A Skeleton In the Family

Author:  Leigh Perry
Genre:  Mystery

Paperback; Ebook; Audible
ISBN: 9780425255841
Berkley Publishing
304 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
September 3, 2013

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Georgia Thackery and her daughter, Madison, move back home when she gets a job at McQuaid college as an adjunct professor.  Her parents are both full professors there, and have decided to go on a sabbatical for several months, leaving Georgia and Madison the full use of their home while they are away.  Unfortunately, they have a permanent roommate, Sid.  Sid is a skeleton.  A real skeleton.  He walks, talks, and has lived in the attic of the Thackery home since Georgia and her sister, Deborah, were children.

 One day he convinces Georgia to let him leave the house with her and Madison to go to an Anime convention dressed as one of the characters.  It is there that he sees a woman from his past, and soon decides that he wants to find out how he died-and when-and asks Georgia's help.  But pretty soon things begin to happen that convince Georgia that Sid didn't die in the usual way-he was murdered-and the murderer may be looking for Sid just the same as Sid is looking to find out who killed him.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

I picked up this book because of its title, which was an unusual premise: you read about ghosts and such, but how often do you read about skeletons?  Exactly.  So the book had me hooked right from the title.  Which is a good thing in my view.  I was hoping that everything else about it would be just as good, and I am glad to say that I was not disappointed.

Sid is a skeleton who lives in Georgia Thackery's parents' home.  He has lived there some thirty odd years, ever since he saved the life of Georgia when she was only six.  He has become Georgia's best friend, and she can't imagine being without him.  Her sister Deborah, however, has ceased talking to him altogether, convincing herself that he doesn't exist (even though she can see and hear him).  And Sid, for his part, refuses to allow Georgia to tell her own daughter Madison of his existence, so Georgia can only spend time with him when Madison is either out of the house or asleep, which turns out to be tricky.

Finding out that Madison is very into anime, Sid convinces Georgia - reluctantly - to allow him to come along to the convention dressed as one of the anime characters; and it is while there that he sees a woman who triggers memories of when he was alive.  Since Georgia has just met a reporter who is working part-time at the college, she asks to see the photos he took at the convention, and manages to track the woman down.

Unfortunately, I can't reveal any more of the book, because to do so would be nothing more than spoilers for what happens after this.  Believe me, though, when I tell you that every event after this initial discovery ties into what happened to Sid.  It begins with the woman - and I can tell you that she is a professor herself - and spirals into a series of events that pull Sid and Georgia deeper into the mystery surrounding his death.  It is a well-woven tale that surprised even me, given the subject.  Sid is humorous, and his interactions with Georgia are such that it is entirely believable that these two could have been friends for years.

The only thing that bothered me was the fact that I felt Georgia showed little emotion for anyone outside of Sid or Madison.  There was a love interest of sorts, but I never felt that there was any real connection between the two of them, although that may have been deliberate on the author's part.  At any rate, I think we'll be seeing more of Ms. Perry, and I am grateful for that.

http://www.amazon.com/Skeleton-Family-Mystery/dp/0425255840

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3386455578

More on Leigh Perry's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/leigh-perry/

Lending a Paw

Author:  Laurie Cass
Genre:  Mystery

Four Stars

 

Minnie Hamilton is a librarian in Chilson, Michigan.  She has convinced the library to purchase a bookmobile - with the help of an extremely large donation from a resident, Stan Larabee - and, of course, as the library's assistant director, she is the one who will be driving the bookmobile from location to location.

 

She also has a 'assistant' in her voyages; a cat named Eddie that followed her home one day and insists on going everywhere she does, especially when she doesn't want him to.  When he sneaked aboard the bookmobile one day, she decided to make the best of the situation and determined it would be his last trip with her.  But not only did the town's residents take to the little guy, he darted out the door when they were at a stop, and when Minnie chased after him, he led her right to the dead body of a local. 

