Wrap-Up of the 2022 Calendar of Crime Challenge

When I signed up for this challenge a year ago, I agreed to read 12 books, one for each month of the year. The challenge was to read a mystery that took place in the given month, was published in that month or was the author's birth month. I selected books that had holidays taking place in each month.  However, I got bogged down in reading and slowed down in October. I was only able to read 10 books for the challenge.

Double Blind by Sara Winokur

Valentine by Tom Savage

Easter Bonnet Murder by Leslie Meier

A Catered St. Patrick's Day by Isis Crawford

Mother's Day Murder by Leslie Meier

Father's Day Murder by Leslie Meier

Star Spangled Murder by Leslie Meier

Dark August by Katie Tallo

The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart

Thanksgiving by Janet Evanovich

Favorite Book:  The Butcher and the Wren

2nd Favorite Book:  Valentine

Least Favorite Book:  Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was published in 1988 and is a romantic mystery novel. I was not able to finish the book though. The writing read like a primer for kids just learning how to read. It reminded me of those old Dick and Jane books that my generation grew up on. Yes, this is a severe criticism but the suspension of belief was too far for me to go. Girl meets boy. Girl brings boy's rabbit to his home and then stays there alone after a new mother drops off her infant and boy leaves for work.

I selected the book for the Calendar of Crime Challenge. However, I am not sure whether there was any mystery element to the plot. Given that Janet Evanovich wrote Thanksgiving, I expected a mystery. This is the first book that I read in 2022 that I didn't like and didn't finish. I guess that makes 2022 a successful year for my reading. 

No rating.

The Butcher and the Wren

The Butcher and the Wren is Alaina Urquhart's debut novel. Her day job as an autopsy technician certainly was helpful for her in writing this fantastic psychological thriller. I was completely engrossed in the book from the first chapter.

The publisher's summary:

"Something dark is lurking in the Louisiana bayou: a methodical killer with a penchant for medical experimentation is hard at work completing his most harrowing crime yet, taunting the authorities who desperately try to catch up.

But forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller is the best there is. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of historical crimes, and years of experience working in the Medical Examiner's office, she's never encountered a case she couldn't solve. Until now. Case after case is piling up in Wren's examination table and soon she is sucked into an all consuming cat and mouse chase with a brutal murderer getting more brazen by the day."

This is a fast paced plot driven story that takes place in Louisiana. Here there are plenty of good places to stash a dead body. They can be hidden in tall grass by the water's edge or next to exposed tree roots. The variety of these places provide different decomposition times which could confuse a medical examiner not as experienced as Dr. Muller.

The serial killer and Wren Muller characters are well developed. We read more about the serial killer's background than Muller, who is the protagonist. He has a data entry day job but also attends medical school at Tulane. Because of his busy schedule he can only "work" on weekends. He always leaves different calling cards when he dumps a body in order to confuse the police. I liked him as a character. Wren is the perfect sleuth. She has the educational background and employment experience to conduct forensic investigations and would be great as a series protagonist. There is a side to her personality that could make her character a little softer. She was a crime victim herself. I don't know if the author plans on this being a series but I hope so. 

Mystery lovers will definitely want to read this book. 5 out of 5 stars!

Dark August

I chose this book for my August entry in the Calendar of Crime Reading Challenge.  The author is a successful screenwriter and this is her debut novel. I am a little confused, though, about the publication date of her next book Poison Lilies. It was published in Canada on May 22, 2022 while Dark August was published on June 30, 2022. Why is Dark August her debut novel? Is it a debut novel in the U. S.?  

The publisher's summary:

Augusta (Gus) Monet is living an aimless existence with her grifter boyfriend when she learns that her great grandmother—her last living relative—has just died. Ditching her boyfriend, Gus returns to the home she left as a young girl. Her inheritance turns out to be a dilapidated house and an old dog named Levi. While combing through her great grandmother’s possessions, Gus stumbles across an old trunk filled with long-lost childhood belongings. But that’s not all the trunk contains. She also discovers cold case files that belonged to her mother, a disgraced police detective who died in a car accident when Gus was eight. Gus remembers her mother obsessing over these very same documents and photographs, especially a Polaroid of a young ballerina.

