All the President’s Menus (White House Chef Mysteries, #8)

All the President's MenusAll the President's Menus
by Julie Hyzy
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780425262399
Series: White House Chef Mystery #8
Publication Date: January 6, 2015
Pages: 294
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Due to a government sequester, entertaining at the White House has been severely curtailed. So executive chef Olivia Paras is delighted to hear that plans are still on to welcome a presidential candidate from the country of Saardisca—the first woman to run for office—and four of that nation’s top chefs.

But while leading the chefs on a kitchen tour, pastry chef Marcel passes out suddenly—and later claims he was drugged. When one of the visiting chefs collapses and dies, it’s clear someone has infiltrated the White House with ill intent. Could it be an anti-Saardiscan zealot? Is the candidate a target? Are the foreign chefs keeping more than their recipes a secret? Once again, Olivia must make sleuthing the special of the day…


A good read, though not as good as the previous four books.  This time Olivia is dealing with a conspiracy tied to a foreign delegation of chefs as well as a government sequester that has left her short a couple of chefs.

I really enjoy Ms. Hyzy’s writing; she doesn’t write to formula and she has interesting ways of changing up her characters’ lives.  She’s dropped a bomb into Olivia and Gav’s marriage that I can see massive possibilities for taking the series in a whole new direction at some point in the future.  I liked that a lot.  I can see Cyan’s future dovetailing nicely with this change as well.  Nothing might come of any of it but at least she has a veteran cozy reader speculating about the “what if?”’s instead of yawning and thinking “yeah, yeah, cozy plot #4”.

I suspect I didn’t love this one as much as previous books because a lot of it centered around a country that the author necessarily had to fabricate and she did such a good job of creating it without aping any existing countries that it made it rather hard for me to invest myself in it.  But the ending was great – I loved that final scene at Blair House (although Olivia’s final scene with the President wasn’t much of a surprise to me; it seemed the only plausible scenario).

The series started off slow for me, but exploded onto my top 10 list at book four, and this book only solidifies my attachment to Olivia, Gav and the rest of the crew.  I’m looking forward to the next book.

Death Comes to London (Kurland St. Mary Mystery, #2)

Death Comes to LondonDeath Comes to London
by Catherine Lloyd
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780758287359
Series: Kurland St. Mary Mystery #2
Publication Date: November 25, 2014
Pages: 259
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Kensington

With the reluctant blessings of their father, the rector of Kurland St. Mary, Lucy Harrington and her sister Anna leave home for a social season in London. At the same time, Lucy's special friend Major Robert Kurland is summoned to the city to accept a baronetcy for his wartime heroism.

Amidst the dizzying whirl of balls and formal dinners, the focus shifts from mixing and matchmaking to murder when the dowager Countess of Broughton, the mother of an old army friend of Robert, drops dead. When it's revealed she's been poisoned, Robert's former betrothed, Miss Chingford, is accused, and she in turn points a finger at Anna. To protect her sister, Lucy enlists Robert's aid in drawing out the true culprit.

But with suspects ranging from resentful rivals and embittered family members to the toast of the ton, it will take all their sleuthing skills to unmask the poisoner before more trouble is stirred up. . .


I chose this book to read right before going to sleep at night because it’s a Regency historical cozy and would be a more calming read than, say, a thriller or a paranormal ghost story.

This was also dumb, because I enjoyed the story enough that I didn’t want to close the book and I ended up staying up too late three nights in a row.

Ms. Lloyd created excellent characters: likeable and flawed.  The clincher for me is not that they are flawed, but that there isn’t any spotlight on the flaws; they weren’t created to give the characters something to overcome, they just are what they are.  Lucy is too headstrong and independent for most of the eligible men of London, and maybe a bit too old.  Oh well, she is what she is and she’s fine with it.  Robert is a grumpy ass in a lot of pain (war wound).  He’s a good person, just really not subtle and he’s short-tempered.  He apologises when he offends, but well, it’s the way he is.  Anna comes closest to a trope: beautiful, naive, sweet-natured, but she shows not only the expected flashes of temper but also appealing moments of rational thinking and decisive action.