 

At first she is going to let the police handle the investigation, but Eddie seems determined to keep her on the case, and when an employee at the library, Holly, believes she is the main suspect, she asks Minnie to help her find the real killer. 

 

********

 

I wanted to read this book because it had two things going for it that I really love - books and cats.  So for me, it had already started out well and I was hoping not to be disappointed.  I was happy to find that for the most part, I wasn't.  Eddie was quite a character, and being a cat owner myself, I can relate to some of his antics.  I enjoyed the fact that throughout the book Minnie began to grow closer to him, which, as all pet owners know, you can't help but do.

 

We have a basic description of Minnie - dark hair and eyes, short - but that's about it.  We also know that she moved to Chilson three years ago at the age of 33 when she received her degree in Library Science.  So she's 36, and one would think she had a previous life before moving, but we never learn much about it.  Only that in the summer she lives on a houseboat, and in the winter she lives with her Aunt Frances, who owns a boarding house (which is another story in itself).

It did seem odd to me that when she was out on a date everyone in town (at least everyone we learned about in the book) seemed to be out and about also and stopped to say 'hi' to her.  It was sort of funny, but also rather unbelievable.  The other thing was that even though I love cats, everyone in this town wants to be with Eddie.  I started to get the feeling that there were no other cats anywhere around this area. 

There were times I felt that the book should have been titled 'Eddie the Psychic Cat,' because he seemed to know everything that was going on, and I felt that unless the dead man were his owner, he probably wouldn't have run as far as he did to find the body (although I will concede it is possible) and gave Minnie so many clues that he practically solved the murder by himself.  Aside from that, the mystery was very good.  I'm pretty good at figuring out mysteries, but the murderer wasn't expected.  The thing is, even though a lot of people didn't like the man, I didn't feel that any of them had reason enough to kill him.  So I really didn't know why or who the murderer was, which is a good thing, because it keeps you interested along the way.  In the end, I would have liked to have seen more resolution with her Aunt Frances and her guests, but perhaps Ms. Cass is saving that for the next book.  

http://www.amazon.com/Lending-Paw-Bookmobile-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00C5QUM0U





Gone Girl

Author:  Gillian Flynn
Genre:  Mystery

One Star

 

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer? 

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

 

********

 

Okay, I'll admit I started reading this book because of all the hype regarding it.  After the first few pages - where a creepy Nick is describing his wife's skull - I began to wonder why I was still reading it.  Yes, folks, it began to bore me.  Really, really, fast.

 

You see, Nick and Amy are a perfect couple.  A perfect, beautiful couple.  With money.  And parents who think she is absolutely wonderful, and nothing bad that happens could ever be her fault.  And when Amy mysteriously disappears on their fifth anniversary, it is her perfect husband Nick who is suspected of the crime - and although we all know that the husband is always the first suspect when a wife disappears - after Nick begins to read through Amy's diary you realize this isn't such a bad thing that she's gone.  Mainly because Amy is a psychopath. 

 

All you have to do is read her diary - which we do - to figure that out.  And her husband isn't as perfect as he's supposed to be.  Both of these people are hateful, nasty, and just unhappy human beings.  And they're about as toxic as you can get, which means together they're twice as toxic.

 

There are too many questions surrounding the pregnancy - and none of them make any sense.  But what is worse - and anyone who has read the book understands - is there is no resolution.  No good guy wins over bad. The book just ends.  (I don't feel this is a spoiler, because if you want to read the book, you will; if you have, you already know; if you're not interested, it really doesn't matter anyway).  Sorry, I can't recommend this book and doubt if I will read any more by this author.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Girl-Gillian-Flynn-ebook/dp/B006LSZECO



The Cuckoos of Batch Magna

Author: Peter Maughan
Genre:  Literature

Five Stars

 

 

When Sir Humphrey Strange, 8th baronet and squire of Batch Magna passes on, he leaves an entailed estate to his relative known as Humph, an amiable, overweight short-order cook from the Bronx.

