book was about the disappearance.

When I got this book I  expected to devour it in one sitting. It took me three weeks to read because there wasn't much of a plot to follow.  It was quite disjointed.

The Satapur Moonstone was a good historical fiction novel.  3 out of 5 stars.

The Persian Always Meows Twice

This is the first book in a new cozy mystery series by Eileen Watkins. I reviewed the 2nd book in the series a few weeks ago and liked it so much I ran out to the library to find the first one. In this series the cat is not the sleuth. Cat groomer Cassie McGlone, owner of Cassie's Comfy Cats is the sleuth.

The story opens with Cassie visiting a client in his home where he has a full grooming station for his Persian cat named Harpo. George DeLeuw is one of her best clients. He is Chadwick's wealthiest resident and pays her well, wanting extra attention for his cat whose long hair gets matted without the attention. When Cassie arrives for one of her regular visits she hears a scream and finds the maid Anita trembling. Anita leads her to DeLeuw's body, lying dead on the floor.  Cassie calls the police and Detective Angela Bonelli arrived on the scene. While several officers processed the scene of the crime Bonelli interviewed them both along with the landscaper Louis who had come inside when he heard Anita scream. Anita and Louis both said they thought DeLeuw was killed by an art thief because his home was filled with expensive artworks. Cassie was grilled on why she moved to Chadwick four months earlier.

Worried about Harpo's care, when Cassie attends the funeral she asks questions of all of the family and business associates of the deceased about whether the cat is named in the will and who is getting possession of the cat. She wants to take care of Harpo herself but all the questions only got her the attention of Detective Bonelli who now thinks that she is a suspect. Every person Cassie spoke to was considered a suspect by the police.

His ex-wife Marjorie sued him for possession of Harpo's brother and then had him put to sleep for spitting up a hairball. Marjorie hates cats and this was just another way to be cruel to him during the divorce. His sister Danielle wanted to get the cat from Cassie and return to the west coast even though she too did not like cats. Danielle had asked her brother for a business loan but he told her no.  Cassie thought that whoever got the cat would get some money in the will for Harpo's care. Then there were the business associates at DeLeuw's old Wall Street firm Redmond & Fowler, where DeLeuw had tried to sell an encryption program created by the son of Cassie's handyman, Dion Janos, but passed it off as his own and used it to hide documentation of the firm's corruption.

De Leuw's attorney agrees, however, that Cassie should board Harpo at her shop until the will is read. Before that happens, there are two attempted break-ins at Cassie's Comfy Cats, an arson at the shop, and an attempted kidnapping of Harpo and attempted murder of  Cassie herself at the shop when the crime is solved. Many twists and turns happen in between these main events.

This was a fabulous read but there were two odd things that stood out in my mind. The author referred to Harpo as a blond Persian. There is no such thing as a blond Persian cat. There are goldens and there are also silvers. How do I know? I helped a breeder of golden and silver Persians when I was a teenager through my thirties and attended cat shows throughout the Midwest with her. To me, a "blond" cat would be more golden in color but the cat on the cover of the book is a silver. The next item that irked me was how Cassie referred to her shop assistant Sarah as "moving much faster that she should be able to for her sixty years." I am sixty! Is the author saying that I should not be able to move? There is a little ageism here.

Aside from these two issues this book was fast paced with an intricate plot. I lost count of how many suspects there were, maybe 8, that had to be worked through with red herring after red herring. The writing was tight as the crime, occurring in the first chapter, was resolved in this little book's 261 pages. Several regular characters were also introduced for future novels so a lot happened here.

5 out of 5 stars.

A Plain Vanilla Murder

A Plain Vanilla Murder is Susan Wittig Albert's 27th China Bayles Mystery. Each novel features a different herb and this installment of the series features an orchid plant that grows vanilla pods. If you like to bake then you know that the price of vanilla extract and vanilla beans has skyrocketed. The author has chosen a timely subject to write about in this novel.

The summary from the inside cover blurb:

"China and Ruby Wilcox are presenting their annual Not Just Plain Vanilla Workshop, always a huge hit with customers at Thyme & Seasons Herb Shop. But someone involved with the workshop is driven by a deadly motive, and China soon finds herself teaming up with the very pregnant Pecan Springs police chief Sheila Dawson to solve a vanilla-flavored murder. But the lethal roots of this mystery reach back into the dark tropical jungles of Mexico, where the vanilla vine was first cultivated. At stake: a lucrative plant patent, an orchid that is extinct in the wild, and the life of an innocent girl."

