Murder on the Bucket List

Author:  Elizabeth Perona
Genre:  Mystery

Paperback; Ebook
ISBN #:  9780738745091
Midnight Ink Publishing
336 Pages
$11.51; $9.59 Amazon
July 8, 2015

Three Stars

The septuagenarian women of the Summer Ridge Bridge Club have gathered in secret late one July night to check skinny-dipping off their bucket list.  But as Francine observes, the jittery members seem more obsessed with body issues and elaborate preparations than actually stripping down and getting in the pool.  A pungent smell emanating from the pool shed provides a perfect distraction.  When a dead body flops out, it's an answered prayer for Charlotte, since the first item on her list is to solve a murder.

Unfortunately for Charlotte and Francine, before they can discover who really killed the man, they must negotiate neighborhood tours of the crime scene, press coverage of their skinny-dipping, an angry homeowners' association, a disastrous appearance on Good Morning America, media offers sought by a hungry publicist, and a clever killer.

********

There is a group of five senior female friends - Francine, Joy, Mary Ruth, Charlotte and Alice - each with a Bucket List.  One night at one of the Alice's home, they decide to do one of the items on someone's list, which is skinny dipping; and are going to do so in Alice's pool.  But soon they discover a nearby shed that holds a dead body, and since solving a mystery is on another's bucket list, they decide to help Charlotte, another lady, do just that.  What ensues is each of the ladies having a chance to do one of the items on their bucket list, and in doing so, ferreting out clues (and a few secrets) regarding the murder along the way.

There were several things that just went wrong - one scene (SPOILERS AHEAD) where a television anchor has one of the women in Francine's home, cooking for a show...using Francine's ingredients, pans, etc...without asking Francine if it were alright - and then, when someone is injured, telling Francine that SHE can get sued to pay medical bills.  Say what?  You walk into a stranger's (to her) home, have someone just help themselves to whatever you have in the freezer, start cooking, and then try and tell them they can get sued?  You have it wrong.  The reporter - and friends - can all get sued for doing what they did.  What kind of person does that?  Walks into someone's home and just decides to "help" themselves to whatever they want?  In another scene, a thirty-something cop notices that one of the seventy-something women has a nice body...eeewww...and then allows these women to 'show' the place of murder to whomever they want - allowing people to trample all over the murder scene.  Really?  And I'm supposed to take this book seriously?

While this isn't bad for a first effort, it could have been so much better.  The plot was well-constructed, and the ladies genuinely seemed to be fast friends - but I didn't find the book as entertaining as I would have liked it to be.  I also would have liked to have seen character development in these ladies, but there wasn't enough.  I didn't understand the reasons they did what they did.  Most of the women seemed kind of flaky in their thinking, and the plot points just didn't seem to come together enough; it all seemed convoluted somewhat; however, I believe the author will do better in the second in this series; oftentimes the first effort leads to much better books in the long run, and I will continue with the series.

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Bucket-List-Mystery/dp/073874509X/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1336113420

Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County

KAuthor:  Amy Hill Hearth
Genre:  Literary Fiction/Drama

Paperback, e book
ISBN #:  9781476765747
Atria Books
320 Pages
$8.84 Amazon; $11.99 Kindle
September 8, 2015

Five Stars

In this sequel to Amy Hill Hearth's "funny and charming" (Publisher's Weekly) debut novel, Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society, the eponymous book club reunites one year later, in the late summer of 1964.

Their mission: to fight a large development along the tidal river where member Robbie-Lee grew up and where his mother, Dolores Simpson, a former stripper turned alligator hunter, still lives in a fishing shack.

The developer is Darryl Norwood, ex-husband of narrator Dora Witherspoon, who returns to Collier County to assist in the battle.  An old land deed, the discovery that one of the key characters has been using a false name, and a dramatic court hearing are just a few of the highlights.  Not to mention the reappearance of the Ghost of Seminole Joe.

