Agony in Amethyst

Agony in Amethyst is the 5th book in the Harriet Gordon historical cozy mystery series. The series takes place in Singapore during the 1910s. It was a fantastic finale to the series and was published last month on October 28, 2024.

The publisher's summary:

Harriet Gordon, newly settled in her new role as a teacher at a girls' school in Singapore, faces uncertainty in her budding relationship with Robert Curran, who has just returned from months in Kuala Lumpur. Curran's expected promotion turns sour when the position is given to an old adversary from his Scotland Yard days.

The arrival of the Colonial foreign secretary, Sir Henry Cunningham, revives memories of one of Curran's unresolved cases. The death of a schoolgirl at a lavish ball, hosted by the Governor in honour of the visitor, brings Curran into direct conflict with his new superior officer. When he confides his suspicions to Harriet, she inadvertently betrays his trust, threatening his already shaky career.

With their relationship on the brink of irreparable damage, a second death changes the course of the investigation. Can Harriet and Curran bring justice to a grieving family and emerge from this ordeal with their connection intact?

I loved this novel! The past of the new foreign secretary Sir Henry Cunningham is the basis for the three deaths that occur in the story.  The first death is the murder of sixteen-year-old Amelia Hardcastle while at a ball celebrating the coronation of King George and the arrival of the Cunninghams. Amelia was thrown off of a balcony while wearing a beautiful amethyst colored dress and it was initially thought to be either a suicide or an accident. However, the position of the body doesn't show suicide. Her autopsy shows injuries to her head which happened before she fell.

Sir Henry dies in his sleep a few days later. Again, the position of his body shows he probably was killed and poison becomes the leading reason for his death. The powers that be would like these deaths to be swept under the rug but Curran will not let that happen. Then Lady Cunningham's maid is killed, further intensifying Curran's investigation.

There’s also a secondary plot that involves the search for some jewel thieves that will be fraught with personal danger for Robert Curran which is a given in the series. Curran always gets injured at least once in each book in the series. The personal relationship between Harriet and Curran has been developed over the course of 5 books and reaches new heights in Agony in Amethyst. I don't want to be a spoiler but the author gives us a very satisfactory finish for these characters.

The writing is superb as usual. You have to think hard about the evidence as it is presented and wonder how the clues come together. The perpetrators are not obvious until the end of the book, mainly because there are alot of villains to choose from. Through Curran we get to see a thorough police investigation.  There are several intriguing twists to weigh in determining the whodunnit, which I was unable to figure out. 

I am sad that the author has no plans to continue this series. She made this same statement after book number 3 but we are lucky to have received books 4 and 5. She did not say that we have seen the last of the Harriet and Curran characters though. Perhaps we will see them again in the future. The author has left that possibility open. 

5 out of 5 stars.

Pike Island

Pike Island is a political mystery set in Washington DC and Minnesota. It is about a young rising congressman from Minnesota whose shadowy past threatens to end his career and his future shot at the presidency. It was published on November 1, 2024.

The publisher's summary:  

Andrew Harrison “Harry” Leonard is destined for politics. Getting his start on the Rochester City Council, he quickly rose to become the youngest representative in Congress. Now the up-and-comer from Minnesota is on the brink of something big. If all goes well, he’ll be in perfect position to aim for the presidency.

Then a postcard arrives, blank except for the name on the address: Andy Leonard. Harry hasn’t used that name since high school. Krista Walsh, Harry’s chief of staff, recognizes his old moniker, and when he dodges questions about it, she wonders what he’s trying to hide. She soon discovers the lake pictured on the postcard holds secrets too.

Krista’s investigation into Harry’s past uncovers the truth of what happened one fateful teenage summer. But as disturbing details come to light, how far will Krista go to keep Harry’s career—and her own—headed to the top?