The mystery concerns the death of a dowager countess during a ball at Almack’s – she was universally loathed so the suspects are thick on the ground.  The plotting is complex, well-thought out and until the very end there are just too many people who could have done the terrible deeds that begin with that old woman’s death.

There’s a romantic element between Lucy and Robert but it’s ethereal at best; I would have liked a little more forward momentum and less of Lucy jumping to unwarranted conclusions.  (The end was what griped me the most – the rest was fine.)

A great read and it looks to be a great series – I’ll be waiting for book 3.

Persuasion

PersuasionPersuasion
by Jane Austen
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781435127432
Publication Date: January 1, 2012
Pages: 228
Genre: Fiction, Literature
Publisher: Barnes and Noble

 

Well, this is where I wish I paid more attention in my English Lit. classes.  Then I could use this review to wax lyrical (or at least literate) about the exposition, the rising action, the climax and the ultimate resolution of Anne Elliot’s story in Persuasion.  Unfortunately, I didn’t pay attention in class (or attend class very often) so here I am floundering for a way to adequately discuss one of Jane Austen’s finest.  (Does this make me a cautionary tale?)

I’m going to start by saying I still like Pride & Prejudice better.  I’ve heard many people describe Persuasion as Austen’s most mature work – which makes sense because it was also her last – and I can definitely see the truth in that.  But Persuasion lacks the humour, the lightness, of her earlier works, although it still retains all of the bite.

If Miss Austen wrote from life she lacked any positive parental role models.  In every book of hers I’ve read, at least one parent was vapid, shallow, vain, neurotic, dyspeptic, a hypochondriac or a combination of any of the aforementioned.  I’d argue it’s the single uniting factor in all her work (although I’ve yet to read her juvenilia or Sanditon).  Anne Elliot gets the rawest deal of all of JA’s MC’s – her family has no affection for her at all.  She is the Cinderella in their lives: useful only for propping them up when they’re down, being the person applied to for attentiveness, while never receiving any attention or affection in return.

Thank goodness for Lady Russell; only Lady Russell persuaded Anne to cut off her engagement to the man she loved 8 1/2 years ago because his prospects were not guaranteed.  Now that man is back and he’s rich.  He might also be a tiny bit bitter about having his heart broken all those years ago.

I enjoyed the story; I definitely liked it more than Emma (sorry mom) and probably more than Northanger Abbey.  Maybe.  It’s a more staid, more serious work than the others.  What little frivolity there is ends in disaster and is used to illustrate a defect in character.  As I prefer characters who ‘dearly love to laugh’, Elizabeth Bennett holds pride of place on my favorite Austen list – but Persuasion and Anne Elliot aren’t far behind.

 

(NB: While the edition information is correct for this review, the cover is not.  And I hate not having the correct cover on my reviews.)

Seventh Grave and No Body (Charlie Davidson, #7)

Seventh Grave and No BodySeventh Grave and No Body
by Darynda Jones
Rating: ★★★★½
isbn: 9781250045645
Series: Charlie Davidson #7
Publication Date: October 4, 2014
Pages: 322
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Disclaimer:  This review will be biased and unbalanced.  I have love for this series and my objectivity suffers proportionally.  I truly left off 1/2 star just because I’m certain there are probably flaws (all books have them) but my love for Charlie and the gang have blinded me to whatever they might be.

So a couple of days ago I was feeling rather sorry for myself.  I injured my back – nothing serious, truly; just enough to put a hitch in my gitalong and make me feel mopey and old.  My husband came home and put a book package on the coffee table.  After I pointed out the cruelty of putting a new book on a surface that was just out of my reach (can’t bend down, of course), he handed it to me and upon opening it discovered my copy of Seventh Grave and No Body.  Proof that God takes pity on me, because I NEVER get my pre-ordered books on release day; living on the tail end of the world means everything always takes days later to arrive than it does for the U.S./Europe.

Suddenly my back injury was a spend-all-day-reading free card, and boy howdy did I use it.