When Gus spots a front-page news story about the unearthing of a body linked to one of the cold case files from her childhood trunk, she can’t resist following her mother’s clues. As she digs deeper, determined to finish her mother’s investigation, her search leads her to a deserted ghost town, which was left abandoned when the residents fled after a horrific fire. As Gus’ obsession with the case grows, she inadvertently stirs up the evils of the past, putting her life in danger. But Gus is undeterred and is committed to uncovering long-buried secrets, including the secrets surrounding a missing geology student, the young ballerina in the Polaroid, a prominent family’s devastating legacy, and a toxic blast that blew an entire town off the map. 

But is Gus ready to learn the truths that culminated on one terrible August night, more than a decade earlier, when lives were taken, and secrets were presumed buried forever…? 

I loved this novel! It is a tightly paced, engrossing mystery with a captivating cast of characters. Gus is a fantastic female investigator so I hope that this book will become a series. She is a strong enough character who can anchor a series. The plot was pretty amazing as well. It had a couple of huge surprises that floored me. In fact, there is absolutely nothing negative that I can say about the story. It is the perfect mystery. The Ontario, Canada setting felt somewhat international to me because I am not Canadian and I would love to continue to read stories set here.

I am rating this book way over 5 out of 5 stars!  Mystery fans are definately going to want to read this one.

Star Spangled Murder

After beginning Star Spangled Murder, I thought I might have read it before. The first 50 pages sounded familiar. I searched for the book among my blog posts but didn't find it. Then I searched my Librarything account. Nothing there either. To further confuse me was the prologue titled Fourth of July Murder. I was convinced that I had read this book before. I even googled Leslie Meier's book list thinking that maybe this was a book that was retitled. It wasn't. I am guessing that having read 4 of Meier's books this year has left me numb. They all begin the same way and I can no longer differentiate between them.

Star Spangled Murder begins with Lucy Stone's dog Kudo killing her neighbor Prudence Pratt's chickens in their Tinker's Cove, Maine neighborhood. Kudo has a habit of getting out of the house and running wild through the neighborhood. The story then switches to a group of nudists who are skinny dipping in the pond that borders Pratt's property. In addition, the local lobstermen are upset about poachers and wonder whether Pratt's husband and son are guilty. Then next thing that happens is that the fourth of july fireworks are canceled by the town in order to protect purple spotted lichen, a rare species. A huge suspension of belief is necessary to follow this series but canceling fireworks to save the lichen is too far for me to go. Is one night of fireworks going to destroy the flora and fauna of Tinker's Cove? No. 

I was happy when I read that Mrs. Pratt had died. She is that always complaining, nosy neighbor that we all have had at some point in our lives. It didn't matter to me who killed her, just that someone did.  She is probably the best villain that the series has ever had. She wanted Kudo to be euthanized and even though she thought the nudists were immoral, she watched them sunbathe with her binoculars. 

A disappointing read. No rating.

Father's Day Murder

I expected to be returning back to Tinker's Cove, Maine for the fourth time this year for my June selection in the Calendar of Crime Reading Challenge. However, this installment of the Lucy Stone series takes place in Boston. Here we have Lucy traveling to Boston for a newspaper conference the week before Father's Day. As would be expected in a cozy mystery, someone at the conference is murdered. This time it was the newspaperman of the year Luther Read. The suspected cause of death was a new one for the series, an asthma attack. Since I have asthma myself, I knew exactly where the story was going. Other new aspects to the plot were that Lucy did not have any conflicts with law enforcement officers investigating the murder and none of her family members or friends were suspects. It's always good to see a series author keep the writing fresh with changes in the writing formula but it can easily go bad. This was not the case with the Father's Day Murder. My only issue with the book was that Lucy's family life took up too many pages in the novel. They were not pertinent to the plot so why were they there? In the other cozy mysteries that I follow, character development is worked into the plot action. While many of Meier's readers prefer to read about Lucy's family, I am not one of them. 

3 out of 5 stars.

Mother's Day Murder

Mother's Day Murder is the 10th Lucy Stone cozy mystery by Leslie Meier. She has currently published 34 books in the series. In the past when I have reviewed the Meier books that I liked, I said that it was a fluke for me because the first few books of her's that I read did not appeal to me.  I must reevaluate those statements. I have thoroughly enjoyed the past 3 books that I have read and it isn't a fluke.  I guess I just did not like those first few books.