Just as Hearth's debut explored the ways we can find a sense of belonging in other people, her latest novel shows how closely tied each of us is to our sense of home - and the conflicts that can arise when our idea of that home becomes threatened.  For Darryl, the river is a place ripe for development.  For Dora, who's known as the Turtle Lady because she rescues Everglades "snappers," it's a place that belongs to the critters.  And for Dolores, former stripper, it's a place to hide from the world...

********

In the first Miss Dreamsville, we learned about Jackie Hart, a transplant from Boston, and her struggle to fit in with the people of the Florida Everglades.  In her attempt to find a place to be, she started the Collier County Literary Society, and became Miss Dreamsville for the residents.

In this book, which takes place the following year of 1964, we learn about another of the members of that book club - Eudora Welty Witherspoon, known to all as Dora.  The story begins where the last ended, when Jackie urged Dora to go and find out more about 'her people,' where she came from, and Dora has been doing exactly that in Jackson, Mississippi.  But one day Dora receives a telegram from home.  The telegram is from Dolores Simpson, who lives in an old shack on the edge of the Everglades.  It simply reads that there's trouble, and Dora needs to come home now.

Borrowing money from her landlady, she boards a bus back home to Collier County with dread filling her, not knowing what the trouble may be.  When she arrives at Dolores' shack, Dora discovers the trouble is worse than she thought.  Her ex-husband Darryl is back in town, and he's going to build a housing development right where Dolores' shack sits, and it has divided the town into two camps:  those that want it, and those that don't.

So Dora, not knowing what to do, not wanting to face Darryl alone, and not wanting to think about what might or even could happen, turns to her friends from the book club - Jackie, Plain Jane, and Mrs. Bailey-White.  (Of the remaining members, Dolores' son Robbie-Lee (who is also Dora's best friend), is in New York, and Priscilla is in college; and Miss Lansbury, the librarian, has retired.

But here we have another dilemma:  Jackie, Plain Jane and Mrs. Bailey-White are taking care of Priscilla's little girl while Priscilla is in college.  While it shouldn't be a problem, and wouldn't today, the crux of the matter is that Priscilla is black, and in the Old South, it was.  And with Jackie's tendency to act as if she were still in Boston, she sometimes forgets that things don't work the same way in the South as they do in the North, and it takes longer for life to change.  She might not be happy about it, she doesn't like it, but she is learning to understand.

Then there's Judd, Jackie's son, who has been taking care of Dora's home and turtles while Dora's been out of town; and thirteen-year-old Judd is beginning to grow up, while Jackie's husband Ted is  beginning to resent his time working away from home when he knows he should be with his family.

Dora finds herself in the center of change, confused about what she learned and what she still needs to learn, not sure if she can share with her friends, but still through it all realizes that in deciding to help Dolores - who has never asked for help from anyone - she will also be helping herself.  

I have found that there are some books you can read and wish you hadn't; others you can read and be happy you read them; still others you will set aside and know that you will read again; and then there are books that only need to be read once to remain with your forever.  This is one of those books.  In the end, there are secrets in the Glades, as there are everywhere in life.  Some are better off never being known.  Some need to be told to end a story.  Sometimes the secrets don't matter.  But if you're lucky, you find out what really does.  Highly recommended.   

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Dreamsville-Heiress-Collier-County/dp/147676574X/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1384993534

Review of Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society:  http://www.joannesbooks.blogspot.com/2013/03/miss-dreamsville-and-collier-county.html

                                 

Shepherd's Crook (An Animals in Focus Mystery #4)

Author:  Sheila Webster Boneham
Genre:  Mystery

Paperback
ISBN: 9780738744872
Midnight Ink Publishing
336 Pages
$12.37 Amazon
October 8, 2015

Four Stars

Animal photographer  Janet MacPhail has just arrived at a sheep-herding competition with her Australian Shepherd, Jay, when she learns that two dozen sheep have disappeared.  Police think the animals have wandered off in search of greener grass, but Janet sees and hears things that convince her the sheep's owners are right - the animals have been stolen.