So in the last book prophesies about Charlie’s existence and her role in the final battle became clearer.  In this one, Charlie starts finding out what she’s truly capable of.  Reyes always told her she was more powerful than any other being, but Charlie always seemed to view it as rhetoric.  Now she finds out it isn’t, but that she can still get her ass handed to her when she leasts expects it.  Circumstances are also forcing her to confront her immaturity too; big changes are coming and she can’t keep living in the shallow end of the maturity pool.  I always loved Charlie – even when her sass and snark were obvious coping mechanisms – but I quite like the (only slightly) more mature version too.  She still hides behind sarcasm and smart-ass banter, but she’s also utterly selfless and has a firm grip on what’s important.

As with all the books, there are several story lines running simultaneously; human mysteries as well as mythical ones.  I like this style – it keeps things moving and avoids that mid-book bogging down that sometimes happens.  My only complaint: one of the story lines (a small one that has no meaning to the overall plot of this book) doesn’t get wrapped up and I wanted to know what happened.  The sub-plot setting reminded me of the X-Files episode ‘Closure’ and I was sorry not to find out how it ends.

I’m not going to say more – although I could babble ad naseum – because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone.  Things happen.  Big things.  Suffice it to say that I loved reading it, I’m sorry it’s over, and how many days until book 8?

Tears of Pearl (Lady Emily, #4)

Tears of PearlTears of Pearl
by Tasha Alexander
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780312383701
Series: Lady Emily Mystery #4
Publication Date: January 1, 2009
Pages: 307
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: William Morrow

I was tempted to give another 3.5 stars to this book, but I think personal bias might be getting in the way on this one, so I’ll err on the side of optimism.

The whole of this book takes place in Constantinople, during Lady Emily’s honeymoon.  They become embroiled in a murder investigation that involves the Sultan’s harem and the son of an Englishman.

I’m of two minds about the setting; I’ve never found sultans or harems romantic or intriguing or even interesting.  But I’ve always been fascinated by the advanced learnings of the Arabian culture.  So while I found the whole sultan/harem thing a giant yawn, I did enjoy the glimpses of beauty, culture and education – especially on the part of the Turkish women (although I was struggling to keep track of who belonged to which palace).  The author writes a fair story: she doesn’t deny the harems are at their base a form of slavery, but she is quick to point out that the English system wasn’t a model of feminism either; I thought she did a very good job comparing each against the other.

The murder mystery itself was again diabolical, but this time I knew the killer from the start.  The motivation was a complete mystery until it’s revealed to Lady Emily, so my sureness as to the villain didn’t detract from my investment in the story.

 

Everybody in this book had a role to play – a job in service to the story.  Except one.  That character never served any significant purpose; the author never pretended this character had any part of the murder plot itself.  So it was spotlight-obvious who the killer was.

INSERT SPOILER TAG HERE

I love Lady Emily and Colin’s relationship: it’s the stuff of pure fantasy – the ideal relationship.  Real life lacks enough of any ideal that I thoroughly enjoy it in my books, and it’s this relationship as much as anything else that keeps drawing me back in.  I’ve been wondering how, now that they are married, the author was going to keep real Victorian life at bay and I have to say she found a very clever, if not pleasant, way of doing so.  Within the world she’s created for Lady Emily and Colin it’s an entirely plausible and realistic outcome.  And yes, I’m being purposefully vague so as not to spoil anything for anyone.

I’m definitely taking a break now; time to step back and return to the series at a later date, but I’m looking forward to enjoying the next book when I do.

A Fatal Waltz (Lady Emily, #3)

A Fatal WaltzA Fatal Waltz
by Tasha Alexander
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780061174223
Series: Lady Emily Mystery #3
Publication Date: January 1, 2008
Pages: 296
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: William Morrow

I’ll admit, I read a short story the author posted online about Emily and Colin that takes place immediately after A Fatal Waltz, before I read this book.  The short story was replete with spoilers, so I knew, in essence, how this book ended.  I don’t mind spoilers and I’ve been known to seek them out, but in this instance, it might have backfired a little.