In this installment of the series, Lucy Stone knows that the victim of a shooting murder, Tina Now, was feuding with Bar Hume over the popularity of their respective 16-year-old daughters Heather and Ashley. Tinker's Cove is still reeling from the disappearance 10 months earlier of a teen youth counselor, and Bar's arrest is almost as shocking. In digging for answers regarding the alleged killer mom, Lucy uncovers some awful revelations about Bart Hume, Bar's philandering cardiac surgeon husband. However, his mistress is killed in a suspicious car accident. Lucy and her teenage daughter Sara become caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

The story delves into a few social issues, such as controlling parents, gun control and bullying. The author is not preaching here but allows the use of current affairs in her writing. It worked well for this book. The first clue to the identity of the perpetrator of the crime was introduced at the midway point. My guess concerning whodunnit turned out to be correct. However, I still enjoyed the read. 

4 out of 5 stars. 

The Easter Bonnet Murder

The Easter Bonnet Murder is Leslie Meier's 35th Lucy Stone cozy mystery. The series takes place in Tinker's Cove, Maine during the current era. In this installment of the series the town's retired librarian, centenarian Julia Tilley is recuperating from an illness in a senior facility that is known to be the best in the area, Heritage House. However, it soon becomes apparent that it isn't all that great there. 71 year old Agnes Neal goes missing from the assisting living section of the facility right before it's annual Easter bonnet contest. Not many people are concerned about Agnes because she was allowed to come and go as she pleased from her apartment. Also, Agnes was a former international journalist with an active mind. Some folks felt threatened by her eye for details and her lack of interest in following the rules that her caretakers set for her at Heritage House and for some reason, the police are stalling the investigation into her disappearance. Lucy, a part time reporter for the local newspaper, after being contacted by Agnes's daughter Geri Mazzoni, decides to begin her own investigation into Agnes's disappearance. 

This story is one of my favorites from the series. It reads like a straight murder mystery. Only the characters necessary to solving the crime are mentioned in the story. Lucy's husband and children are not involved which for me was a plus. They never have much to do with the crimes Lucy is solving but have taken up alot of space in earlier books in the series. I especially loved the Agnes character. While she was dead from page one, what we learn about her career is fascinating. As a journalist Agnes covered several wars before retiring in Tinker's Cove where her daughter lived.

The usual Tinker's Cove setting descriptions were avoided as the retirement home setting took precedence. I preferred it. In the past I have always gotten bogged down in setting details that didn't interest me. Small town Maine is not one of my favorite places. By giving the retirement home all the space it needed for the provision of red herrings and plot twists, the author has given us a complex, contemporary cozy mystery.

5 out of 5 stars.

A Catered St. Patrick's Day

I selected this book for the Calendar of Crime Challenge. It is a culinary cozy mystery that was published in 2012. I have not read any book in the series before and had no expectations, either good or bad, for the book. Unfortunately, I didn't like it much.

The story opens on St. Patrick's Day with sisters Bernie and Libby Simmons making pies for a customer of their bakery, A Little Taste of Heaven. After receiving a call from their brother Brandon, they leave the shop and meet him at the bar where he works, RJ's. When they arrive Brandon shows them the dead body of Mike Sweeney, a local business owner. He found the body when he came into work that morning. The boss shows up shortly thereafter and calls the police but continues to plan on opening the bar for his best business day of the year. Bernie and Libby promise their brother that they will look into the death. 

It initially was difficult to figure out the relationships between the characters. The story assumes that you know the backstory from earlier novels in the series. Also, the dialogue between the sisters was so mundane I didn't know why it was part of the story. Another problem that I had was that there was no catering job that the sisters were involved with. The title assumes that a catered event is part of the plot. The only part of the novel about the March holiday is that the murder took place on St. Patrick's Day. No clues involved the holiday. I wonder whether the author wrote a generic story and later gave it a holiday title. 

Alot of things didn't add up about this novel. Since this is the first Isis Crawford book I have read I won't be reading her in the future. 2 out of 5 stars.

Valentine

Valentine was published in 1996. It is a novel of revenge and was made into a horror/slasher movie in 2001 with superstars Katherine Heigl and Denise Richards playing parts. Valentine is a tightly woven suspense story with a jaw dropping ending. I did not see this one coming and I cannot remember being this surprised by an ending before. In fact, I had to go back a few pages to confirm that the ending I read was correct. I just couldn't believe it.