Janet knows she should leave the snooping to police while she attends to her own problems - new living arrangements, her mom's wedding plans, puppy and kitten antics, and extremists bent on keeping people from having pets.  But when a livestock handler turns up dead and the sheep's owner disappears, the police and a pair of thugs pay Janet way more attention than she likes.  She sets out to find answers, putting herself and those she loves in the killer's crosshairs.

********

Janet MacPhail has entered her dog Jay in a sheepherding competition.  While there, she notices two men around the area, apparently arguing with Ray Turnbull, the farm's livestock handler, and then Evan, the ranch's owner.  Soon it is discovered that two dozen sheep are missing, presumably stolen, and when Ray's body is found hanging in the barn, she begins to wonder if he had anything to do with the missing sheep.

But when Evan's wife Summer also disappears, Janet now thinks that maybe Summer had something to do with the missing sheep, and even though she knows she needs to stay away from the investigation, she's finding that hard to do.  Especially since Ray's dog Bonnie is gone, and no one seems to know where she is.

Then there's the matter of her mother's wedding in a couple of weeks and Janet knows she needs to find a dress for the wedding but is putting it off; and her boyfriend Tom is preparing to sell his house and move in, disrupting Janet's comfortable life of being 'just the way she wants it.'  The last kicker is her new next-door neighbor, Phil Martin, is putting a bill to the city council to limit the amount of pets one can have in their household, which doesn't sit well with Janet and her friends, all animal lovers.

Yet we find that the murder is more than it appears to be on the surface, and Janet discovers blackmail is also involved.  Because of this, she winds up putting her life in danger while she's trying to find out who killed Ray and why, where Summer is, and why she disappeared.  In the end, we are given a satisfactory conclusion to the story.  Recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Crook-Animals-Focus-Mystery/dp/0738744875/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1381198134

Murder by Suspicion (An Ellie Quicke British Murder Mystery)

Author:  Veronica Heley
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; e-book
ISBN #: 9780727885241
Severn House Publishing
240 Pages
$21.74 Amazon; $24.99 Kindle
October 1, 2015

Four Stars

Ellie is desperate to find someone to look after their elderly housekeeper, whose health is failing.  But employing a carer found by Ellie's difficult daughter, Diana, proves to be a mixed blessing when Ellie returns from a trip to America to find that carer Claire has implemented a number of bizarre changes to the Quicke household routine.

Claire is heavily involved in 'the Vision', a local church with a charismatic, powerful pastor, who- seemingly coincidentally - is looking for Ellie for financial help in his current project, housing reformed addicts.  But Ellie is suspicious - and more so, when details of Claire's chequered past comes to light.  Can Ellie trust Claire and Pastor Ambrose?

Ellie investigates and doesn't like what she finds...

********

Although this book is extremely well written, I must inform you that Ellie is exactly the type of woman I don't like:  a pushover.  She returns from a trip to the United States to find her household changed.  And not changed slightly, either:  her furniture has been moved around; her food, coffee and tea has been thrown out, Rose, her elderly housekeeper, appears to be lethargic when returning from a visit to 'the Vision' with Claire, the new carer, her cleaning people have quit and been replaced with two women who refuse to listen to her and do whatever Claire has told them to do, and she discovers that people are coming the next day to paint the interior of her house green.  And what does she do?  Nothing!  Unlike me, who would have thrown Claire out in the street immediately, she decides to keep her until a new carer is found.  She even tolerates Claire allowing Pastor Ambrose into her house to try and change her mind.  Why is beyond me.  I would have called the police immediately and filed a restraining order against them both.

Having got that out of the way, I will continue on:  when Ellie returns and finds all these disturbances, she speaks with her daughter Diana, who recommended Claire, and actually sort of shifted Claire over to her when she decided it just wouldn't work having her as a nanny.  But what Diana didn't tell Ellie was that Claire was a person of interest in the disappearance of a young teenage girl.  Even though Claire goes into histrionics whenever Ellie mentions sacking her, it also makes Ellie suspicious:  what if there were other missing girls?  Following her instincts, she asks her police officer friend Lesley to look into the matter for her.  And what she finds doesn't make her happy.