A Fatal Waltz stalled a bit for me about midway.  This could be because of the spoiler-effect or it could be that the story just didn’t intrigue me enough to hold my attention.  I’m not sure.  Either way, I enjoyed the book; I looked forward to picking it up and I got a bit irritable when I was interrupted.  It just didn’t flow as quickly as the first two did.

A character from A Poisoned Season is murdered in this book (good riddance – he was vile) and Ivy’s husband is arrested and thrown into Newgate.  Sensitive papers are missing and the victim had apparently received a warning/threat from Vienna before he was killed, but that too is missing.  Lady Emily hies off to Vienna to try to find the person who sent the note, and it’s here the story might have first lost me, because it never seemed reasonable that Lady Emily had enough information to know where to start looking.

Lady Emily’s goals start merging/interfering with Colin’s assignment in Vienna and the two find themselves working together for the first time.  But really, I think this entire plot construction was built around the romantic conflict of Lady Emily meeting one of Colin’s past um… dalliances.  One who was rather disinclined to be pushed into the past.  Ultimately, as I write this review, I think this is why the book wasn’t a 4-star or higher read for me:  I’d bet a dollar that the author came up with the romantic conflict first and created a murder plot to justify it second.

Speaking of the murder plot – it was ultimately a very good one.  I liked the way the author presented the pieces of the puzzle to both the reader and Lady Emily; I just wish it wasn’t so obfuscated by the shenanigans in Vienna.

I told myself I was going to take a break after this book and start reading some of the other books in the Pile, but when push came to shove last night, I picked up Tears of the Pearl and dove back into Colin and Lady Emily’s world.  Guess I’m just not quite ready for a break.

A Poisoned Season (Lady Emily Mystery, #2)

A Poisoned SeasonA Poisoned Season
by Tasha Alexander
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780061174148
Series: Lady Emily Mystery #2
Publication Date: January 1, 2007
Pages: 308
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mythology
Publisher: William Morrow

I thoroughly enjoyed this second outing of Lady Emily; I was sucked back into her society from the first page.  No more guilt-ridden, moony angst!  But it was not without its issues and shortcomings.

A Poisoned Season picks up where the last book And Only to Deceive leaves off – Emily has returned from Greece in time for the London Season but still chafes against the rules set out for polite society.    There’s a pretender to the French throne in town, a cat burglar, and a murder – all contributing to the enlivenment of the season.  In an attempt to help out her American friend Margaret, she unwittingly makes herself the focus of scandalous rumours concerning an illicit affair between herself and the Duke of Bainbridge.  Colin is trying to stop a coup d’etat.  Her best friend Ivy is having marital problems, and let’s not forget the wager between Lady Emily and Colin…

I think the author tried to weave too many threads into the story.  Bainbridge is so prominent as to be considered a main character in the first half of the book – then he all but disappears without so much as a line of dialogue between himself and Emily.  Perhaps we’ll see him again in a future book, but the reader isn’t given any indication of that.  Also, there’s a growing animosity towards Lady Emily on the part of Robert’s boss, culminating with a nasty scene at Ivy’s ball – but it’s never explained.  What was up with that?!?

Mostly, though, I just enjoyed the story and the mystery(ies).  The murder mystery was exceptionally well done.  I was totally bamboozled; talk about Machiavellian planning.  The secondary mysteries were entertaining, but not overly impressive; the identity of one of the characters was evident from the first clue.

If I found Colin less than swoon-worthy in the first book, I was a true convert by the end of this one.  He’s my idea of a romantic hero: confident enough of his own identity to be completely at ease with a strong, independent female.  His gift at the end of the book was inspired for both it’s real value and its metaphorical one.  If I didn’t like Lady Emily, he alone might be reason enough for me to keep reading.

A Little Night Murder (Blackbird Sisters Mystery, #10)

A Little Night MurderA Little Night Murder
by Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780451415271
Series: Blackbird Sisters #10
Publication Date: August 4, 2014
Pages: 372
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Obsidian

While a pregnant Nora relaxes in her best friend’s Bucks County pool, she doesn’t have far to look for her next big story. A Broadway show is in rehearsal next door at the home of the legendary late composer “Toodles” Tuttle. His diva widow, Boom Boom, reigns over his estate with an iron fist. She has also racked up a chorus line of enemies, so the old broad’s death is a hotly anticipated event. But imagine everyone’s dismay when it’s her beloved daughter, Jenny, who drops dead just as the lights are set to go on for the lucrative new Toodles musical.