The publisher's summary:

Jillian Talbot has it all: a beautiful home in New York's Greenwich Village, a string of bestselling suspense novels, and a handsome and adoring lover. She has something else too.  A silent stalker. A secret admirer who sends her pink, heart shaped messages with an unmistakable threat in blood red letters. His motives are as cryptic as the name he goes by:  Valentine. But his intentions are deadly clear. He has watched other women in the past, and he has killed them. Now he's ready to add Jillian to the list, to carry out the punishment he has chosen for her, retribution for a long-ago crime that only he remembers. For Valentine, vengeance will be complete. For Jill Talbot, the terror has just begun. Wherever she runs, he will find her. And soon she will meet him on his terrible day of judgment. His triumphant day. Her darkest day.  Valentine's Day. 

I was hooked on this story from the get go. The plot premise is about a nasty practical joke that went wrong and the long time repercussions of the joke. I would not say that the book is a horror/slasher novel as the movie turned out to be. It is a novel of terror, suspense and a psychological thriller all rolled into one glorious story. The chapters alternated the point of view from Jillian to the killer. It was impossible to figure out the identity of the killer until the author tells us his name late in the story. Not wanting to be a spoiler, I am refraining from telling you more about the plot. Just take note that Valentine is a must read.

I cannot imagine that any other book that I end up reading this year can top this one. 10 out of 5 stars!

Double Blind

Double Blind is Sara Winokur's debut novel. Although she lives in California, this story takes place in Iceland during the 1990s. We have a young boy here, Lukas, who disappears in North Iceland. Twenty years later a mysterious poem lands on the desk of his twin sister Brynja, a forensic geneticist. The poem hints that Lukas may have never died. Brynja job is to work with the police using DNA research to catch criminals. The finding of the poem rekindles her hopes that her brother might be found and found alive. As Brynja unravels the clues, more poems arrive, each bearing dire consequences. 

Double Blind has many different components.  We read about old manuscripts, Icelandic myths, DNA forensics, Icelandic birds, farming, fishing, recipes and a touch of megalomiania.  There is even some romance as Brynja is engaged to Ari, Iceland's prime minister.  The medieval Icelandic Sagas are also part of this story as one of them is scheduled to be displayed for the country's independence celebration.  It seems like everything but the kitchen sink is part of the plot. However, these parts all blend well together.  

Being interested in medieval manuscripts, this story was right up my alley. Iron gall ink was used to make the ink that the words were handwritten with. In one of my classes on ancient manuscripts we had to make ink the old fashioned way and stirred up our own iron gall ink.  It's amazing to me that it was used by ancient scribes as well as modern scribes up until the early twentieth century. A few other components of ancient manuscripts were discussed in the story, which thrilled me. Another aspect to the investigation was the specific style of writing that Icelandic poets used. The poems that Brynja received were different though, adding more to the mystery. Ancient recipes for poisons add yet another layer to the mystery.

In the beginning of the story it seemed like the death of Lukas and the manuscript plotlines could not be intertwined. However, they were and the author also showed her expertise in RNA and DNA matching. The reader learns more about RNA but the information was written in layman's terms. I found it all fascinating. As the plot progresses we see Brinja's co-workers poisoned from eating sweets that are delivered to the office. Clues to the location of her brother are written on the paper used to wrap the sweets in.

Double Blind is unputdownable.  I highly recommend it for mystery fans.  5 out of 5 stars.

2022 Calendar of Crime Reading Challenge

I am signing up again for the Calendar of Crime Challenge.  It was a fun challenge this year and I found a few new authors to read. The challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2022. All books should be read during this time period.  You can sign up at any time. All books must be mysteries. Humor, romance, supernatural elements (etc.) are all welcome, but the books must be mysteries/crime/detective novels first. Twelve books, one representing each month, are required for a complete challenge.

Books may only count for one month and one category, but they may count for other challenges.  If it could fulfill more than one category or month, then you are welcome to change it at any time prior to the final wrap-up. Books do not have to be read during the month for which they qualify. So, if you're feeling like a little "Christmas in July" (or May or...), then feel free to read your book for December whenever the mood strikes.

To claim a book, it must fit one of the categories for the month you wish to fulfill. Unless otherwise specified, the category is fulfilled within the actual story. for instance, if you are claiming the book for December and want to use "Christmas" as the category, then Christmas figure in some in the plot. Did someone poison the plum pudding? Did Great-Uncle Whozit invite all the family home for Christmas so he could tell them he plans to change his will?

The "wild card" book is exactly that. If July is your birth month (as mine is), then for category #9 you may read any mystery book you want. It does not have to connect with July in any way--other than a July baby chose it. The other eleven months, you must do the alternate category #9 if you want to fulfill that slot.

A wrap-up post/comment/email will be requested that should include a list of books read and what category they fulfilled.