This story is told in an alternating format with one plot dated back 20 years ago and the other in the current time period. I must admit the subplot from 20 years ago was more interesting than the present where Congressman Leonard and his staff set about covering up something he was involved in after high school graduation. Shortly after their high school graduation Harry Leonard and his three best friends went on a weeklong vacation to friend Jake Nelson's family lake house on Cedar Lake. Along with Harry, known as Andy at the time, and Jake were Ryan and Seth. This foursome had no real plans for the week other than drinking, boating and sunning. Their curiosity got the better of them when they decided to sail to Pike Island which had been uninhabited during its entire history.

Jake tells his buddies about an old abandoned mansion on the island that had been built by a wealthy man who died before he could move in. The mystery surrounding the home included lore about furniture being delivered there as well as clothing in the closets. One room had several pairs of children's shoes neatly lined up. However, the owner had never married or had kids. The teens' immaturity and drunkeness sent them to the island but they were stopped by a MN Department of Natural Resources cop who questioned them. Officer Schroeder let them go with a warning not to encroach on the island. However, they did just that and regretted it later.  

It seemed like Andy was the main character in the early plot but I feel that it was Jake. The mystery surrounding the island is revealed by him and he was in control of the vacation because the teens were lodging at his family's home. Also, his character brought us the mystery surrounding the hate mail Andy's Congressional office was receiving. Jake is furious with Andy over what Andy did on that island. Andy's actions are the basis of both subplots and it was a riveting tale that kept me reading the story.

Seth and Ryan don't play much of a role in the plot. Jake, Andy and Andy/Harry's chief of staff Krista are the prominent characters that pushed the story forward. The mystery of what happened on the island is slowly revealed by Krista’s investigation into her boss. She did some internet and library research as well as interviewing the other three teens, now adults. Her reaction to what she discovered is classic Washington. I liked her much more at the end of the book. 

I enjoyed reading this novel and am rating it 4 out of 5 stars. While the mystery was entertaining I don't feel that it is a thriller which it is advertised as being. 

An Age of Winters

An Age of Winters is a historical mystery set in Germany in 1625. The plot concerns the witch trials that occurred in Germany and the execution of those found guilty. It was published yesterday. 

The publisher's summary:

In 1625, the Franconian village of Eisbach has been plagued by disease, famine, heinous crimes, and a merciless winter. Katarin Jaspers is the maidservant to the enigmatic Reverend Zacharias Engel, appointed by Rome to cure the village of suspected diabolism and save every God-fearing soul.

Zacharias soon finds his first witch, and the public burning of a local man could spell the end of misfortune. As a sense of peace settles over the village, Katarin finds herself increasingly infatuated with Zacharias, who is a disruption to her predictable existence and a balm for her cruel past. But peace for Katarin is short-lived. Margaretha Katz—the new midwife—is seen as a rival for the reverend’s attention. Fear and recrimination reach a fever pitch when a great tragedy sets the town fully on edge.

With the walls of winter closing in around Eisbach once again, rumours flourish and villagers turn on each other. Now, no one is safe from the pyre.

The book had an interesting plot but the action was low-key. While many residents of Eisbach were accused and executed for witchcraft, there was no overriding concern to find one person responsible for the several child murders that had occurred. Everyone assumed the devil took their lives because their bodies were mutilated. We read about out one wealthy townsperson after another accused of witchcraft by those who wanted their property. Although there was no search for one villain as you would see in a typical mystery, the story kept me interested and reading even though there was no suspense ending the chapters. The historical part of the book was more prominent than the plot. Even so, I enjoyed the book despite it's dark storyline. 

4 out of 5 stars.

The Real Watergate Scandal

I have been a follower of the America's Untold Stories You Tube Channel. The channel hosts recently interviewed Geoff Shepard who wrote this book on the Watergate scandal. Shepard worked in the Nixon White House and has an intriguing viewpoint on the scandal. This book was published in 2015.

The publisher's summary:

“The system worked’—Carl Bernstein’s famous assessment of Watergate—turns out to be completely wrong. Powerful new evidence reveals that in the prosecution of the most consequential scandal in American history, virtually nothing in the justice system worked as it should.