This series is one of my top cozy favourites and I always look forward to the next one.  A Little Night Murder, though – this one was just chock full o’ surprises.

Lexie’s back!  Nora’s (the MC) best friend is out of prison early for reasons unexplained and Nora’s helping her hide from the press and all the former clients who lost their fortunes when Lexie’s partner’s embezzlement came to light.  Nora is 7 months pregnant and her constant financial worries have reduced her to wearing her sister’s old maternity t-shirts sporting such gems as ‘Let Me Out, It’s Dark in Here!’  Nora and Mick are trying to prepare for the birth of not only their biological daughter, but for the adoption of Nora’s grand-niece whose biological mother is in prison and due the week after Nora.  Speaking of biological mothers: Mick’s mom is in town and Nora’s meeting her for the first time.

Nora’s sisters aren’t left out of the angst either:  Libby is imploding over becoming a grandmother and Emma has reached the pinnacle of unsuitability in her lovers.

Those are just the things mentioned on the front flap.  I’m not mentioning anything else because if you enjoy this series, I don’t want to take anything away from the surprises awaiting you.  Suffice it to say there are more than a fair few.

In the midst of all of this, Lexie’s neighbour, an old showgirl has-been is trying to revive her career, claiming she has found an unpublished musical left in her late husband’s papers.  He was famous for his musicals and everybody is buzzing about this new find.  Until the man’s daughter is found dead and oddities and absurdities surrounding the production become apparent.  Nora’s editor has given her an ultimatum:  a story about Lexie and her whereabouts, or a story about Jenny’s murder.

Generally speaking, this was a wonderful romp of a story and I didn’t want to stop reading it once I started.  The mystery plotting is always well done, but my investment is 100% in the characters.  The sisters and the people surrounding them are all fleshed out characters with realistic lives, if sometimes their names are a little out there. (I went to school with a Binky and Bubba (sister and brother) so I won’t say the names are unrealistic.)

My only harumph: Nora’s boss/editor is an Aussie and perhaps in an attempt to avoid the cliched Aussie slang terms such as Bonzer!, Fair Dinkum! etc. etc., the author has chosen to skate a bit close to the obscure.  The one that sticks out the most is ‘dinger’ – which I had to look up.  It’s recognised slang for ‘condom’ but my Aussie born-and-bred husband has never heard of it.  Perhaps some of my BL Aussie friends are more familiar with it?  There were a couple of others as well, but I forgot what they were and I’ll never find them again.  Also, in a book with no swearing, I snickered over the author’s liberal use of ‘bugger’, but I’m assuming she’s well aware of the word’s meaning and is banking on most of her readers being unaware.  I’m choosing to see it as a quiet little rebellion on her part.  🙂

The mystery is tied up at the end but the characters are left with a shock – not a cliffhanger, but definitely a story to be continued.  Which makes me happy, because it means there’s another Blackbird Sister adventure on the horizon.  Somebody pass me the champagne and a tacky t-shirt.

NB: I’ve been googling the surprise at the end of this book and personally I think it’s a tissue paper dragon based on the holes apparent after a quick search.  But such a thing does exist, who knew?

How reading changed my life

How Reading Changed My LifeHow Reading Changed My Life
by Anna Quindlen
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780345422781
Publication Date: November 15, 2001
Pages: 85
Genre: Books and Reading, Essays
Publisher: Penguin Random House

THE LIBRARY OF CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT is a groundbreaking series where America’s finest writers and most brilliant minds tackle today’s most provocative, fascinating, and relevant issues. Striking and daring, creative and important, these original voices on matters political, social, economic, and cultural, will enlighten, comfort, entertain, enrage, and ignite healthy debate across the country.