This cozy mystery at times felt like a political mystery. The reader learns how vanilla plants are smuggled into the U.S. and sold at horticulture shows throughout the country. The murder victim had been developing a disease resistant vanilla plant. His secrecy over this activity resulted in him making many enemies at his college. Some of the prime suspects in his murder included jealous colleagues, orchid smugglers, and a disgruntled grad student that the victim was working with.

There were a few anomalies in the book. Police Chief Sheila Dawson has been pregnant in more than one installment of the series. In this book she is 8 months pregnant. How long can she be pregnant? Or should the question be what is the time lapse between murders in Pecan Springs that are written about in separate novels? In order to be able to investigate the next crime in the series Dawson has to have given birth and be back on the job. Also, two new secondary characters were introduced who had nothing to do with the plot. Ruby's daughter Amy Wilcox and her partner Kate Rodriguez were introduced and they are having a baby together with the assistance of a brother-in-law and a test tube. That was all that was said about them.

I thought that the investigation into the murder itself was intricately plotted. The pace was fast. There were as many red herrings and twists and turns as you might find in a standard political mystery but the writing was still done in Ms. Albert's folksy manner.

The author always has recipes at the back of her books. However, in this book the recipes at the back are more basic such as how to make your own vanilla extract, vanilla sugar, vanilla salt, vanilla paste, vanilla powder, vanilla syrup, vanilla butter, vanilla whipped cream, and vanilla vinegar. I am a baker so I had to write down these recipes for my own use. Recipes for dishes that the characters made in the novel are interspersed throughout the novel.

A Plain Vanilla Murder was truly a salute to vanilla. 5 out of 5 stars!

A Body in Barcelona

A Body in Barcelona is the 5th Max Camara Novel but the first one that I have read. It is a police detective novel set in Valencia, Spain but is categorized as a political thriller by the publisher.

The murder of a prominent businessman's young son did not occur until 70 pages into the book.  Setting descriptions abounded before the crime occurred. This overwhelmed me because they were about the police divisions in Spain and the Spanish language was used to describe the names of all of the divisions. Throughout the book I kept forgetting who was who. Place names, street names, district names were also all in Spanish. Spanish words were thrown in the book here and there. I don't speak Spanish so it was difficult for me to follow the plot. I tried to find a map to determine where each locale was at but couldn't find the right map. Location seemed important when cities are culturally divided in half, i.e., one part Spanish and one part Morrocan.

There was much writing about the current state of political affairs in Spain and in the EU. Since I am totally unfamiliar with their politics I kept wondering what part of it was true, if any. I didn't know what to believe. In essence, my lack of knowledge about Spain and various EU political departments made it hard to follow the story. The author presumes the reader can follow along. The mystery part of the book did begin moving around page 125 but the above problems handicapped my ability to understand the book. Each time the story started moving for me the author threw in a Spanish word and I could not understand the sentence. It was frustrating.

The author grew up in the UK and lived in Spain for several years so I believe that this book was written for Europeans. Also, I have to wonder if it would have been an easier read if I had begun reading the series with the first book.  I became so frustrated with the book I skipped about 100 pages to get to the end just to find out why the boy was killed. I still don't know due to the Spanish words that were occasionally used.

I don't quite know how to rate the book. It might be a great book for someone who speaks Spanish and is familiar with Spain. For me, it was a 0. Yes, 0 out of 5 stars. My first 0 rated book. 

Broken Bone China

Broken Bone China is the 20th Indigo Tea Shop Mystery by Laura Childs. The series takes place in Charleston, North Carolina with three main characters. Theodosia Browning is the amateur sleuth of the series. She owns the Indigo Tea Shop. Drayton Conneley is Theo's tea master and together they go on fact finding sleuthing trips. Haley is the third main character. She is the cook and pastry chef for the Indigo Tea Shop. She mainly provides emotional support for the other two because she is busy running the tea shop while Theo and Drayton are running around town.  However, every once in a while Haley has helpful information that will solve the crime.

This story begins with the crime. Theo and Drayton are riding in a hot air balloon with the Top Flight Balloon Club when they spot a drone hovering over each balloon before it rams itself into one balloon, falling to the ground onto Theo's table and crushing her pink bone china cups. The Indigo Tea Shop had been hired to serve tea and pastries to the guests of the Balloon Club. However, after all four people inside the balloon were killed, the police were called and the party was over.