The roles of heroes and villains in Watergate were assigned before Marine One carried Richard Nixon into exile on August 9, 1974. But Geoff Shepard’s patient and persistent research has uncovered shocking violations of ethical and legal standards by the "good guys”—including Judge John Sirica, Archibald Cox, and Leon Jaworski.

The Watergate prosecutors’ own files reveal their collusion with the federal judges who tried their cases and heard their appeals—professional misconduct so extensive that the pretense of a fair trial is now impossible to maintain.

Shepard documents that the Watergate Special Prosecution Force was an avenging army drawn from the ranks of Nixon’s most ardent partisan foes. They had the good fortune to work with judges who shared their animus or who quickly developed a taste for the media adulation showered on those who lent their power to the anti-Nixon cause.

In the end, Nixon’s fall was the result of the “smoking gun” tape recording in which he appeared to order a cover-up of the Watergate burglary. Yet in a stunning revision of the historical record, Shepard shows that that conversation, which he himself was the first to transcribe, was taken out of context and completely misunderstood—an interpretation with which Nixon’s nemesis John Dean concurs.

Crimes were committed, and an attempt was made to cover them up. But by trampling on the defendants’ right to due process, the Watergate prosecutors and judges denied the American people the assurance that justice was done and destroyed the historical reputation of an exceptionally accomplished president and administration. This book will challenge everything you think you know about the Watergate scandal.

Author Geoff Shepard believes that the Nixon resignation was a coup d'etat and that Nixon should not have had to resign the presidency. Normally I would reject such a notion as a conspiracy theory. Having lived through Watergate I believe that I know everything about it because I read many newspapers around the time that it occurred. However, since Shepard worked in the White House as a lawyer at the time of the scandal, I believe that his opinion matters. Shepard's main argument is that the judges hearing separate Watergate cases met together several times with prosecutors and colluded to bring down a president that they opposed politically. This reasoning does not ring true for me. 

Leon Jaworski and John Sirica were at the juxtaposition of the case. Leon Jaworski served as the second special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal. John Sirica,  as a D.C. District Court judge, was responsible for hearing a request by Jaworski to force Nixon to turn over evidence. Jaworski had issued a subpoena for the tapes of 64 presidential conversations to use as evidence in the criminal cases against indicted former Nixon administration officials. Sirica issued an order granting the request. Nixon refused and Jaworski followed up with an appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court and won the appeal. Nixon, with his back to the wall and having been impeached by the House of Representatives, chose to leave office.

Years later the author obtained full copies of the judicial record of each case. Inside those boxes of documents he uncovered contact between the prosecution and the Judiciary that the defendants were not aware of. It is true that if one party in a lawsuit contacts a judge, that a copy of the request to see the judge must be given to all parties and all the parties must be present together with the judge in any meeting. Also, there is alot of case law overturning convictions based on this type of due process violation. However, it happens all the time in the U. S. and usually to people no one will ever know or care about.

My question for the author is "who cares" if this happened to Nixon. Shepard acknowledges in the book that crimes were committed and that Nixon was "flawed." OK. He admits Nixon is guilty. So what if there was a technical violation of the law. It happens every day in this country and to people who are not guilty of a crime. It is hard to feel any pity for Nixon who was guilty. Not only was he guilty of several crimes but he tarnished the office of the presidency. I feel no compassion for him and reject the author’s premise that the resignation was a coup d'etat. 

Nixon resigned in order to receive a pension. If he stayed in office and was removed after a trial in the Senate, then he would lose his pension based on official misconduct. Nixon did not want to risk losing his pension. That was his decision to make. It was not forced upon him. It was not scandalous for him to choose this path and was not the "real" scandal in this matter. Therefore, I reject the author’s premise that the resignation was a scandal and a coup d'etat.

I am rating the book 3 out of 5 stars mainly because the material was not presented in chronological order. I understand what Shepard is saying because I lived through Watergate. Younger generations may not understand and will need to have the facts laid out in order.

