Menorca Sketchbook

The Menorca Sketchbook is Graham Byfield's newest watercolor travelogue by Talisman Publishing. He is an English watercolor artist who summers in Menorca where he owns his own gallery. As with all the watercolor travelogues published by Talisman, the paper that the book is printed on is actual watercolor paper. This enhances the appearance of the drawings, making them look like original drawings. The publisher also uses a font that looks like handwriting for the descriptions of the drawings, which gives their books an arty feel. In addition, the travelogue shows Menorca by neighborhood, with some written material about it. Here, we have drawings of architecture and parks in Mahon, Cindadela, various villages, the countryside and the coast.

This sketchbook is different from Byfield's earlier sketchbooks in that there are only four full page drawings. Usually these types of books predominantly contain full page or double page drawings. I was disappointed that most of them have three to four drawings per page. For me, it is harder to see the detail in a small drawing. Byfield's style is somewhat loose, compared to other watercolor travelogue artists. However, with the written material on each neighborhood it is easy to figure out where everything is located on the island.  

While Menorca has been on my bucket list for years, this travelogue is not inspiring me to push it up my list.  It does not look as inviting as other places that Byfield has drawn, such as Cambridge. The Cambridge Sketchbook is my favorite of all of them.  

3 out of 5 stars.

The Tenant

OMG!  I think The Tenant is the best book I have read this year. Advertised as a suspense novel, that is quite an understatement. Suspense exuded not only from every page but from every sentence.  The story begins with landlord Alex Mason painting one of the units in his luxury apartment complex in Philadelphia. He hopes to rent it quickly when he is approached by Stephanie Winters, a woman who works for a U. S. senator.  Alex signs a lease with her without checking her background references or employer. Big mistake. Soon another tenant's cat is found dead and dismembered on their doorstep. Then yet another tenant is murdered in his home.  Alex believes that Stephanie is the culprit in these incidences. Hindered by state laws giving tenants plenty of legal rights, Alex begins to investigate his tenant after she threatens his family. 

This book reminded me of Apartment 6 which I read last year.  It was written in Hitchcock style. The tension began with the first chapter and continued through to an unexpected ending. I loved it. Stephanie's past history explained her behavior but it was just as interesting as what she was doing in the plot. She would make an awesome character for a crime series. Alex was timid for a landlord. I have never had one myself that did not care if a tenant broke the rules. To be more believable, Alex should have been a screaming bastard. However, he needed to be unsuspecting for this spectacular plot to work.

10 out of 5 stars!

The French House

This historical fiction novel had me spellbound from the first page. The story is about Nicole Ponsardin who marries into the Clicquot family and becomes the Widow Clicquot of France's champagne fame. The champagne is actually called Veuve Clicquot. Veuve means widow. It is the best in the world and the only kind I buy. It was exciting to find out after I began the book that it was about her.  

The publisher's summary:

"Reims, France, 1805.  Looking back at the crumbling house hidden away in the vineyards, the sound of her daughter's laughter carrying on the breeze, Nicole plucks a perfect red grape and is reminded her life will never be the same. With her husband gone, her troubles are hers alone.

For grieving Nicole Clicquot, saving the vineyards her husband left behind is her one chance to keep a roof over her head and provide a future for her little girl.  She ignores the gossips who insist the fields are no place for a women: but one day, buying fresh croissants at the boulangerie, Nicole is shocked to hear a rumor about her husband.  They say he died with a terrible secret.  One that brings disgrace on Nicole and turns the whole town against her.

Heartbroken, her reputation in tatters, and full of questions no one can answer, Nicole turns to her husband's oldest friend, traveling merchant Louis.  His warm smile and kind advice seem to melt her troubles away.  And as they taste her first golden wine of the season and look out over the endless rolling hills, Nicole starts to believe that she can turn her fortunes around, and be welcomed back into the local community. 

But when Louis avoids her after a long trip abroad, Nicole sees he has secrets of his own...and just as she doubts if he's on her side, she realizes how her feelings for him had grown.  Desperately torn between her head and her heart, Nicole works day and night on a plan for her future: but to save her home and her little daughter from ruin, she must risk everything."