With her husband Thomas still in the U.S., she must deal with Claire and the ever-present Pastor Ambrose on her own.  Well, almost on her own,  Mikey, the young son of an ex-employee, has for the most part been Rose's guardian angel while Ellie was gone.  He has done his best, but is still a thirteen-year-old boy who had to pretty much sneak in under Claire's radar.  And Ellie finds out that Ambrose has applied for monies under Ellie's trust to buy the home he rents for recovering addicts and the like, even crashing a meeting she was having with the other members of the trust.  (We in the United States refer to it as a halfway house).  

But when Lesley finds some disturbing information regarding Ellie's inquiry, it raises even more questions, and Lesley requests Ellie's help on the subject - which, Ellie being who she is, says no, waffles, and then agrees to help.  What comes of it all is something even more sinister than even Ellie could imagine.

Now, after telling you my views on Ellie, and still giving this book four stars, that should also tell you that it is a very good book indeed.  (I do not take ratings lightly, and will give no book a higher rating than it deserves).  Even if you have not read any of the other Ellie Quicke books, you can start with this one, and then go back and read the others, as enough information is given that this can be read as a stand-alone.  Recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Suspicion-Quicke-British-Mystery/dp/0727885243/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1376546268

Threads of Evidence (A Mainely Needlepoint Mystery #2)

Author:  Lea Waits
Genre:  Mystery

Paperback, e book
ISBN # 9781617730061
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
$7.99; $5.84 (Kindle)
September 1, 2015

Four Stars

It's hard to imagine anything bad ever happening in picturesque Haven Harbor, Maine - until a famous face rolls into town and unthreads some very dark secrets...

Angie Curtis and the Mainely Needlepointers are all too familiar with the Gardener estate.  The crumbling Victorian mansion, known as "Aurora," has been sitting vacant for nearly twenty-five years - and some say it's haunted by the ghost of Jasmine Gardener, the teenage girl who died there in 1970 under mysterious circumstances...

Harbor Haven is abuzz with excitement when Hollywood actress Skye West decides to buy Aurora and sell off its furnishings.  And Angie is intrigued when Skye asks her to appraise the estate's sizable collection of needlepoint pictures.  But the more she examines the pieces, the more they seem to point toward Jasmine's murder - and the murderer - and it's up to her to stitch the clues together...

********

Angie Curtis is back in Haven Harbor, Maine living with her grandmother after being in Arizona for a number of years.  She has taken over the directorship of the group known as Mainely Needlepointers, who sell their work around the state.  Angie's friend Sarah Byrne, one of the group and owner of a local antique shop, calls Angie because an old decaying mansion in town has been purchased by an actress, Skye West - and Patrick, Skye's son, has asked Sarah to appraise the needlepoint pictures left hanging on the walls.  Sarah has asked Angie to help her.  When the women realize the sheer extent of the work, and the fact that Skye basically wants a "yard sale" out of anything that can be salvaged, she offers the two women $15,000 each for a week of work.

Skye learns that Angie worked for a PI in Arizona and wants to hire her.  Skye believes that Jasmine didn't die from falling head first into a fountain and drowning, but was murdered.  She also believes the previous owner of the house, Millie Gardener, was murdered too.   So Skye has compiled a list of possible suspects and wants Angie to ask questions and see if anyone knows anything about what happened that night.  But when Angie agrees and begins digging around, she doesn't realize just how close to the killer she might be.

This was a nice cozy to dig into, and was written well.  With Angie preparing for her Gram's wedding, and Gram's wedding shower, she now has to try and find a killer, without the killer knowing what she's doing.  Plus, Sarah has decided Patrick is her personal property, and even though Angie wouldn't mind pursuing a relationship with him, she doesn't want to lose Sarah's friendship and keeps him at arms' length.

We find that more than one person didn't like Jasmine, and thought they had reason to see her dead.  But Angie doesn't want to believe any of them would kill her, so doesn't really follow the clues as closely as she should.  It is only with the help of Sarah and Dave (another Mainely Needlepointer and high school biology teacher) that Angie is able to start putting the them together.