For a such a slim volume, this book left me with many, many thoughts. I think it would make an excellent book club read because the issues it raises are many and conversations could go on for hours. TL;DR version: it’s good and worth the read.

My personal feelings about this book jumped around like a yo-yo: at the beginning I was saying to myself “she’s describing my childhood!” and in the next breath I was saying “Oh stop making sweeping generalisations about things you don’t know!” and then back again to “yes, that’s precisely the point!”.

This slim volume consists of 70 pages of Quindlen’s musings concerning reading and the importance of it to her life thus far (and so many of us).

She makes some generalisations about gender that I didn’t agree with (why women read what they read vs. why men read what they read). My feelings (and I recognise they are just my own) are that she’s trying to give meaning to something that doesn’t need to have it. Knowing what MT gets out of reading Bosch and what I get out of reading Kate Daniels isn’t going to give any great insights into my marriage. The important insight is that we share an enjoyment of reading.

Quindlen also touches upon the great upheaval concerning The Canon and the collective wig-out pretentious idiots around the world are having at the inclusion of female and culturally diverse authors. I found this part pretty amusing, because both camps are right and wrong but ultimately doing exactly what they should to move things forward. Do women and culturally diverse authors need to be part of The Canon? Yes. Are there people who want titles accepted as part of The Canon not for merit but because they are diverse, or financially successful? Yes. But this acrimonious tug-of-war is exactly what literature ultimately needs because the titles that survive the brouhaha are the ones that will actually deserve to be called great works of literature, regardless of color or gender. So while I think the fight is ultimately silly, I think it’s ultimately vital too.

I was also amused by her attempt to argue the merits of reading for pleasure and entertainment; I agree with her – I wholeheartedly do, but her attempt to relate to everyman fails spectacularly. She uses her own guilty pleasure read as an example, to say that it’s ok to read ‘low brow’ books. Her guilty pleasure? The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy, who by-the-by, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1932. Now, if I was someone who suffered self-consciousness about what others thought of my reading choices, I don’t think her Nobel prize winning guilty pleasure is going to make me feel vindicated or proud about my love for Deborah Harkness.

What I do think she nailed perfectly is the subjective mire of book banning and the importance of educational reading lists that focus more on instilling a love of literature and less on Important Books that contain Important Thoughts. She deftly handles the digital vs. print debate (spoiler: both will win) and she definitely, perfectly, describes the sheer joy of reading: for knowledge, for entertainment, for understanding, and for the places it can take you without ever leaving your chair. A worthy and thoughtful read.

The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe

Well, that’s over. From the front flap of the book:

Prompted to read a book translated into English from each of the world’s 195 UN-recognized countries (plus Taiwan and one extra), Ann sought out classics, folktales, current favorites and commercial triumphs, novels, short stories, memoirs, and countless mixtures of all these things.

The world between two covers, the world to which Ann introduces us with affection and no small measure of wit, is a world rich in the kind of narratives that engage us passionately: we meet an irreverent junk food–obsessed heroine in Kuwait, an explorer from Togo who spent years among the Inuit in Greenland, and a former child circus performer of Roma background seeking sanctuary in Switzerland.

I was excited to read this book because I was looking forward to hearing about Morgan’s experiences sourcing native literature from each country and her thoughts about what she read. After all, isn’t that what the title and flap seem to be offering?

Unfortunately, that’s not what I got. What I got was a dissertation on reading globally, writing for a global audience and a whole lot of theorising about imperialism, racism, war and how they relate to writing and publishing. The only time Morgan mentions her experiences with sourcing and reading literature from every UN recognized country at all in this book is when she’s using them as citations to support the idea she’s espousing at that moment. As to her thoughts about what she read – they’re almost non-existent until nearly the end when she discusses her feelings about the perceptions of non-Europeans/North Americans of the British and the Yanks.

I’d have given this book 1 star, but the book does have merit; it’s thoughtful, insightful, and well-written. If this is what you’re looking for, definitely check out this book. But this wasn’t what I was looking for; I was looking for what was advertised on the packet and since I didn’t get that my rating is lower than the book objectively deserves.