The next day a fellow Charleston business owner, antiques dealer Tod Slawson, arrives at the Indigo Tea Shop to talk about the balloon disaster. He called it a murder as victim Don Kingsley was selling a remnant of the American Revolutionary War, the "don't tread on me" flag. Two of the bidders for the flag were in the balloon with him and also killed. Slawson was bidding on the flag himself but the flag is now missing from Kingsley's home. The following day another Charleston business owner arrived. Angie Congdon asked Theodosia for her help in clearing her fiance's name in this crime. Harold Affolter worked for Kingsley's company and had been a whistleblower at the company. Harold also owned a drone.

Theo begins her investigation by visiting Kingsley's widow, who is happy as can be, and then Kingsley's assistant at the office, who cannot explain why he spent so much time at Kingsley's second home after the murder. However, this was just the beginning of an intricately plotted mystery. Every event and person mentioned was present for a purpose. This is vastly different from the past few books in the series where I think the author got sloppy in her writing due to the need to publish three books a year for three different series that she is currently writing. I am delighted that this series is back on track as I have loved it from the first book.

Even the special occasion tea events at the tea shop advanced the plot. This book had a Nancy Drew Tea and a Beaux Art Tea wherein the reader learned about the Nancy Drew books and beaux art (fine art) as well as the actual teas that were paired with the foods that were served at the events. I always enjoy reading about the tea. Drayton, as tea master for the shop, created teas for these events. This part of the book is fiction as there is no such thing as a tea master but Drayton's job seems believable in the world of cozies.

The setting of historic downtown Charleston is prominent in each book in the series and I feel that it should be considered a character too.  It's history, architecture and wealthy eccentric residents provide an interesting backdrop to these stories. Recipes for sweets made by Haley are given at the end of the book as are some suggestions by the author on how to host several special occasion tea events yourself.

Laura Childs made a great comeback with Broken Bone China. 5 out of 5 stars!!!

The Bengal Identity

The Bengal Identity is the 2nd book in the Cat Groomer Series by Eileen Watkins. It is the first book that I have read in the series though. The main character is Cassie McGlone who owns a cat grooming shop in Chadwick, New Jersey called Cassie's Comfy Cats.  Cassie has a degree in psychology and has had training in animal behavior and grooming. This cat mystery series is different from all others. While a different cat breed will be profiled in each book, the cats do not have special powers that help solve crimes. Cassie is the amateur sleuth of the series, not the cats.

The story opens with a new customer named Rudy Pierson coming in to Cassie's Comfy Cats asking to board his cat for a few days because his house just burned to the ground. Cassie was suspicious about his story because she had not heard about a fire on the news, his behavior was frantic and he said his cat only ate natural food and liked walking outside on a full face leash.  After agreeing to board the cat Cassie and her assistant Sarah noticed the cat Ayesha had matted hair and tried combing it out. That was not working so they gave her a bath, which did not bother her in the least. Brown dye came off of her fur in the bath and Cassie noticed Ayesha had fur that was marked with rosettes. Cassie discussed the unusual fur pattern with her boyfriend Dr. Mark Coccia, Chadwick's local veterinarian. He suspected the cat was a rare Bengal pedigreed cat. They both wondered if Pierson stole the cat since the cat's fur had been dyed to hide its identity and they suspected that he would try to sell it for thousands of dollars.

A few days later Cassie saw an article on the local news showing the dead body of an unidentified person who had died in a car accident. The face belonged to Rudy Pierson. Cassie went to the local police station to report her contact with Pierson.

There were many more twists, turns and red herrings in this adorable, well plotted cozy mystery.  The pace was quick which made the story a fast read. I was captivated by the plot and read the book in one sitting.  It has been some time since I have read a perfectly written mystery, true to the mystery formula. The Bengal Identity was a delightful surprise.

The Cassie and Mark characters have perfect professional backgrounds to work together to solve clues about cat breeds. The author chose their professions well and made this cozy series more believable by the choices she made.  I also think the author came up with a great idea for a cat mystery series. Usually the cat is the sleuth in a cat mystery series which requires a suspension of belief too far for me to travel. By having the cats as the potential victims she has created a way to celebrate the cats but not get too ridiculous. I also enjoyed reading about the Bengal breed. I assume that facts about whatever breed is featured in a story will be a regular feature in each book in the series.

I loved this book and happened to find it at the library by accident. While I was waiting for a librarian to locate a book that I had on hold, this book was staring at me on the closest shelf of books.  I got lucky here.

5 out of 5 stars!