This is the second book in the Mainely Needlepointers series, but can be read as a stand-alone.  All in all, it was an enjoyable read.  Recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Threads-Evidence-Mainely-Needlepoint-Mystery/dp/1617730068/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1373735641

September - October New Releases

There are some very good new releases that will be published soon, and I am looking forward to reading many of them, and hope that you will be also.

Cozy Mystery:

Scrapbook of the Dead, by Mollie Cox Bryan, is the newest in the Cumberland Creek mystery series, and a Halloween-themed mystery to boot.  This time out, Halloween means spooky scrapbooks for the Cumberland Creek Scrapbook Crop, but what's been happening around town is truly frightening.  First a dead woman is found in the freezer at Pamela's Pie Palace, and the next day a second woman is found murdered by the river.  Reporter Annie Chamovitz learns the victims were sisters and is certain their deaths are linked.  Most bizarre of all, both women were found clutching scrapbook pages.

As their Saturday night crop quickly becomes an opportunity to puzzle out the murders, the ladies begin to wonder if Pamela is hiding more than her secret recipes for delicious pies--or if the crimes are related to the startling discovery that there are gangs in Cumberland Creek.  As All Hallows Eve approaches, the crafty croppers must cut and paste the clues to unmask a deadly killer.

Since the holiday season is fast approaching - the 'carving season' as I like to call it (first we carve pumpkins, then turkey, then ham, and finally roast beef), I am looking forward to getting a jump on the season and reading this one.

It will be available in both paperback and ebook, 304 Pages; Kensington.  September 1, 2015.    http://www.amazon.com/dp/0758293585/

Another new cozy mystery release is Trick or Deceit by Shelley Freydont.  It is a Celebration Bay Mystery, and also Halloween-themed.

This October in Celebration Bay, you can't swing a black cat without hitting a haunted house.  There are three finalists in the contest for the town's official Haunted House, and ten thousand dollars will go to the winner, with the rest of the contributions and proceeds funding a new community center.  Event coordinator Liv Montgomery has invited her friend Jonathan Preston, the debonair CEO of a philanthropic organization, hoping he will award a grant to the center.

But after the Museum of Yankee Horrors wins first place, the transformed Victorian boarding house is vandalized...and among scattered mannequins of Hester Prynne, Lizzie Borden, andthe Headless Horseman, a real dead body is found-one of the contest judges.  Now in addition to playing hose to Jon, Liv has to play detective and coordinate the clues to unmask a self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner.

This one definitely sounds interesting, and I'm looking forward to reading it, having already pre-ordered it from Amazon.

Available in paperback and ebook; 304 Pages; Berkley.  September 1, 2015.  http://www.amazon.com/Trick-Deceit-Celebration-Bay-Mystery/dp/0425281477/

Biography:

John Wayne In His Own Words:  Duke's Personal Letters, Handwritten Notes, and Never-Before-Seen Photos by Ethan Wayne

John Wayne In His Own Words gives readers an intimate look into the life of an American legend.  But the letters, correspondence and chronicles that fills this 215-page book prove the Wild West's leading man was much more than another face on the silver screen.  He was a loving father, a faithful friend and an unparalleled patriot.  Read as Jhon Wayne consoles his kids, jokes with celebrity friends, answers his fans and advises America's presidents in this rare collection of letters straight from the John Wayne Family archives.  In addition to mail to and from Duke himself, John Wayne In His Own Words boasts a forward by Ethan Wayne and exclusive photos from rare family albums.  Filled with emotion, honesty and insight into the man beloved by many, this collection of artifacts doubles as a special time capsule and a must-have tribute.

John Wayne is probably one of the best-known actors of our time, and a complex human being.  Fiercely protective of his family and friends, highly patriotic, yet gentle and understanding, he was and will remain an American icon.  While numerous books have been written regarding the Duke, this one is meant to be extra-special in that the insights are given by his own son.