 

I had heard several years ago the Madame Clicquot had an incredible life story.  I did not know why but it prompted me to buy Tilar Mazzeo's The Widow Clicquot, a non-fiction account of her life.  While I haven't yet read it, I now cannot wait to start it.

If you love drinking champagne you are going to love this book. Just reading about the growing of the grapes is enticing. Nicole is an unusual heroine for her time. She pursued owning and operating her "home business" during an era when women did not work. She learned to be just as ruthless as the men in her pursuit of the perfect wine and also in sales. Nicole was a big risk taker, necessary to be successful in any business in any era. Always the subject of nasty gossip, Nicole just ignored it and never let it get her down. Her eyes were always on the prize: her vineyards. An entrepreneur needs to have these traits in order to succeed. 

I was surprised that Paris was viewed by most of the characters as a dirty city filled with nasty people while Reims was viewed as paradise on earth. The scenes that occur in Paris portray its extreme wealth but with that nasty sewer smell too. The fact that most of the characters were farmers explains their preferred city. They could smell the dirt in which their grapes were growing. I guess after a few years harvesting grapes you get accustomed to the "fragrance de terroir." 

While the setting was prominent, this is really a book about growing a business. All of the hurdles that Nicole found herself dealing with had to do with the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. It is much more than a historical biography. 5 out of 5 stars.

Thin Air

Thin Air was published in 2014 and is part of Ann Cleeves' Shetland Island Mystery Series. It has been made into a hit TV show in Britain. While I have read 2 other books in the series with limited fervor, this novel is probably the best one that I have read. The book was selected for the Monthly Key Word Challenge.  

In this installment of the series a group of old university friends return to Shetland in a hamefarin' to attend the wedding of one of them. Polly and Eleanor have accompanied Caroline home to wed Lowrie.  Eleanor disappears the day after the wedding. She had claimed to have seen the ghost of a local girl, Peerie Lizzy, who had drowned in the 1920s. Police inspector Jimmy Perez and Willow Reeves become involved after Eleanor's body is found. Both wonder whether Eleanor was murdered and whether the ghost of the child is a myth.  

These mysteries are all slow paced. Thin Air is not different in that respect. Although I feel that the pace was somewhat faster than the earlier books I read, it was bogged down in setting description and character dialogue. The Shetland Islands have beautiful scenery but when the reader gets too much atmosphere and not enough action, the books can be dull. In this novel, the murder investigation is at least prominent on most of the pages. Inbetween chapters about the investigation, are chapters about Perez's family life. He is the series protagonist but has never captured my attention.  

Thin Air is the last book by Ann Cleeves that I intend to read. If I need to miss meeting a reading challenge to avoid it, I will.  2 out of 5 stars.

Twisted Tea Christmas

The Twisted Tea Christmas is the 23rd installment of the Indigo Teashop Mystery series by Laura Childs.  While I have heavily criticized her writing in the past 5 years, this novel puts her back on track. It is fantastic. I always love it when the murder occurs quickly so that the rest of the book can be about the solving of the murder.  Here, we have a murder on the 5th page and is is not resolved until the second to last page.  The publisher's summary is below:

Tea maven Theodosia Browning and her tea sommelier, Drayton Connelley, are catering a Victorian Christmas party at a swanky mansion in downtown Charleston for Drucilla Hayward, one of the wealthiest women in town. As the champagne flows and the tea steeps, Drucilla is so pleased with the success of her soiree that she reveals her secret plan to Theodosia.  The grande dame has brought the cream of Charleston society together to reveal that she is planning to give her wealth away to various charitable organizations. However, before she can make the announcement, Theodosia finds her crumpled unconscious in the hallway. It looks like the excitement has gotten to the elderly women, but it may have been helped along by the syringe in her neck.  

I am happy that there were no cheesy statements like "the phone rang ding-a-ling-ring" and that secondary character Delaine Dish's emotions were under control.  The main change that I liked is that the murder did not occur in the same place as it did in the prior 22 books.  It was time for a change and we now have a perfectly plotted and written cozy mystery to enjoy.  There was something else new that tickled my fancy. One evening when Theodosia went to bed with a book, it was a  book written by Susan Wittig Albert!  Albert writes the China Bayles cozy mystery series. I have to wonder if Childs and Albert are friends.