October Reading Update

I will not be publishing any more reviews this month because I will be traveling. There are three books that will be my top priorities for November. They are selections for monthly challenges that I signed up for: the Clock Reading Challenge, the Monthly Key Word Reading and the Calendar of Crime Challenge. I will return to blogging in November.  See you soon!

Family Money

I woke up at 2 am last night and couldn't go back to sleep. I found the synopsis of Chad Zunker's Family Money on Kindle Unlimited. I loved the summary and immediately picked up a copy of it. I read the book right away. It was absolutely wonderful! 

The publisher's summary:

Alex Mahan is married to his high school sweetheart, Taylor. They have two daughters and a beautiful home, and Alex’s startup business is about to explode thanks to massive private funding from his compassionate and supportive father-in-law, Joe. With millions more to come, all is perfect—until Joe is abducted and murdered during a family trip in Mexico.

Alex’s world is about to be turned upside down. He can’t bear to tell his grieving wife why. The man they’ve both idolized has been keeping secrets. The pledged millions are nowhere to be found. The source of the original investment is a mystery, even to Joe’s financial adviser. No one, it seems, has any idea who the man they knew, loved, and trusted really was.

As Alex digs deeper into Joe’s shadowy life, the most shocking surprises are yet to come. Deadly ones, too, because every lie that Alex uncovers in Joe’s dark past puts his family in more danger.

There was so much suspense in the first chapter that I was completely hooked. This story was so, so good. Every chapter ended with a cliffhanger that kept me reading. The characters were realistic and I loved all of them, except for the two "adorable" screaming kids. Alex's thought process on how to protect his family was believable but I knew that some of his decisions would not turn out well. I could almost hear violins playing in the background as there is a Twilight Zone feel to the story. Taylor was a dull character. Her father Joe on the other hand was uber pleasant. He was such a lovely man that it was hard to believe later on in the story that he had secrets. Joe did not seem to be that kind of guy. He was solid. As Alex kept researching Joe's life he found puzzling facts and that ratcheted up the suspense a notch or two. The ending was shocking as I expected it would be given the plot. 

This is an amazing thriller. Readers of all genres will love this novel. 5 out of stars.

Art Club

Art Club Dare to Create was published on February 6, 2024. The story was inspired by the author’s own childhood and paints a picture of an aspiring young artist on a mission to prove that the arts are worth fighting for. The book was written with 8 - 12 year olds in mind and it is a graphic novel.

The publisher's summary:

Dale Donavan has heard the same lecture over and over again: Art will get you nowhere in life. A kid with a creative streak, Dale wants nothing more than to doodle, play video games, and create comics forever—maybe even as a full-time job one day. But between his grandfather pushing him to focus on his studies and a school with zero interest in funding arts programs, Dale feels like his future has already been decided for him. 

That is, until he comes up with the perfect plan: What if he starts an after-school art club, gathers a team of creative students like himself, and proves all the naysayers—his stubborn vice principal in particular—wrong? This might just work, but if the club isn’t financially successful by the end of the semester, the school with shut them down. This may be Dale’s only chance to show the adults in his life that a career as an artist is not just a dream but a possibility! 

The club doesn't get going until the halfway point in the story. The first half sets up the reason it was created as well as all of the obstacles that were put in the kids' way. The main obstacle is Mr. Ruffins, the school vice principal. He tasked the students with researching and writing a paper on a well paying career they are interested in. He hopes students will pursue math or science. Dale only likes reading comics so he takes a risk in writing his paper on the cartoonist field. This backfires on Dale but he convinces another teacher to sponsor an art club to show Ruffins that it can be profitable. If the club fails, Dale will flunk his class. 

The book teaches that there are many choices a student has to make before pursuing an art career. Dale is interested in becoming a comic book creator who does his own illustrations. Other students in the club like creating video games, drawing and fundraising. Their sponsor, Miss Jen'ae, begins with teaching the club members about different types of art and even takes them on field trips to art shows and comic conventions. Dale ultimately hopes that his school will resume teaching art classes.

