Shakespeare’s Landlord (Lily Bard Mystery #1) by Charlaine Harris

Lily Bard has moved to Shakespeare, Arkansas, to get away from her past. [Bard/Shakespeare, get it?] During one of her insomnia-fueled late night walks, Lily witnesses the body of a nosy landlord being dumped in the park. She makes an anonymous phone call to the police, again to keep her past buried. As she goes about her cleaning woman duties in many of the apartments the landlord owned, Lily finds out much that is of interest to the local chief of police. When her martial arts instructor gets interested in her, her life may change forever.

Harris has a way with quirky characters. Lily Bard and the other citizens of Shakespeare are no exception. The story moves along at a good pace and certainly kept me guessing. As a matter of fact, I was convinced I had it figured out about a quarter of the way through. But I was wrong. This twist didn't feel like it came of left field like some do.

A fun, quick read. Just what I want out of a summer mystery. Think I'll check out some of Harris' other books set in Shakespeare.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

I devoured the first book in The Millenium series. The second one took a bit longer-vacation was over, after all. I have struggled with the third one for two weeks and thrown in the towel. What changed? The pace of the story. Even though the first two weren't action-packed, Blomkvist and Salander were constantly digging and figuring things out. In the third book, our two main characters are absent from the narrative much of the time. I am invested in those characters, not the new people from Sapo (the Swedish version of the CIA). Not even Berger, Blomkvist's married lover. I want Blomkvist and Salander, preferably interacting with each other. But they've been separated since the beginning of book 2. It's always hard to say whether the problem is with the original author or the translator. Did Larsson go on too long explaining the history of Sapo and reminding the reader of every little detail about our heroes? Or did the translator think we, as Americans, needed more explanation of how things are done in exotic Sweden? In the end it doesn't matter. The story became bogged down, and I didn't care to slog through it. So I turned to end to make see how it turned out, and put the book back on the shelf. It was a sad end to what started as such a fun ride.

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

The story of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander continues a year after the end of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. They are separated, with Blomkvist trying to figure out where she is. After Lisbeth returns to Sweden, three people are murdered and the police are convinced she's guilty. Blomkvist is just as certain that she isn't. As he investigated, he learns more about the past of this complicated woman.

Another exciting tale that had me running for the bookstore to pick up the third, and final, book in the series before I finished this one. The stakes are even higher in this one, especially for Lisbeth. I won't go into more detail so as not to spoil anything.

There's still a lot of telling, but it's such a big story, that's kind of a blessing. The beginning of the book also has a lot of dialogue where two characters are telling each other things they both know just to tell us. Easily solved with a character who doesn't know.

Small quibbles aside, this book has one of my favorite lines in the series so far. We are learning that Salander has a twin sister who is quite different from her. Larsson writes, "Lisbeth was first. Camilla was beautiful." Six words that sum up what would have taken a lesser writer pages to get across.

So sad that Stieg Larsson died so young. Imagine how many other wonderful stories he could have spun for us.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

This was one of those books that I'd heard and read so much about that I just didn't believe it could live up to the hype. Plus, I'd started to hear some grumblings about how the series, which is supposed to expose rampant misogyny and sexual abuse of women in Sweden, is itself misogynistic.

Lisbeth Salandar is a study in contradictions. She is under protective guardianship, having been declared unable to take care of herself. The state has determined that she is violent and mentally "deficient." Yet she works as a freelance investigator for a security firm and is an expert computer hacker.

Mikael Blomkvist is a famous investigative journalist who is editor in chief of Millenium (the source of the trilogies name). At the beginning of the book he is found guilty of libel due to an expose he wrote about a CEO of a multi-national firm. He takes a leave from the magazine and goes to work for an eccentric former corporate leader.

I will admit to having some difficulty with some of the violence and abuse, especially with regard to Lisbeth. But it's hard to write a book about the mistreatment of women without showing some of that mistreatment.

Blomkvist appears to be a chick magnet, even having an ongoing affair with his married business partner. Her husband approves of the arrangement. His lovers all know of each other and don't mind. I've found that many thrillers cast the male lead in this light (Bond anyone?) so was more amused than annoyed.

