Marilyn's Mystery Reads

It’s hard to imagine a more unhappy childhood than the one Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick had.  Bullied unmercifully by her schoolmates, her only friend is Daphne, who is there for Mabel when no one else is.  Other than Daphne, the only bright spots in her life are her aunt Cess and Cess’s friend Ness.  The two women stay with Mabel when her parents are traveling, which they do quite often.  They visit England, Hong Kong, and South Africa, among other places, sending their daughter post cards and letters but never inviting her to travel with them.

When the novel opens, Mabel is eighty-one, and she wants you to know that she doesn’t look her age.  Not because she’s attractive, she tells you, but because she doesn’t fit the stereotype of a woman that age, one who is petite (she is six feet tall), who is frail (she has broad shoulders), and who calls everyone dear (I can’t use her favorite word here).  Yes, she’s a piece of work for sure.

She is living in a small town on the outskirts of Melbourne and keeping to herself as much as possible.  She ignores nearly all her neighbors, convinced they dislike her.  The first exception is Peter, the sixty-six-year-old living across the street who is available when Mabel needs some assistance.  The second exception is Persephone, the only child on the block.  Mabel would like to ignore Persephone, but the seven-year-old will not be ignored, and she is constantly either in Mabel’s kitchen (uninvited) or on her porch (same).

The day everything begins to implode for Mabel is the day that her neighbor’s dog doesn’t stop barking.  Fed up with the noise and with Ishaan’s ignoring it, she climbs over the fence separating their yards and makes her way to his back door.  She stops several feet short of it, however, when she sees him lying on his kitchen floor, his eyes open and unblinking.

As soon as the police realize that Mabel is actually better known as Mad Mabel, Australian’s youngest convicted murderer, she becomes the target of print and television reporters and podcasters, all eager to interview her.  Her neighbors, with the exception of Peter, become even less friendly than before.

She chooses two young reporters, Libby and Adeem, to tell her story to, and Libby begins the interview with recording how Mabel was convicted at age 15 of killing her father.  Strangely, however, recounting her life story to the reporters appears to lift a burden that Mabel has been carrying her entire life and opens her up to friendships she never thought she would experience.

Mad Mabel is a wonderful read.  Her past and present are interwoven seamlessly, and it’s easy to understand how she became the embittered, solitary woman she is when the book opens and how she allows herself to befriend her neighbors as the novel progresses.

The characters in the book are perfect:  Mabel, the victim of a lifetime of cruelties both large and small; her beloved aunt Cess, her mother’s sister, who brought caring and love into her life; her father, a man who not only dislikes his daughter but actively works to make her life miserable; Persephone, who wants to be best friends with Mabel; Roxanne, Persephone’s mother, who is in hiding from her child’s brutal father.  Each one is beautifully delineated and essential to the story.  Plus the two twists at the end of the novel took me totally by surprise.

You can read more about Sally Hepworth at this website.

When I read the August 26th article by Sara Lyall in The New York Times about Peter Grainger, the pen name of British author Robert Partridge, I was immediately intrigued.  Also a bit embarrassed.  Here is a best-selling author of 17 mysteries who is totally unknown to me.

I ordered his first D. C. Smith novel, An Accidental Death, on Kindle and became hooked at once.  There is something about the writer’s style that made me feel that I knew this police inspector from the first page, even though I knew I hadn’t read his work before.

An Accidental Death introduces D. C. Smith, a detective sergeant in the small town of King’s Lake.  He should be called D. S. Smith because of his rank (Detective Sergeant), but he prefers to go by D. C. (Detective Constable) because those are his initials of his first and middle names.  Since Smith isn’t a man who is interested in status, he’s happy with the initials referring to a lower rank than he actually holds.  After all, he earlier gave up a higher rank because he realized it didn’t allow him to do the actual police work that he loved.

The novel opens with a group of teenagers are fooling around on the bank of a river.  A canoe passes by, its passengers jeering at them, and when a second one is seen, Wayne Fletcher, one of the teenagers, decides get revenge.  He jumps into the water to catch it, and then Wayne and the canoe disappear around a bend.

At first the group on the grass isn’t concerned, but after a few minutes and Wayne hasn’t returned, they begin looking for him but without success.  They go to the police to file a report, and a search is carried out.  Wayne’s body is found in the river, but it’s not certain if his death was an accident or if the missing canoeist is responsible.

Smith and his new partner, Christopher Waters, don’t know the answer either, but Smith’s experience is telling him that the case needs more investigation.  And when the inquiry leads them to the estate of a reclusive former member of the British Army, Smith and Waters realize they are in a dangerous situation.

