Mick Abruzzo: The Second Wire

Mick Abruzzo: The Second Wire
by Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781483533490
Series: Blackbird Sisters #9.5
Publication Date: June 1, 2014
Pages: 70
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Self-published

The son of New Jersey's last remaining mob boss, Mick Abruzzo wants to live in the real world with a legitimate job, a wife and happy family. But when his family needs him, Mick feels obligated to help. This time, it's his presumed-dead brother, Little Frankie Abruzzo, who needs help getting out from under a pushy bookie. But the simple job of getting Frankie out of debt soon escalates into bad business that threatens the life Mick wants with his lover, Nora Blackbird.

At the start of book 10 A Little Night Murder (I think) it’s obvious there’s some backstory missing; something that was going on between book 9 and 10. This short story fills in the gaps. It’s not strictly necessary, but for a reader invested in the series, it’s satisfying to have.

As a bonus (because not all between novel novellas are equal) this is a very well written, fully formed story about Mick’s struggles to get out of the family business and stay legit. Martin always wrote Mick as a real person, struggling against his upbringing to be better and this story gives the struggle centre stage.

Really well done and reminds me why and how much I miss this series.

Dead as a Door Knocker (House Flipper Mystery, #1)

Dead as a Door Knocker
Rating: ★★
isbn: 9781250197429
Series: House-Flipper Mystery #1
Publication Date: February 11, 2019
Pages: 368
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks

Whitney Whitaker dreams of running her own real estate company instead of managing properties part-time for a small agency. So when one of her more difficult clients decides to liquidate a property, Whitney seizes the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to score the distressed house for a song. But when her cat Sawdust digs up a corpse in the flower bed, all bets are off.

When the investigation - led by Nashville Police Detective Collin Flynn - starts moving slower than molasses, Whitney figures an important clue must be missing. So she launches an investigation of her own before the mortgage property forecloses on the property and Whitney loses her investment. But who was composting in the garden? Who would want that person dead? And is Whitney their next victim?

Diane Kelly writes a very good series about an IRS agent, Tara Holloway, and a surprisingly decent series about a police officer and her K-9 (surprising because the dog has its own chapters).

This is not on par with those other efforts. This was just short of awful.

The characters are good, but the author has fully grown adults running around saying “the b word” but not thinking twice about haring off to the home of someone they decide must be a suspect and “interrogating” them, flinging accusations around like confetti.

The plot was well constructed but just about smothered under chapters of introspection and a detective just short of being earnestly incompetent.

Sawdust is awesome, but Kelly tends to give him slightly canine tendencies that don’t quite ring true, and frankly, no matter how endearing Sawdust is, a reader can’t help but wonder if this isn’t a marketing gimmick to appease the cat lovers out there.

Disappointing, but this won’t be a series I’ll be continuing.

Killer Wedding (Madeline Bean, #3)

Killer Wedding
by Jerrilyn Farmer
Rating: ★★★★★
isbn: 9780380795987
Series: Madeline Bean #3
Publication Date: June 7, 2000
Pages: 256
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: HarperCollins

Although not about to say "I do" anytime soon, hip party-planner Madeline Bean is no stranger to the phenomenon known as the LA wedding; the good, the bad and the kind where the party lasts longer than the marriage. Still, Maddie never expected to be the guest of Vivian Duncan, the West Coast's grande dame of wedding consultants, at a lavish affair held amidst the dramatically lit fossils in the Nature Museum's Hall of Dinosaurs.

While checking out the glittering event, Maddie, with her keen event planner's instinct, realizes something is not quite right, but what? The groom is on time. The bride is beautiful. And a corpse wearing a Cartier bracelet is dangling from the triceratops skeleton. Ah, yes.

That. With people disappearing and the bride in tears, Maddie just may be the next species to become extinct...unless she can reveal the murderer fast.

Quicker than she can whip up a white chocolate wedding cake, Maddie follows the trail deep into dark jungles---urban and otherwise---amid tantalizing tales of smuggled gems, while fending off a nervous bridegroom, a crazed carjacker, and a half-naked ice-sculptor and his trusty chainsaw. Along the way, she discovers something old, something new, something deadly and something a wedding pro should never, ever do.