The Charleston setting was a good choice to place the series in.  It has marvelous architecture, fairly nice weather and history galore.  It gives the writer alot to work with when creating atmosphere. The main characters are Theodosia, Drayton and police investigator Burt Tidwell.  These characters have grown over the years but in Twisted Tea Christmas they do not have growth, they just work together to solve the murder. I loved this as I am mainly a whodunnit fan. Author Childs gives us plenty of red herrings, more than we usually have in her books. It made the novel suspenseful.  In fact, I had a hard time figuring out who committed the murder and was surprised at the ending.  

I am proud to give this book a rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Ya'll need to read this one.

The Good Death

The Good Death is the 5th book in S. D. Sykes' Somerhill Manor Mystery series. It began with Plague Land and is set in 14th Century England. The sleuth is Oswald de Lacy, a third son who was originally sent to a monastery as a child. However, he was called home to become lord of the family manor following the death of his father and two older brothers during a plague epidemic. 

In the opening of this installment of the series Lord Oswald de Lacy makes a devastating confession to his dying mother.  He is an eighteen-year-old novice monk at Kintham Abbey and had been sent to collect herbs from the forest. While there, Oswald came across a terrified village girl named Agnes Wheeler. She was terrified of him even though she knew him well and ran headlong into a river saying "stay away from me priest." She drowned. Oswald pulled her broken and bruised body from the water and returned her to the local village. Here he discovers that several other women have disappeared within the past month. A killer is on the loose but because all of the missing women came from impoverished families nobody seemed to care. 

Oswald vows to find this killer himself but as the plague approaches, his tutor, Brother Peter, insists they stay inside the monastery.  Oswald instead seeks out the women of the village for help, particularly the beautiful Maud Woodstock, a woman who provokes strong emotions in him. As he closes in on the killer, Oswald makes a discovery that is so utterly shocking that it threatens to destroy him and his family.

If you haven't read any of the earlier books in the series you may not want to begin with this novel. It has an alternating plot that spans 20 years between 1347 and 1370. New readers may not be able to pick up the action from 1347 without knowing the characters well. It makes sense that with the 5th book in the series this would happen. The reason for the alternating plot concerns Oswald's dying mother in 1370. She is in possession of a letter from him written in 1349 when they were dealing with the Black Death. She needs an explanation from her son about those events so that she can forgive him of any sins he may have committed against her and obtain a good death.

That said, The Good Death is another perfectly plotted and written medieval mystery from Ms. Sykes. While we get a nice resolution of the murder itself, the ending also provides a shocking accusation from Oswald's mother over all the actions he has taken throughout his life. It was unexpected as it didn't relate to the murder mystery. I expect that the next novel in the series will expand upon this. I can't wait!

5 our of 5 stars.

Book of the Month: October

My best book for this month is Susan Wittig Albert's Hemlock. It is a cozy mystery that normally takes place in Pecan Springs, TX. However, Albert has sent her protagonist to the east coast to assist a librarian friend in locating a missing rare book titled A Curious Herbal. I have found that when a series author changes the setting, that the book is not as good as usual. Here we have a great example of how to change setting and still have an interesting novel. I was also impressed with the addition of an alternating plot in Hemlock. Again, Albert has not done this before but she wrote a fascinating tale about a fifteenth century women, Elizabeth Blackwell, who wrote a book containing drawings of over 500 herbs and plants that apothecaries used to treat people. The book had vanished from its locked display case in the library of Hemlock House in the North Caroline mountains. I thought that the fifteenth century plot was more interesting than the current era story. Hemlock is a cozy, art theft mystery and historical fiction all rolled in to one novel. It was superb!

A Tapestry of Light

I have always loved India fiction. A Tapestry of Light is another great addition to this genre.  Most of the books in this genre that I have seen concern the historical periods of the British Raj and Partition.  Some of them are stories about modern women.  It would be nice to read a novel about the mughal period and I wonder whether any writer has written about this time period.