An Accidental Death is followed by sixteen novels in the D. C. Smith series.  Smith is a dedicated police officer, a man whose abilities guide him through the labyrinth of clues and false statements to discover the truth.  What a wealth of reading is ahead of the readers who discover this outstanding series featuring a down-to-earth man who is able to bring his outstanding abilities and knowledge to his job.

You can read more about the author at this website.

As president of B & H Foods, Margot Harriman is used to being successful at everything she does.  That includes fundraising, even if most of the credit goes to the all male New York City Charity Hospital board.  This is, after all, the early 1900s, and men are in charge of nearly everything.

Margot is discussing the plans for the upcoming gala in support of the hospital with Dr. Stephen Jameson when something catches her eye as it moves past the physician’s window.  Then there is a thud, followed by a scream.  The deceased was Stella Nowak, a nurse at the hospital, and her death, sad as it is, is officially ruled a suicide.

Margot, however, doesn’t agree, especially when her friend CeeCee, a nurse at the facility, tells her that Stella’s death was only the most recent one.  Is there something going on at the hospital that Stella was aware of that led to her passing?

Much of the plot contrasts the care given to patients at the Charity Hospital and that given to the residents at the Caspian, a luxurious setting catering to well-to-do clientele suffering from the stresses of high society.  But here too, there are mysterious happenings, including the death of Margot’s friend Dotty shortly after they share lunch at the facility’s beautiful dining room.

When Dr. Beales, a physician at both hospitals, visits Margot to tell her of Dotty’s passing, she decides the only way she will find out what caused the death is to become a patient at the Caspian herself.  It’s certainly easy enough to plead fatigue and overstimulation as the reasons to do so, and the following week Margot is at the facility.

At the same time, CeeCee and her lover, private investigator Rett Mancini, are looking into the recent deaths at the Charity Hospital, including Stella’s.  Is it simply coincidence that both hospitals are experiencing an unusual number of deaths, or is it something more sinister?

One of the most interesting things about reading novels that take place in another time is how similar or different things were then compared to our own time.  In A Deadly Entanglement, it’s easy to spot the differences between that time and ours, but it’s also easy to see which things haven’t changed at all, or at least not much.

One of the changes is certainly the recognition of gay relationships.  CeeCee and Rett are in a committed lesbian relationship, but they can tell no one about their feelings for each other.  And Margot has strong feelings for Shiloh, a magician’s assistant and lock-picking expert, but in addition to the same-sex aspect of their affair is the issue of their very different places in society, with Shiloh being especially aware of the economic and educational differences between them.

A Deadly Entanglement is more than an entertaining read, although it is that.  It’s also a penetrating look into society’s mores and values in the early 20th century and how they compare to ours.  Cathy Pegau has written an outstanding mystery with characters and a plot that will resonate with readers.

You can read more about the author at this site.

I am always amazed and delighted by the things that I learn by reading books.  I don’t mean only scholarly books or textbooks but also novels/mysteries that tell me things I had never thought about but am now pleased that I know.  Away To Me is an excellent example of learning about a subject that gave me a glimpse into a very different world; it’s a truly fascinating book.

Maddie McGowan is an animal behaviorist, a scientist who works with animals who exhibit dangerous behaviors, including those caused by trauma.  She owns a farm in Wisconsin where she raises sheep and trains dogs, in particular her border collie Jack, to participate in sheepdog trials.  As the novel opens, the two are participating in a Championship Sheepdog Trial and waiting for their turn when the sound of a shotgun fills the air and George, Maddie’s close friend, lies dead in the field.

George was widely liked and admired, both for his expertise as a trainer of sheepdogs and as a mentor for those new to competitions.  The police can find no motive for the shooting, and the case remains open.

Maddie’s life continues as usual, at least on the surface.  She works with dogs who bite other dogs, who are traumatized by thunder, or who don’t obey their owner’s commands.  Her love and understanding of canines wins their trust, and each animal that is brought to her clinic learns appropriate behaviors and their place in a family.  George, however, is never far from her mind.

Then Maggie receives a call from the director of a local humane society.  A half-dead German shepherd had been found on the side of a road, and after he was released from intensive care at a local veterinary clinic no one could get near him.  Aware of the excellent work that the organization does, Maggie agrees to see the dog.  She names him Cisco and becomes impressed with him despite the issues he presents, and she agrees during her second visit at the society to foster him at her farm and work with him there.

A few days after Cisco’s arrival, Maggie returns home after her office hours to find one of her guard dogs in a drug-induced stupor and Cisco missing from his cage.  The local veterinarian tells Maggie that the guard dog looks like the victim of a fentanyl overdose, and just like a person she had to receive a dose of nalozone immediately to save her life.  A prolonged search of the area doesn’t find Cisco despite Maggie asking all her friends and neighbors for help.  It isn’t hard to believe that someone is trying to destroy Maggie’s life.