Of course, there is a happy ending. Art Club is a fun read and is an ideal reading choice for a youngster interested in art. 5 out of 5 stars.

Saving Sunshine

Saving Sunshine is a graphic novel about Muslim American siblings who must learn how to stop fighting and support each other in a world that is often unkind to them. They are always being teased for having a funny sounding name or wearing a hijab. It was published in 2023 and won several awards including a Kirkus Best Book of the year and the New York Public Library Best Book for Kids for the year.

Zara and Zeeshan Aziz are twins who really can't stand each other. During a family trip to Florida where their mother received an award for best pediatrician of the year, their bickering, shoving, and insults reached new heights of chaos. As punishment, their parents sentenced them to the worst possible fate: confiscation of their cell phones and each other’s company! They are instructed to always stay together while their parents attend a medical conference. They are depressed beyond belief. Zeeshan loves to watch NASA videos on his phone while Zara takes photos of animals for her animal rescue group. However, when the twins find an ailing turtle whom Zara named Sunshine, it presents a rare opportunity for teamwork if, of course, the two can put their differences aside.

The book was written for kids aged 8 - 12. It's a sweet story with gorgeous watercolor drawings in muted tones. The Aziz family has to deal with alot of Islamophobia. The parents were born in Pakistan but emigrated to the U. S. as adults. The twins were born in New York but their classmates didn't accept them as true Americans. Mrs. Aziz wears a hijab and always encounters alot of stares and rude comments.

There were many facts about animals and outer space interspersed throughout the story which I enjoyed. It's always nice to learn something from a book. The book is a fast read and I recommend it for adults as well as kids of any age.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Sound of a Thousand Stars

I was immediately drawn into this story from the first chapter. The story is about two young Jewish physicists who work at Los Alamos under Dr. Robert Oppenheimer during WWII. The book has an alternating plot that alternates between the perspectives of our heroine Alice in the 1940s and Haruki in the 1960s. Haruki is an old man who survived the bombing of Hiroshima. Alice is a physicist who is working toward a Ph.d Both plots were entertaining. This novel will be published on October 8, 2024 

The publisher's summary:  

Alice Katz is a young Jewish physicist, one of the only female doctoral students at her university, studying with the famed Dr. Oppenheimer. Her well-to-do family wants her to marry a man of her class and settle down. Instead, Alice answers her country’s call to come to an unnamed city in the desert to work on a government project shrouded in secrecy.

At Los Alamos, Alice meets Caleb Blum, a poor Orthodox Jew who has been assigned to the explosives division. Around them are other young scientists and engineers who have quietly left their university posts to come live in the desert.

No one seems to know exactly what they are working on—what they do know is that it is a race and that they must beat the Nazis in developing an unspeakable weapon. In this atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, and despite their many differences, Alice and Caleb find themselves drawn to one another.

The book was inspired by the author’s grandparents and is her debut novel. I was expecting a story where the main character's Jewish faith was either prominent or a problem for her. After all, the book summary discusses two Jewish characters. However, just about every character working at Los Alamos was Jewish. The faith didn't have much part in the story other than in the character descriptions. The book is basically a historical romance although Alice wasn't the romantic type. Caleb more than made up for her. He could not stop dreaming about Alice all day and night. Caleb felt inferior to her both because of her family's wealth and her physicist work at the ranch. 

The work of the scientists was not developed. I guess that since the work among them was secret that the author did not write much about their experiments into the plot. It's possible that the actual history of the research they were doing is still confidential and that the author did not find anything specific about it in her research for the book. The reader is only allowed to see the parties the scientists attended and whatever they did in their off hours.

I am rating  novel 4 out of 5 stars. Please note that I received an advanced review copy of this book from Librarything's Early Reviewer's Club in exchange for an honest review.

Book Cover of the Month: September

I love this cover. It reminds me of the works of the famous surrealist Salvador Dali. The author, Beth Hetland, illustrated the graphic novel as well as the cover. This is her first release from a major publisher, Fantagraphics.