Back to the book. A Tapestry of Light begins in Calcutta in 1866. Ottilie Russell has a British father and an Indian mother and does not belong to either society. She, and others like her, were referred to as Eurasian. After Ottilie's mother Maji dies, she begins to take work embroidering gowns for the elite with beetle wing embroidery in order to support her younger brother Thaddeus and her grandmother Nani. This type of embroidery was passed down to her from generations of Indian women before her.  She was an expert at it and was able to make a living from it. A few months later a stranger named Everett Scott walked into her home to advise the family that Thaddeus had inherited the Baroncy of Sunderland in England.  Scott traveled to India in order to take Thaddeus to England. Ottilie refuses to allow Thaddeus to leave and is aghast that she is learning for the first time about her father's family. Eventually Ottilie agrees to let Thaddeus travel to England but only if she is allowed to go with him. However, life is not easy for any of them in England because Thaddeus appears to be white, Ottilie looks like an Indian.

I LOVED this novel! I particularly liked the India setting. It has warm weather, great food and   colorful clothing. I could picture in my mind the saris that Ottilie wore. I am a fan of them. England, however, is cold and grey just like the city I live in so it is not appealing to me. The characters were interesting, even the secondary characters. Ottilie is a great protagonist.  As a half-breed, she has conflicted views about her ancestry but feels more Indian than English.  Her mother taught her to be proud of her Indian ancestry and encouraged the Christian faith to which both of her parents subscribed. Ottilie's mother Maji was a main character early in the novel but after she died, Maji's mother Nani became more prominent. Ottilie remembers the advice she received from both of them as she went through life dealing with her loves, neighbors and business associates.  Everett Scott was an interesting character too. He does not have a pristine ancestry either but he is willing to talk about it honestly. I have never read about a character in his position who didn't try to hide the unsavory bits of their family history. Usually, at least in India fiction, they try to be just like the elites of society, hoping to fit in.

This was the first book written by Kimberly Duffy that I have read.  I am impressed and look forward to reading her earlier novels.  5 out of 5 stars.

The Beginning

It has always amazed me how Beverly Lewis can continue to come up with great stories to tell.  41 adult fiction novels has not slowed down her imagination. The Beginning is another one that is especially poignant. While her readers will expect a romance story that always ends well, the reason for the title has nothing to do with courting and marriage. I won't be a spoiler. You will want to read the book to find out.

The story begins with Susie Mast wondering if she will ever have any boy interested enough in her to want to marry her. She hopes that Obie Yoder has romantic feelings for her but she never expresses her feelings to him.  Suffering from the death of her brother several years earlier, Susie has found that the best way to cope is to keep busy. She is always cleaning, working in her mother's store or selling her family tree embroideries. She rarely relaxes or socializes. Susie's mother, Aquilla, has been in declining health since the death of her husband and son in an auto accident. Her adopted sister, Britta, is a big help to her with chores but has begun to ask alot of questions about her birth parents. Susie knows a little about Britta's past but is afraid to tell her anything about her adoption.  She fears more loss will occur if Britta gets the answers she is seeking.  

The Beginning is one of my favorite books that Lewis has written. The ending gathers and clarifies all the loose ends written in to the story.  While I haven't read all of her books, this type of ending seemed more complex than the ones that I have previously read.  It made the book much more satisfying than the usual girl finally gets the boy.  The wisdom issued from the lips of the elderly women in this Amish district was amazing and the foods the ladies prepared made me hungry.  I ended up ordering in on the day that I read the book.  If there is anything unusual about the story  it was how often they made tea. Someone was making tea on almost every page. The characters must have spent alot of time in the outhouse.

Beverly Lewis is the reason that I read Amish fiction.  She is the gold standard for these types of stories and I highly recommend this novel.  5 out of 5 stars.

Home

I have just read Home #1 through #5 and it is fantastic. It is the story of a mother and son who leave Guatemala on foot and enter the U. S. illegally. Mercedes Gomez and eight year old Juan do not speak English and are surprised to find out the there is a new American president who has closed the border. When they left Guatemala two weeks prior, Obama was still the president. President Trump immediately changed the rules concerning immigration when he took office but Mercedes did not know about the rule changes. Throughout their first 2 weeks in America they were held in "the cage" as it was called. Later Juan was taken away and held with other kids. Shortly thereafter he was bussed to another location. Mercedes did not know where her son was taken and offered to return to Guatemala if she could get Juan back. However, she was told that it was too late. 