I love this book, it holds up so well to re-reading. Part of what makes the story so fascinating is what the author shares in her acknowledgements at the start of the book. A chance meeting with a fascinating gentleman in a crammed hotel breakfast room, and the background of this book is born.

Maddie and friends are temporarily shut down while they battle a non-compete clause being upheld by the company that bought out their now defunct catering business. The premiere wedding planner in LA wants out and thinks if she acts like Maddie is buying her out, then Maddie actually will. All of this culminates in Maddie and co. being invited to a wedding at the Natural History Museum, where she finds a dead body draped over the main dinosaur display. Trying to be nice and lend a helping hand to the deceased’s family, she stumbles on an amazing story involving smuggling and a fabulous treasure, of sorts.

What also makes this a great story is that it was written at a time when a cozy could be a cozy without being so far up its own prudish backside that it doubled as a See Jane Run story for children. Sex scenes are modest, but the author isn’t afraid to use f bombs judiciously and where they’re most effective. This book’s characters read like they could be real people in the real world, and they’re the kind you’d see yourself liking.

It’s nice to see an old favorite can remain a favorite after 20 years.

Immaculate Reception (Madeline Bean, #2)

Immaculate Reception
by Jerrilyn Farmer
Rating: ★★★★★
isbn: 9780380795970
Series: Madeline Bean #2
Publication Date: April 30, 1999
Pages: 256
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Avon Books

The Pope is coming to breakfast, and Madeline Bean's got frittatas on the skillet. What a coup for gourmet caterer Mad Bean and her company, the event-planning wizards, chosen to mastermind L.A.'s official welcoming extravaganza. Pulling off the early morning meal for His Holiness, and two thousand high profile bigwigs, sounds like great fun for the unflappable Ms. Bean.

But things quickly go from serene to sinister when a young priest turns up dead in the bed of an uninhibited Hollywood star, and a yellowed page of Latin scrawl, found tucked in an old book of mouthwatering Church recipes, reveals a mysterious Jesuit Brother's shocking past. Even the course of Madeline's ragged love life gets a jolt as charming Xavier Jones, the man who left her at the alter ten years ago, reappears and still won't explain why he bugged out. With the Pope arriving any day, it's up to Madeline to sort out this unholy mess of burnt brioche, tantalizing treasure, pesky naked starlets, and homicidal caterers-or a party that should go down in history could be history before it even begins.

I read this book when it first came out over 20 years ago, and I loved it. I’ve re-read it since a couple of times, but never after I started writing my thoughts down, so I picked it up again this week and I have to say it ages perfectly. Farmer was a talented writer who wrote great mysteries and very real characters you’d be happy to call friends.

Immaculate Reception is the re-imagining of the very real happenings of the Catholic church in the 1930’s, specifically a document called Humani generis unitas (On the Unity of the Human Race). This document was a draft for an encyclical planned by Pope Pius XI before his death on February 10, 1939. It condemned antisemitism, racism and the persecution of Jews. Because it was never issued, it is sometimes referred to as “The Hidden Encyclical” or “The Lost Encyclical.” Farmer also ties some Nazi stolen treasure stories into the mix for a breathtaking ending. This might all sound over the top and Indiana Jones, but it’s definitely not. But it’s a great story that can leave invested readers questioning the line between heroism and villainism. It’s also – in between all that – a fun, lighthearted book.

The Leper of St. Giles (Brother Cadfael Mystery, #5)

The Leper of St. Giles
by Ellis Peters
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780333319857
Series: Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #5
Publication Date: August 27, 1981
Pages: 224
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Macmillan

Brother Cadfael has had no time to think about the grand wedding which is to take place in the church at Shrewsbury Abbey and is causing such excitement in the city. The groom is an aging nobleman; the bride a very young woman coerced into the marriage by her greedy guardians. But it soon becomes apparent that the groom, Huon de Domville, is a cold, harsh man -- in stark contrast to his beautiful bride-to-be. Before the wedding can take place, a savage killing occurs, setting Brother Cadfael the task of determining the truth, which turns out to be strange indeed.