Patricia McConnell has written a wonderful novel.  She has a doctorate in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, researching dog behavior and communication between professional trainers and working domestic animals.  She has appeared on CNN, written articles for numerous publications, has presented nationally and internationally, and now is the author of this outstanding mystery with its believable characters and exciting plot.

You can read more about her at this website.

Check out the complete Marilyn’s Mystery Reads at her website.  In addition to book review posts, there are sections featuring Golden Oldies, Past Masters and Mistresses, and an About Marilyn column that features her opinions about everything to do with mystery novel.

How fast the summer flies by!  It’s almost time for school again, at least at Brandeis University where I teach courses on mysteries in the BOLLI program.  My class, which starts on September 14th, will discuss SISTERS IN CRIME, women authors writing about female protagonists.

Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle are credited as being the “fathers” of the mystery novel.  But what about the “mothers”?  Do any of these names sound familiar–Metta Victoria Fuller Victor, Catherine Louise Perkis, Mary Elizabeth Braddon?  They are women who wrote mysteries in the second half of the nineteenth century but who are virtually unknown today.

In SISTERS IN CRIME, we will read novels by the women who followed these early pioneers.  How are the books of today’s female authors different from books written by male authors?  Do women have a unique perspective that comes across to readers?  We’ll start by reading Agatha Christie’s murder mystery that introduces Miss Jane Marple, an unmarried Englishwoman in a small village in 1930, and end with Deanna Raybourne’s novel featuring four British assassins who find themselves out of work.  What has happened to female protagonists in the nearly 100 years since the first Miss Marple mystery?

To give you a sense of the differences between the women, their professions, and their locations, here is our reading list:  The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie, as mentioned above, takes place in a small English village featuring an unmarried woman; J is for Judgment by Sue Grafton takes readers “across the pond” to read about a twice married and divorced private investigator; A Killing in the Hills by Julia Keller, in which the heroine is the district attorney in a small West Virginia county; The Last Place You Look by Kristin Lepionka features a world-weary private investigator with family problems; Echo by Tracy Clark, in which a Chicago police detective must put aside her private issues to solve a murder case; The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves finds us once again in the British Isles with a tough police detective; Last Seen in Havana by Teresa Dovalpage takes us across the ocean once again in search of the truth about the death of a woman’s mother; and Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourne, in which four female assassins are very reluctantly facing the end of their careers.

I hope you will join me and the members of my SISTERS IN CRIME class and read along with us.

Marilyn

When Mallory Mitchell, a police detective on the present day Edinburgh force, stepped through time a year earlier and landed in 1869 Edinburgh, she could hardly have been been prepared for what her destiny held.

She arrived in the home of Dr. Duncan Gray, where she began her Victorian life as a housemaid and then progressed to his assistant.  Now she has decided that this is her home and her future life.

Mallory and Duncan are called to the home of Lord and Lady Adler late one night to find a séance in progress.  Although neither Mallory nor Duncan is a believer in ghosts or spirits, the Adlers are friends of Duncan and his sister Isla and deserve to be heard.  When they arrive at the mansion, they are told that the spirit of a young housemaid, Nellie, spoke to a medium at the table a few minutes earlier.  “I have been murdered.  Tell Dr. Duncan Gray that he must find my killer.”

Mallory asks Lady Adler to relay what happened.  It appears that Nellie disappeared in the middle of the night three evenings previously, leaving nothing behind in the attic room she shared with the other housemaids.  There would be nothing suspicious about her disappearance except for the “fact” that her spirit appeared to Madame Paix, the medium, at the séance and said she had been murdered.

Despite Duncan’s obvious reluctance to pursue the case, Lady Adler is most insistent that he do so.  Mallory steps into the conversation and suggests that she begin gathering all relevant information, and Lady Adler agrees.  With that settled, Mallory and Duncan return to his home.

The Rip in Time series gives the reader a fascinating look into what life was like 150 years ago.  We are certainly familiar with the fashions of the time, its crinolines and bonnets for women and silk and wool top hats for men, but here we see the mores, the educational practices, and the society that allows children in the lower classes to be sent out to work as young as eight in such jobs as chimney sweeps, textile workers, or housemaids.

Mallory Mitchell is a delightful heroine–smart, personable, and adaptable to her life in Victorian Scotland.  She is surrounded by other equally interesting people–Duncan, his sister Isla, and Isla’s soon-to-be husband, Detective Hugh McCreadie.  Each contributes an important part to every novel.

Kelley Armstrong has written over 50 novels in various genres.  You can read more about her at this site.

Private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker is certain that he killed his arch-enemy Sebastian Nightwine years ago.  He “pierced him through with a sword,” according to Thomas Llewelyn, Barker’s assistant.  So how is it that Nightwine has been seen in London this very day?