Now known as Sir Humphrey Franklin T. Strange, 9th baronet and squire of Batch Magna, he is persuaded by his Uncle Frank to turn the property into a theme-park for people rich enough to afford it.  However, in doing so, he learns he will have to evict the tenants (pensioners) of the estate's houseboats to leave.  This is easier said than done once Humphrey actually meets them.

 

********

When I first started reading this book I wasn't sure what to expect.  I thought it started slow; but soon I realized that I was being given a look into the daily lives of the tenants of Batch Magna:  Phineas Cook, the Lt. Commander James Cunningham, Jasmine, Owain and others meet to discuss what to do about the new Sir Humphrey - deciding that they could find various ways to kill him - in order to stay in their beloved homes, the houseboats.

 

This book takes place over a very short period of time; time in which we get to know each person who lives on the boats and the people around them.  Time to learn how they view their lives, their relationships, their families, their friends.  It is a wonderful book, giving one the chance to see what life is like in a quaint English-Welsh border village with people you want to see the best for; and people you know deserve the worst.  I grew to like these people - Phineas and Sir Humphrey the most - and if this is what Wales is like, I must certainly add it to my places to visit someday.

 

It is a journey for Humphrey - a small-time cook who believes he has just hit the jackpot with his title, landing not only that but the hand of a Wall Street wizard, Sylvia, as his soon-to-be bride.  It is a journey that changes not only him, but the people around him.  For example, Phineas, not knowing who Humphrey is, takes him "on a spin" in his auto while Phineas is attempting to escape 'certain death' from a jealous boyfriend of a waitress he ill-advisedly slept with (you will have to read the book to find out the details, but it is quite humorous).  Throughout the course of the day, they have an adventure, spend an afternoon drinking with each other and come to like each other, even after he discovers Humphrey, wracked with guilt, tells him who he is.

 

Humphrey's journey to find himself and what he wants out of life takes him from the United States to Batch Magna, and it is indeed quite enchanting to travel with him as he makes his way from being unsure of what he wants to knowing what lies ahead. 

 

The author provided a copy of this book in return for an honest review, but this in no way affected the review.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Cuckoos-Batch-Magna-Peter-Maughan/dp/1904492460

A Christmas Treasure

Author:  Elizabeth Mansfield, Holly Newman, Sheila Rabe, Ellen Rawlings
Genre:  Regency Romance, Christmas

Five Stars

 

A book of Christmas stories, "A Sneeze on Tuesday" by Elizabeth Mansfield; "The Rocking Horse" by Holly Newman; "A Memorable Christmas" by Sheila Rabe; and "The Baby Shoppe" by Ellen Rawlings.

 

 

A Sneeze on Tuesday: A broken engagement and a miserable cold were not in Elinor's holiday plans.  But her spirited heart found its own remedy: a true and lasting love...

The Rocking Horse: The handmade toy was Lord Tarkington's gift for his young daughter.  But his labor of love touched the heart of a lady - who knew she had found her heart's desire.

A Memorable Christmas: A tumble down the stairs turns the Colby household upside down - in a madcap scheme to forget the past and mend a marriage!

The Baby Shoppe: Fallen upon dire circumstances, Penelope Archer makes a business of selling her beloved doll collection.  But she gains the world when her heart is made rich-with love...

 

********

 

I was looking for something light and "Christmasy" to read, and I certainly found it in this book.  It is a series of short stories by four Regency authors.  The kind of Regency authors who don't feel the need to put sex in every other page to get their story across.  I know that there are those out there who enjoy those kinds of books, but I honestly don't see what love and romance have to do with sex in any way.  You have romance, which leads into love; and then sex.  You DON'T have sex, which leads into romance and then love.  (I'm sure it can, but I'd rather know that the meeting of souls occurred before the meeting of bodies).

 

Anyway, these stories are warm and comfortable.  All, of course, take place at the holidays, but three in the country and one in the city.  Naturally, there really isn't a lot of time for massive character development, since each is roughly 67 pages, but you still get a feel for the main characters, and, in a couple of the stories, the secondary characters as well.