Hetland is a Professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she teaches several comics and comics adjacent courses. She holds an MFA (2011) from The Center for Cartoon Studies and BFA (2009) from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has exhibited at comics fests all over the country, and received several awards for both teaching and comics.

The illustrations were drawn digitally using Procreate on an iPad and with the Apple Pencil. Hetland learned how to draw digitally from her students. She saw them all using an iPad in class and asked a lot of questions on technique. Previously, her illustrations were done with pen and pencil.

Book of the Month: September

I have not been able to forget this graphic novel since I read it almost a month ago. It is a psychological thriller and horror story told in graphic novel format. We read about the main character, Carolanne, striving for the perfect relationship, then the perfect wedding and perfect motherhood. Unfortunately none of that actually happened.

The horror aspect of the book is from Carolanne's self mutilation. We only have illustrations to know that she was doing this to herself. It's only apparent that Carolanne was trying to have a perfect life from these drawings and that the pressure she put on herself had to come out somewhere. 

Eerie and delicious!

Enlighten Me

Enlighten Me is a graphic novel by Minh Le. It features a young boy named Binh who gets in trouble at school after he hits another boy who has been bullying him over his Vietnamese heritage. He is afraid of being suspended but only receives a verbal warning from the vice principal at his school.  During the summer break, Binh's parents take him and his two sisters on a silent meditation retreat. Binh has to turn in his electronics and refrain from talking for an entire weekend. Of course, he is bored. However, when a Buddhist nun gathers all the kids to tell them the Jataka tales - the stories of the Buddha’s many past lives - Bình takes a fantastical dive into his imagination and starts to see himself in these stories. The questions remains, will he retreat further into himself or will he emerge from the weekend open to change?

This is a funny story written for kids 9 - 12. I learned a few new facts about the life of the Buddha that I have not read elsewhere in adult books. The Jakarta tales were new to me and I want to learn about all of them. While Bình is the protagonist of the story, the book is really an introduction into the life of Buddha. I was impressed that Bình found peace at the retreat but I guess that is the whole point of the book. The fact that he obtained this in the short span of a weekend seems like a fairy tale but, then again, it's a children's book.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Girl in Apartment 9

I selected this book for the Clock Reading Challenge. In this challenge I need to read books with numbers 1 through 12 in the title. This book is the 20th book in the Emma Griffin FBI Mystery Series. There are 32 books in the series to date.

The publisher's summary:

There once was a girl. A beautiful girl with the world at her palms. But then the girl slowly and surely discovered, the world she once loved was nowhere to be found. Happiness and hope? That’s for fairy tales. There’s no prince charming to the rescue, no knight in shining armor. And for the Girl in Apartment 9? Well, her story is about to be told...

FBI Agent Emma Griffin has had to overcome many obstacles throughout her life to get to her happily ever-after. But somehow death and destruction always loomed over her shoulders. When she is asked by her neighbor Paul to find Sydney Parker, a girl that has gone missing from a nearby college, Emma jumps on the case. On the surface, Sydney seems like a high-achiever. A good student, a good daughter, and a girl that champions for mental health awareness. So, what could have possibly happened to cause her to vanish from her apartment? Did she leave on her own or was she taken?

I had some difficulty becoming interested in the story. I was expecting a thriller that would catch my interest from the start. However, this is a murder mystery. There is nothing wrong with that but because the most recent mysteries I have read were thrillers, I assumed this book would follow suit. It took me several chapters before becoming interested in the plot.

Note that if discussion of suicide is a trigger for you then you will want to skip reading this book. The story focuses on depression, anxiety and other mental health problems with a plot that has a character leading young adults to kill themselves. I didn't particularly care for this aspect of the novel but wasn't bothered by it either. The heroine, Emma Griffin, had several cases to resolve. She only dealt with one case, the Emperor's case, wherein Emma realized that the students who were missing had actually committed suicide.

The negativity surrounding the issue of suicide pretty much kept me from enjoying the story. The plot was well developed with an appropriate number of twists and turns. However, this novel did not interest me much.

3 out of 5 stars.