While this story was sad, it has its positive moments. Soon after arriving in the US, Juan discovers that he has supernatural powers. While living with an aunt he begins to learn how to control his power. When Juan finds out that his mother will be deported, his powers get out of control again and bring devastation to . . . I'm not going to tell you. If you haven't read this comic series yet, you need to get it ASAP. It is a great story.

Covid Chronicles

Covid Chronicles is an anthology of short comic strips by 65 cartoonists about the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is serious material and sometimes seemed to be too dark for my taste. However, it is important to have this snapshot of life in this pandemic for future generations. We read about working from home frivolity, teaching kids at home, relatives dying, empty grocery shelves and lots of drawings of people dead in their beds. The only other comic anthology that I can remember being similar to Covid Chronicles is A Fire Story edited by Brian Fies. It was also hard to read. A Fire Story was an anthology of comic strips about the Northern California wildfires in 2017. Both books are filled with overwhelming negative emotions that the reader needs to take a breather while reading them.

Stacking the Shelves #9

I am on vacation for the rest of October and wanted to pick up more historical novels by Edward Rutherford. His China was fabulous. Sadly, I could only find one of them at my local bookstore.  London is a wonderful 1,126 pages long and I am happy that I was able to get it.  The book is an epic saga of the city of London that spans 2,000 years, from the era of Julius Caesar to the 20th century. Many generations of six families are showcased here.

I also went to my public library and found several books that I have been waiting all year to be published.  Laura Childs' Twisted Tea Christmas is the latest installment of her Indigo Teashop Mysteries. S. D. Sykes' 5th book in her medieval mystery series is titled The Good Death.  The Widow Queen by Elzbieta Cherezinska gives us a historical look at Polish Queen Swietoslawa. It will be refreshing to read a historical novel that doesn't take place in the big three: England, France and Italy.  

Which one to start with?  The chunkster London.

One Night in Tehran

One Night in Tehran is the first book in Luana Ehrlich's Titus Ray spy thriller series. It was published i 2014 and now consists of 8 novels.  What makes this book different is that the main character is a new Christian.  While he tries to live the Christian lifestyle, the book has a spy thriller feel not a Christian fiction feel. 

The publisher's summary:

"Veteran CIA officer Titus Ray - on the run from the Iranian secret police - finds shelter with a group of Iranian Christians in Tehran. While urging him to become a believer in Jesus Christ, they manage to smuggle Titus out of Iran to freedom in Turkey.  Returning to the States, he discovers his Iranian mission failed because of political infighting within the Agency.  After Titus delivers a scathing indictment against the deputy director of operations, he's forced to take a year's medical leave in Oklahoma.  Before leaving Langley, Titus learns he's been targeted by a Hezbollah assassin hired by the Iranians.  Now, while trying to figure out what it means to be a follower of Christ, he must decide if the Iranian couple he meets in Norman, Oklahoma has ties to the man who's trying to kill him, and if Nikki Saxon can be trusted with his secrets.  Can a man trained to lie and deceive live a life of faith?  Should he trust the beautiful young detective with his secrets?  Was the bullet that killed his friend meant for him?"

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There is a lot of suspense in each chapter that keeps you reading until you finish it and it certainly is a timely story.  I was expecting to see more domestic terrorism involved in the plot since it takes place in Oklahoma where the first act of domestic terrorism occurred in America. There is no link to that event though. Another aspect of the book that is different from most spy thrillers is that there is no sex or foul language. This is a clean, character driven story with awesome characters. Besides Titus, a former spook friend, Danny Jarrar, was able to leave the Agency and find a way to live the Christian life in Norman, Oklahoma. Also, the Oklahoma setting was interesting because there were so many Middle Eastern countries with operatives in the state.  I wonder whether this is true or was created by the author to bolster the spy story.  The part of the story that took place in Tehran was authentic too. 

While the main character is a Christian, this novel still reads like a daring spy thriller.  I highly recommend it to mystery fans.  5 out of 5 stars.