 

All I can truly say is that for anyone who enjoys traditional Regency novels, this is a Christmas book worth reading.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Treasure-Elizabeth-Mansfield/dp/0425135047  

 



Drizzled With Death

Author:  Jessie Crockett
Genre:  Mystery

2 Stars

 

 

Dani Greene is a fourth-generation maple syrup maker.  She is 27, the unmarried baby of the family, and lives with them in Sugar Grove, New Hampshire.  There is an annual pre-Thanksgiving pancake-eating contest (a big draw), which her grandfather, Emerald, always wins.  However, this year there is something new added:  an outsider, Alanza Speedwell, joins the contest, and when it is down to just Grandpa and her, she drops dead while still eating.

 

Dani's ex-boyfriend, Mitch Reynolds, is a police officer, and he suspects her or one of her family of doing the woman in.  Dani knows she needs to find the real killer before someone in her family winds up in jail.

 

********

 

Okay, I really wanted to like this book for two reasons:  Jessie Crockett and the fact that it takes place at Thanksgiving (because I love reading the season, as it were).  Unfortunately, I don't think it's very good.  In fact, I struggled to keep up with the story.

 

Which isn't to say that it's not a good story line; it is one that is tried and true:  Someone dies, the hero/heroine (or family member) is accused of the crime, and they have to find out who the real killer is.  It's just that I found it boring.  We meet Dani when she is sneaking outside to get away from her family, claiming a migraine.  She heads out to the sugarhouse to have a glass of wine, but she sees what she believes to be a mountain lion outside, and calls animal control.  The officer who shows up, Graham, proceeds to call her (not precisely, but you get the drift), a liar, a drunk, and a woman who made up the story to get a Friday night date.  Not a great first impression for either of them.  But the next day, when certain facts come to light, he proceeds to apologize to her even though she's having none of it.  That's when things start to happen.  It seems a number of exotic animals were set loose in the area, and now the town is on the lookout to catch them.
 

When Alanza drops dead in her food, Dani's ex-boyfriend Mitch practically accuses her (or one of her relatives) of committing murder to make sure her grandpa wins the pancake eating contest.  Really?  I didn't know pancakes trophies were that prestigious in New Hampshire.  I mean, I would have at least thought the guy could have come up with a better motive.  He's not a very bright officer, in my opinion.  He's also quite nasty.  He lies about her to Graham, and we never do find out why he and Dani broke up.

Also, everyone in her family has names like Celadon, Loden and her grandfather's, Emerald.  She hints that Dani is only a nickname for her "terrible" real name, but doesn't tell us what it is.  Is this the author's way of insuring we buy the next book in the series?  It doesn't work with me.

 

And I understand that her family makes maple syrup, but how much can you eat without becoming diabetic?  I get that it's their business, but did they ever think of eating anything else?  Everything - or nearly everything - has maple in it.  You'd think at 27 she'd be tired of the stuff; but no, she keeps eating it.  All I know is if I ate the same food, day in and day out, I'd be sick of it before I was her age.  But the people in this town love it, and the restaurant even has maple heart-attack recipes.  (My husband's family has walnut trees in their yard, and he ate so many walnut recipes growing up that he refuses to eat them now, so I know it happens).

Dani herself isn't very likeable.  She tells us she's small, under 5 feet, and shops in the childrens' department at stores.  She also makes a rather snide and shallow remark about her brother eventually going bald.  Plus, she's immature.  When her mother begins dating again, she has problems with it because her father has only been gone "five years."  How long does she expect her mother to wait?  She avoids her family rather than discuss things with them, (which, I've found in my own experience not healthy at all), and personally, I felt that the reason she refuses to get married is just to spite her family, because they are always trying to find someone for her.