Available in hardcover, 256 pages; Media Lab Books.  October 20, 2015.  http://www.amazon.com/John-Wayne-His-Words-Never-Before-Seen/dp/1942556195/

Gilliamesque:  A Pre-Posthumous Memoir by Terry Gilliam

The screenwriter, innovative animator, highly acclaimed visionary film director, and only non-British member of Monty Python offers an intimate glimpse into his world in this fascinating memoir illustrated with hand-drawn sketches, notes, and memorabilia from his personal archive.

From his no-frills childhood in the icy wastes of Minnesota, to some of the hottest water Hollywood had to offer, via the cutting edge of 1960s and '70s counter-culture in New York, L.A. and London, Terry Gilliam's life has been as vivid, entertaining and unorthodox as one of his films.

Telling his story for the first time, the director of Time Bandits, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys, and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas - not to mention co-founder of Monty Python's Flying Circus - recalls his life so far.  Packed with never-before-seen artwork, photographs and commentary, Gilliamesque blends the visual and the verbal with scabrous with and fascinating insight.

Gilliam's "pre-posthumous memoir" also features a cast of amazing supporting characters - George Harrison, Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Uma Thurman, Johnny Depp, Heath Ledger and all of the fellow Pythons - as well as cameo appearances from some of the heaviest cultural hitters of modern times, from Woody Allen to Frank Zappa, Gloria Steinem to Robert Crumb, Richard Nixon to Hunter S. Thompson.  Gilliam's encounters with the great and the not-so-good are revealing, funny, and hugely entertaining.

This book is an unrestrained look into a unique creative mind and an incomparable portrait of late twentieth-century popular culture.

Who hasn't seen or heard of Monty Python's Flying Circus or watched one of his brilliant movies.  Enough said.

Available in hardcover or ebook; 352 pages, Harper Design.  October 20, 2015.  http://www.amazon.com/Gilliamesque-Pre-posthumous-Memoir-Terry-Gilliam/dp/0062380745/  

Cookbooks:

The Complete Cook's Country TV Show Cookbook Season 8:  by Cook's Country

A treasured recipe box brought to life, now updated to include every recipe, every ingredient testing, every equipment rating from all 8 seasons of Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen.

This collection will teach you foolproof methods for making more than 300 favorite American recipes.  And in addition to learning how to make great food, you can read the colorful stories behind the dishes.  The recipes in this book feature the best of American home cooking with an emphasis on regional and heirloom fare.  In addition to American classics like Glazed Meatloaf, Classic Roast Beef and Gravy, Smoky Potato Salad, and Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust, you'll find regional gems like Delta Hot Tamales, Baltimore Pit Beef, Charleston Shrimp Perloo, and Chocolate Blackout Cake.

The shopper's guide, grouped together in the back of the book, includes tastings and testings from both Cook's Country and the Complete ATK TV Show Cookbook - approximately 50 pages of testing and tasting ratings and winners.

For anyone who enjoys cooking (as I do) this book should be something to look forward to.  Cook's Country is a trusted name, and their recipes are always delicious; a hefty tome at 576 pages.

Available in paperback and ebook; 576 Pages; Cook's Country.  September 8, 2015.  http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cooks-Country-Cookbook-Season-ebook/dp/B00RRT32OI/  

Thriller/Suspense:

The Girl from Krakow: A Novel by Alex Rosenberg

It's 1935.  Rita Feuerstahl comes to the university in Krakow intent on enjoying her freedom.  But life has other things in store - marriage, a love affair, a child, all in the shadows of the oncoming war.  When the war arrives, Rita is armed with a secret so enormous that it could cost the Allies everything, even as it gives her the will to live.  She must find a way both to keep her secret and to survive amid the chaos of Europe at war.  Living by her wits among the Germans as their conquests turn to defeat, she seeks a way to prevent the inevitable doom of Nazism from kaing her one of its last victims.  Can her passion and resolve outlast the most powerful evil that Europe has ever seen?