The puzzle and the action pulled me in, switched off my writer brain and had me turning pages like a mad woman. I took the book on vacation, thinking I might finish it during the week. When I realized that I'd finish the book about ten minutes into my the second leg of my flight, I ran to the the airport gift shop for the second book in the trilogy--even though I had two other books with me.

Gunpowder Green (Tea Shop Mysteries #2) by Laura Childs

The second book in Laura Childs' Teashop Mystery series, this book finds Theodosia and company investigating another murder in historic Charleston. On the day of the annual yachting race between two exclusive yacht clubs, an antique pistol used to mark the end of the race explodes, killing a 60-year-old mover and shaker. This leaves his 20-something bride a very rich (and not altogether grief-stricken) widow.

Once again, the characters are richly drawn and the plot moves forward at a just-one-more-chapter pace. The reveal is satisfying and well played. The only off notes are the coda at the end that read a bit like the tag from 80's detective shows and the overabundance of unusual names. I understand it's set in the South, but someone must be named Mike or George or Mary or Kate.

Little quibbles with an otherwise fun read.

Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco

Three bored editors make up "The Plan," an explanation connecting all things occult and determining where the point of all power on Earth is located: under the titular pendulum in Paris. The story covers how they developed The Plan and the unexpected events that follow its creation. Think "DaVinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" combined, well-written and with a bit of actual scholarship behind it.

Eco is a master of language, story and history and of weaving them all together into a ripping good yarn. The book definitely kept me turning pages (the relatively short chapters helped with that as well). But Eco also never met a list he didn't like. Lists that go on for paragraphs. Lists that the reader knows contain some tidbit she'll need later, but longs to skip. He also took one pivotal conversation between the three editors and broke it into six or seven chapters. While long chapters can be daunting to some, this just broke the narrative tension too much and made it easier instead of harder to put the book down.

I also think the length was unnecessary. Eco may have reached the rarified status of an author no editor wants to cut. An editor should have cut. The aforementioned lists could go. So could a secondary story set in South America of about 75 pages that gave us one somewhat key piece of information that could be related in another place. There are long forays into Belbo's (one of the editors) past that really add nothing to the main storyline. The focus should remain on Casaubon, the editor who starts as a student writing a thesis on the Knights Templar. He sets everything in motion.

Still, I felt it well worth powering through the 623 pages in order to get to the satisfying end.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 2)

In the second installment of the Sookie Stackhouse books, Sookie and vampire boyfriend, Bill, fly to Dallas to investigate the disappearance of a member of a Dallas vampire family. She is quickly in over her head, but manages to get herself out of as much of the trouble as Bill does. I like that in a female lead. With a boyfriend as powerful as a vampire, the write could be tempted to let him solve everything. Kudos to Harris for not doing that.

We don't really learn anything new about our main characters, with possibly the exception of Sam, Sookie’s boss and friend. But that's nothing major and could have been thrown into a different story. It's a quick, fun read that's not at all taxing on the brain.

Sometimes you just need one of those.

Needled to Death (Knitting Mysteries #2) by Maggie Sefton

Kelly Flynn is still staying at her late aunt's cottage in Fort Connor, Colorado while telecommuting to her job in DC. She's waiting to see how all the estate tangles play out since she is the only living relative of both her aunt and her aunt's late cousin. When she drives a carload of tourists to a friend's house so they can see the friend’s alpaca herd, Kelly finds the friend dead. Another death for her to figure out, with the help of the gang at the House of Lampspun knitting shop.

This installment of the series has the same strengths and weaknesses of the first with one addition--everyone says, "Ohhhhhh" and "Okaaaaaaay" a lot. But I have to admit that all the talk of knitting and using ribbon yarn have me wanting to pick up my needles again. Yarn shops should definitely carry this series.

Heat Wave by "Richard Castle"

The author name is in quotes, because we don't really know who wrote the book. It's a television show tie-in. There was much speculation at the time it was published that it might be one of the authors who sometime appear on Castle. James Patterson? Stephen J. Cannell? Michael Connelly? Someone else entirely? Fun speculation, but once I started reading, I really didn't care.

This was a quick, fun read. A bit like an episode of Castle with name changes. As a matter of fact, I recognized a few plot points from the show. Nothing deep or meaningful. Nothing that will stay with me beyond "The End." But a nice little bite of brain candy.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

I hadn’t read a single vampire book in years, then I read the Twilight series and this book within a week of each other. FYI, Dead Until Dark was published four years before Twilight.