For slower paced, traditional mysteries that are very skilfully written, you can’t go wrong with Brother Cadfael. When Peters created a crusader turned monk, she gave herself a large canvas on which to paint a variety of clever, interesting crimes.

The Leper of St. Giles takes place largely in and around St. Giles, the hospice for lepers that lies just outside Shrewsbury, but it’s largely about the wedding of an 18 year old girl, sold off by her guardians for a large portion of her own inheritance, to a cold, unfeeling 60-something land baron who only bought her lands and is taking her on sufferance. Of course she’s fragile and innocent and lovely and of course his squire is around the bend in love with her and incandescent over the injustice of her treatment. And of course the baron ends up murdered.

There’s a plot twist in this book; a rather major one, but it’s telegraphed early on, so that I knew long before it was revealed. It’s a good one, but if Peters hadn’t split the difference, the early guess would have ruined the story. As it is, Peters seems to have covered her bets and kept that reveal from being absolutely pivotal to the plot, making the ultimate solution a surprise, and a tragic one at that.

A few of the series characters readers enjoy aren’t here in this book, but there are other characters that endear themselves to the reader. There’s a bit of humor here and there too, making this a much more enjoyable read than the last, St. Peters’ Fair, which was a good story but dragged. I’d be best pleased if we saw Bran and Joscelin again, though I’m not counting on it.

This is one of the better of the 5 I’ve read so far, and I read it for the center square – Poe’s Raven – on my Halloween Bingo Card for 2020

Murders and Metaphors

This is one of those series where the premise and the characters are strong, but the writing and editing could be better. A bookshop with a magically sustained tree growing through the center that communicates through books with its owners; a raven that talks and a cat that understands more than he should; a native American sheriff that plays a strong role in the plots.

The mystery was ok; a little too frantic, but well done and I didn’t guess the murderer. The motive was weak; plenty of other suspects had much more compelling reasons to kill the victim, which leaves the murderer’s reasons feeling way too shallow.

There’s a lot to like, and it’s not an unenjoyable read, if you’ll excuse the double negatives, it’s just not a great read. I enjoyed the time I spent reading it enough to keep reading it, but not enough to feel anxious about reading the next one.

I read this for the Black Cat square on my Halloween Bingo 2020 card.

Murder by Death: The book that was based on the movie that inspired the blog name

Murder by Death
by H.R.F. Keating, Neil Simon
Rating: ★★★★½
isbn: 0352397276
Publication Date: January 1, 1976
Pages: 176
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Star Books

Novelization of the screen play by Neil Simon. Various "famous sleuths" (or their somewhat thinly disguised copies) are invited by a mysterious millionaire to stay at his house and solve a who-dun-it, with the winner getting millions.

I re-read this almost perfectly brilliant book, based on the absolutely brilliant movie, for Halloween bingo’s Dark and Stormy Night square.

If you haven’t seen the movie, written by Neil Simon and released in the 1970’s, and you’re a fan of classic mysteries and oddball humor, you’re missing out on a classic. It’s brilliantly written and brilliantly casted. It’s an homage and a spoof, so if spoof’s aren’t your thing, skip it, you’ll be disappointed. It’s the original Clue! only the characters are based on Nick and Nora, Miss Marple, Sam Spade, Hercule Poirot, and Charlie Chan.

The book was written to be a faithful reproduction of the movie, though H.R.F. Keating uses the opportunity of the written word to name drop additional authors like Conan Doyle and Sayers. And it is an exact, faithful reproduction of the movie – until the last 5 short paragraphs where Keating, apparently, couldn’t help himself and changed the ending. It’s a small thing, but it sets my teeth on edge because it’s a sop.

Still, I cherish this book as I do the movie. I just need to stop at the fifth to last paragraph.

Sympathy for the Devil (Mad Bean Mystery, #1)

Sympathy for the Devil
by Jerrilyn Farmer
Rating: ★★★★½
isbn: 9780380795963
Series: Madeline Bean #1
Publication Date: May 31, 1998
Pages: 248
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Avon Books

In the years before I started tracking my reading in the mid 2000’s I’d read this book several times, but it’s obviously been sitting on the shelf, neglected ever since, because I have no record of a review for it.