In an epic saga that spans from Paris in the '30s and Spain's Civil War to Moscow, Warsaw, and the heart of Nazi Germany, The Girl from Krakow follows one woman's battle for survival as entire nations are torn apart, never to be the same.

I really don't know what to expect from this book, but it definitely sounds like a winner, and I am looking forward to reading it.

Available in paperback, ebook, audible and MP3 CD; 454 pages; Lake Union Publishing; September 1, 2015;   http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Krakow-Novel-Alex-Rosenberg/dp/1477830812/                

Happy Reading!

. 

Gone But Knot Forgotten (Quilting Mysteries)

Author:  Mary Marks
Genre:  Mystery

Four Stars

Paperback; ebook

ISBN #:  9780758292094

Kensington Publishing

288 Pages

$7.99; $5.38 Kindle

August 25, 2015

Sorting through the estate of a wealthy recluse may sound like a fascinating task, but when the skeletons in the closets turn out to be real, Martha and her quilting pals wish they'd stuck to basting and batting...

Martha Rose is stunned when she hears that her best friend from high school has passed away.  Her shock doubles when she learns that Harriet Oliver made her the executor of her estate.  But when investigators determine that Harriet was murdered, Martha recruits her fellow quilters to help find the culprit.  She's mastered the art of piecing together blocks to create intricate quilts, but piecing together her friend's murder will prove far more challenging...               

********

Martha Rose is in her 50s, loves quilting with her best friends Lucy and Birdie, and likes her life just as it is.  Unfortunately, it's about to change.  One day she gets a telephone call from an attorney who tells her that her high school friend Harriet Oliver has died, and she's been made executor of Harriet's will.  Completely taken by surprise, she is also saddened to learn that Harriet died alone and unloved; both her child and her husband dead before her.  So alone that her body wasn't discovered for ten months.

Now Martha's back is up.  How could someone like Harriet not be discovered for almost a year?  She was wealthy, she must have had some contact with the outside world.  So Martha does the only thing she can - try and figure out why Harriet was left in her home so long, dead in a closet, but who would want her dead.  And the more she digs, the more she finds; and none of it pleasant.

Martha is also seeing a biker named Yossi, aka Crusher.  Crusher is head over ears about Martha and wants to marry her, but she's keeping him at arms' length.  Why?  Because her ex-husband and ex-boyfriend both cheated on her, so she doesn't think she can trust any man.  The more he tries to move in, the more she pushes him away.

As executor of the estate, Martha discovers that there are missing items - all related to the Declaration of Independence.  What she doesn't know is where they are.  She is determined to find their whereabouts, with the help of her two friends.  After hiring a couple of Crusher's cohorts to guard the estate day and night, she and Lucy and Birdie spend their days searching for the missing items.  But it appears that others know of them, and someone has been in the house before her, Martha is sure of it - someone who was probably looking for the same things.  The more she digs into Harriet's death - now classified as murder - the closer she's bringing herself into danger.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book.  The characters are three-dimensional, and the plot was very good.   But there were a couple of things that bothered me.  For one, she has an atrocious diet.  In the real world, anyone who ate what Martha does would be diabetic and have really bad skin.  Eating that much fat and sugar is only asking for a heart attack or worse.  We also never find out what her source of income is.  Yes, she's paid a stipend as executor of Harriet's estate, but she doesn't have a job, yet has a house and seems to be fine financially.  For those who haven't read the previous books in the series, Forget Me Knot and Knot in My Backyard, it would be nice to know (minor detail, but I'm big on details).

But the biggest negative was her reaction to another character, after finding out something about them that she viewed as lying.  I didn't see it as lying; it was something that needed to be done and they didn't have any choice in, but she wouldn't forgive it, which, by the end of the book made her appear inflexible and hard.  She just wasn't willing to accept that it was necessary, and made it All About Her.  Her reaction seemed almost irrational and was a letdown for me.  I wasn't happy with the outcome of the situation, and all of it seeming to be her fault.  Still, I felt the book was written well and I enjoyed it.  Recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Forgotten-Quilting-Mysteries-Marks/dp/0758292090/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1368376669

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