Unfortunately, I felt this book was a struggle to read, and I had to force myself to do so.  Maybe if Dani were actually not so sullen or judgmental - but someone else might actually enjoy the book with the information on the sugaring operation in New Hampshire.  Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep me interested.

http://www.amazon.com/Drizzled-Death-Sugar-Grove-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00BDQ3AGQ


Dead In the Pumpkin Patch

Author:  Connie Feddersen
Genre:  Mystery

4 Stars

 

Amanda Hazard, a CPA who is very pregnant, just wants to decorate her office for Halloween, try and win the best decorating contest.  Nettie Jarvis owns a pumpkin patch, and has promised Amanda all the pumpkins she wants.  So, when Amanda arrives at Nettie's she finds more than what she came for.  She finds Nettie's body nestled in between the pumpkins.

 

Amanda's husband, Chief of Police Nick Thorn, is sure Nettie died from natural causes, but not Amanda.  He tells her to leave it alone, worried because of her pregnancy.  But Amanda had received an ominous telephone call from Nettie the day she died, and she knows that Nettie was murdered.  She also knows that she needs to find the killer before the killer finds her.

 

********

 

Amanda is an unusual character in the fact that she's a CPA, which is what drew me to this mystery.  Usually the amateur sleuths own a retail store of some sort (books, bakery, restaurant, etc.), and I thought this would be different.  Which it was, in a few ways.

 

First off, she finds Nettie's body and decides she was murdered because Nettie was wearing house slippers instead of tennis (and I'm not giving anything away, because you find that out almost immediately).  Of course, her husband thinks she's just over-reacting because of her physical state, but tells her he will investigate anyway.  And of course, Amanda, who is looking for a little black book that Nettie had told her she wanted to give her for safekeeping, decides to go ahead and investigate on her own.

 

Amanda is made executor of Nettie's estate, which I found different because I've never heard of a CPA being made executor.  Relatives, attorneys, yes, but CPAs, no.  Not to say it doesn't happen.  I've just never known it to be, although somewhere it's possible.  At any rate, she finds the book but doesn't turn it over to Nick, because she wants to see if there's anything in it that help with her investigation.  Which again, of course, there is.  It turns out the book is a font of information on the residents of town.  And that Nettie, a former hairdresser, knows almost everything about.  In the wrong hands, the book could be disastrous.  Yet Amanda knows that somewhere within lies clues to Nettie's murder.

 

Yet there are plenty of red herrings in this book - a lot of information pointing to a lot of different people as the murderer, and you have to sift through everything to find the answer.  Which she does eventually.  The reason being is that Amanda's hair was unfortunately dyed a bright orange, and Velma (who is the town's hairdresser) decides that with her hair and expanded belly, she would be perfect for the local Pumpkin Queen.  Which means she has to wear a costume which is a bright orange pumpkin...and lights up.  So Amanda spends quite a bit of time investigating in her costume.

 

However, there were a couple of things that bothered me.  Amanda, her husband, and their best friend (Sam Harjo) all call each other by their last names (Hazard, Thorn, Harjo).  I found that odd.  I've never known anyone of my acquaintance to walk around using the last name of their spouse (and since this takes place in Oklahoma, I'm pretty sure it's not a Southern thing, since my Daddy was from Texas, and no one in his family has ever done it).  So the entire book, he refers to her as "Hazard" or "Haz" while she calls him "Thorn."  Very odd.

 

But the big thing that bothered me was the 'robot talk.'  Anyone who knows me knows I don't like this in a book.  Nobody talks robot talk.  By that I mean a character will say things like this:  "I am going to the store.  I am going to buy milk and then I will go to the gas station.  After that I will stop at the post office and get the mail."  What people will say is the following:  "I'm going to the store to get milk and then stopping for gas.  On the way home I'll pick up the mail at the post office."  This went on through the entire book.  It went back and forth between using conjunctions like normal people and then you'd have entire paragraphs of robot talk.  The point is, people write this way, but they don't talk this way.  I really dislike it when I read a book and all the talk is robot talk.

 

However, that notwithstanding, I still gave it four stars because I like the characters, I liked the plot, and I liked the mystery.  And that's really what counts in the long run.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Pumpkin-Patch-Connie-Feddersen/dp/157566612X