The enmity between Barker and Nightwine goes back years.  At one point the two men had been friends in Canton, China, even serving together on the Osprey, a Chinese ship Barker had won in a game of chance.  But then Nightwine’s true nature began to surface, culminating in the duel that supposedly ended in his death.  But now, Barker and Llewelyn wonder, what really happened?

To secure their safety, the enquiry agents send Rebecca and Rachel, Thomas’ wife and young daughter respectively, and Lady Philippa Ashleigh, a close friend of Cyrus’ and the object of Nightwine’s perverted attentions, to Paris to keep them out of danger.

At the same time, Barker and Llewelyn become involved in another case that ultimately becomes entwined with the Nightwine one.  A young Chinese-born man who has spent nearly all his life in Hawaii is visiting London.  As he exits an omnibus, he is accosted by several Asian men and forcibly taken to the Chinese embassy and put in a cell.

Several days later, Barker and Llewelyn receive a new client, Dr. James Cantlie.  He tells the two men that a friend of  his, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, had been visiting him but hasn’t been seen for two days.  He approached Scotland Yard and the Pinkerton Agency for help but was turned down, so he has come to Barker’s Private Enquiry Agency for their help.

The doctor explains that Sun took part in the insurrection the previous year against the Manchu government in Canton.  After the government crushed the rebellion, Sun escaped and made his way to London to confer with Cantlie, who had been his mentor in China; Sun, like Cantlie, is a physician.

For Services Rendered switches between the agency’s search for Nightwine and the cell inside the Chinese embassy where Sun Yat-sen is being held.  For readers interested in history, Will Thomas’ novel is fascinating not only for its excellent look into Victorian England but for a sense of China’s history at the end of the 19th century.  In addition, there are glimpses into Scottish and Jewish traditions of the time.

As has been true for all the previous novels in this series, the author’s ability to create realistic and engaging characters is outstanding.  It’s always a pleasure to see Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn, and as always they are at the top of their form.

You can read more about the author at various sites on the web.

Summer Randall is the golden girl in the small town of Greenville, Maine.  Smart, beautiful, athletic, she appears to have it all.  So why is she running through the woods for her life in the middle of the night?

The following morning, that area is set off by yellow police crime tape.  Maine State homicide detectives Brock Justice and his partner Chloe Wright are called to the scene because what at first glance looked like a horrific car accident is clearly, on closer analysis, a brutal murder.  There’s a small cut on Summer’s side that was there before the accident, the on-scene medical examiner tells the detectives.

No sooner do Brock and Chloe arrive at the scene than Evan Mathers appears.  Several months earlier Brock had testified against Evan, then a Maine State Detective, in a wrongful shooting case.  Evan was cleared of the charge, and Brock was demoted and transferred to the northern part of the state. 

However, Brock is not able to leave the court case behind him.  He’s certain that Evan killed the victim deliberately, but he now discovers that Evan resigned from the State Police and is a member of the local force where Summer lived.

The case turns into a media circus when the victim is identified as the daughter of a U. S. Congresswoman, a woman who is always searching for problems with the police.  One of the suspects in the case is Ronnie Libby, Summer’s ex-boyfriend.  He was arrested the previous year for assaulting the young woman while on drugs.  Summer’s father Taylor threatened Ronnie and thus lost his job as a reserve officer on the town police force, and Ronnie went into a voluntary drug rehabilitation program.

Brittney LaRoux was Summer’s best friend, and she tells Brock that she is blaming herself for her friend’s death.  The two were supposed to go on a training run the previous afternoon, but Brittney had canceled at the last minute.  “And I think she might be dead because of me.”

Chloe attends Summer’s autopsy, and it’s discovered that the young woman was several weeks pregnant.  Did Summer and Ronnie get together again, and is Ronnie the baby’s father?  Or was she involved with someone else?

Brock tells Chloe that the pregnancy must remain a secret, including from Summer’s parents.  When Chloe objects, saying “That’s cold, even for you,” Brock reminds her that the fact that the victim died of a stab wound, not as originally thought by being hit by a car, became public knowledge even though it was supposed to be kept under wraps.  He doesn’t want the same thing to happen with the latest information, and his partner reluctantly agrees.

Bruce Robert Coffin has written another riveting police procedural.  His characters, with their strengths and foibles, make them true-to-life and relatable.  Plus, the twist at the end is totally satisfying.

You can read more about the author, a retired Portland, Maine police detective, at this website.

Check out the complete Marilyn’s Mystery Reads at her website.  In addition to book review posts, there are sections featuring Golden Oldies, Past Masters and Mistresses, and an About Marilyn column that features her opinions about everything to do with mystery novels.