This came out in the heyday of the cozy mystery, before big publishing corrupted the sub-genre into a cash-cow, cookie-cutter formula. Madeline Bean and her partner Wesley own a catering company that’s hip with the Hollywood crowd, throwing parties for the rich and infamous. When their latest client is killed, Wesley’s old grudge with the man makes him look like the best suspect.

Farmer write a hell of a mystery. It’s fun, it’s cozy, it’s fast-paced and the dialog is witty, intelligent and engaging. These are characters one would choose to be friends with. And the Huntley family is diabolically dysfunctional in ways that are hard to imagine unless you watch a lot of entertainment news.

The plotting was fascinating. So many promising, legitimate possibilities and so many red herrings. The climax is dramatic but well done – not overplayed – and the murderer was a surprise.

I enjoyed every book in this series, until it was cut short for reasons never explained; I’ve always been disappointed that it ended long before its time, but thankful that I have them all on my shelves to revisit.

I read this for the Halloween Square on my 2020 Halloween Bingo card.

The Falcon Always Wings Twice (Meg Langslow, #27)

The Falcon Always Wings Twice
by Donna Andrews
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781250193001
Series: Meg Langslow #27
Publication Date: October 16, 2020
Pages: 312
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

27 books and I don’t think Andrews has written a bad one yet. The only books in this series that I enjoy less than the others are the ones with settings that aren’t typically my jam.

This is one of those books. The story takes place at a Renaissance Fair being hosted by Meg’s grandmother during summer weekends at the Craft School she owns and runs. Ren Fairs aren’t my thing; I had a brief fling with them as a teen-ager, but you have to be seriously invested to get into a Ren Fair in Florida’s heat and humidity, and I enjoyed the arts and crafts more than the food and the role-playing.

Still, the Red Fair as envisaged by Andrews sounds like a pretty good time: actors that do a daily improve around a loose plot involving the heir to the throne of their fictitious kingdom of Albion. Unfortunately, their nefarious villain takes his job a little too much to heart, and is on the verge of termination for harassment when he’s found dead in the woods outside the fairgrounds, murdered.

What follows is a well-plotted mystery, as Meg and her family assist the police with their investigations while continuing to run the fair. The mystery of who murdered Terrance wasn’t obvious, but it wasn’t a shock either, though Andrews does a pretty good job with clues and misdirection.

Meg is an inspiration to me, not only as the most realistically organised character I’ve ever read, but also the most unflappable. She is so capable that just reading about her makes me feel more capable by osmosis. And her family never, ever fails to delight; the more of them that are present in a story, the more delighted I am.

I keep expecting a flop, to be honest; statistically speaking, it’s a reasonable expectation, but so far Donna Andrews’ well of imaginative stories has not drawn low, and I sincerely hope it never does. I need to be reminded – at least once a year, if not more often in these horrific times – that strong, capable, unflappable, rational men and women (especially women in Meg’s world) exist, even if only on the page.

I read this for my Cozy Mystery square for Halloween Bingo 2020.

Lark! The Herald Angels Sing (Meg Langslow Mystery, #24)

Lark! The Herald Angels Sing
by Donna Andrews
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781250192943
Series: Meg Langslow #24
Publication Date: October 16, 2018
Pages: 288
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

What can I say – I love this series because it features a strong woman MC, with strong supporting characters, solid family relationships and tons of humor. The Christmas ones have become an annual tradition (no pressure Ms. Andrews) I look forward to every year, and I always save them to read in the day or two before Christmas.

This year’s involved a baby in a manger, a paternity allegation, and some dark dealings in a neighbouring county that lead to some very dangerous events in the lead up to Christmas. The mystery was pretty much over by midway, and the rest of the book was more rescue mission with shades of three stooges.

The finale was … the very best kind of holiday wishful thinking. This was definitely Andrews taking the opportunity to create the kind of reality she’d like to see and I loved it; it was outrageous and wonderful. Not my favorite of her Christmas books, Duck the Halls still holds that place of honour, but an excellent, festive read nonetheless.