The Sookie Stackhouse books are located in the Fantasy section of the book store. However, I do consider them mysteries, because each one has a murder to solve. And I guess they can be considered cozies since the person solving the mysteries is a waitress, not a professional detective.

Sookie is a waitress in a local bar in rural Louisiana. Vampires have come out of the closet and are working to become integrated in society. She meets vampire Bill at the bar and soon embarks on a romantic relationship with him. Sookie can hear other people’s thoughts but can't hear the vampire’s. Soon women who have become vampire groupies are being killed, and Bill is a suspect. Can Sookie find out who the real killer is before the town turns on her cold (but smokin' hot) lover?

This was an incredibly fun and sexy read. The mystery was well-done and the characters were believable, for vampires and mind-readers and more. Ms. Harris is a funny and talented author.

The television show, True Blood, may be based on the books, but the story lines of the show have veered rather sharply away from the source material. Liking one may not mean you’ll like the other, but I think it’s worth a little time for fans of the show to check out the books. And vice versa.

Knit One Kill Two

This is the first in the Knitting Mysteries by Maggie Sefton

Kelly Flynn, accountant and financial planner, returns to the small town in Colorado where she was raised to bury her murdered aunt and see to the estate. While trying to settle her aunt's finances, she discovers a large loan that was taken out without Kelly's knowledge. Kelly gets involved with her aunt's knitting friends, who help give her insight into the life her aunt lived in recent years.

The mystery in this cozy is first-rate. Sefton had me guessing pretty much up to the end. There was also a pretty hefty body count, given that it is a cozy. The main characters—the ones integral to solving the crime—are quite well-written. There are a ton of characters, and I see now why my critique group complains about that. They can be hard to sort out.

Which leads to picking nits. Many of the knitting store regulars are interchangeable. That is until I realized that they fall into the different female stereotypes: The Party Girl, The Tomboy/Athlete, The Homemaker, The Dithery Old Lady, The Imperious Old Lady, etc. And Kelly always seems to be a step behind the reader, which can get annoying. I like to be neck and neck with the protagonist.

Some of the knitting scenes seem off to me, but that just be how I was taught to knit. I don't work on one sleeve at a time--it's easy to end up with different length sleeves that way. My teacher had me use two balls of yard and knit both sleeves together on the same needle. Most people probably won’t care.

This was truly a fun read. I've since read the next five books in the series (those reviews to follow). There are two more in hardcover. Since this writer is on a budget, I’ll have to wait until the paperback versions come out. Something to look forward to.

The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver

This is the first of Deaver's books to feature Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic criminologist. Rhyme has given up on life, literally. He has decided to have a doctor help him commit suicide. But a spree killer who starts taking tourists just before a big event at the UN and a gutsy female officer with problems of her own pique his interest.

Deaver's protagonist would provoke no sympathy if we weren't handicapped. He's a jerk, plain and simple. A brilliant jerk, but a jerk. Amelia Sachs, the female cop, isn't much more likeable. But their dedication to figuring out the clues, both the planted and accidental, keeps the story racing forward.

This is a page turner. The pace is often frenetic, but Deaver slows down--sometimes excruciatingly so--when the killer is at his cruelest. The book has a different outcome than the movie of the same name. I did feel a bit cheated by the big reveal, because it felt like the villain was a character who was chosen simply to throw the reader a curve.

I'd recommend it as a lesson in the art of pacing.

Definitely not a cozy.

An Addendum

I hope this is a one-off. After posting my review of Death by Darjeeling, I had a new insight. So here's the addendum.

I commented about the plethora of unusual names in Laura Childs' novel. That it bothered me and seemed excessive. The next day, though, I decided it might now be a tradition with tales set in the American South. Think of Steel Magnolias and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I will give Ms. Childs the benefit of the doubt.

In the twelve years I lived in Florida, I can't remember running into anyone with such an unusual name. But a lot of people will tell you that Florida isn't really the South anymore.

Death by Darjeeling

It appears that everyone--at least in my little group--is looking for a way to distinguish her blog. Jenny's doing Mentors, Deb's doing WILAWF, Ali's thinking up something new. And we're nothing if not copycats.

I've decided to review mysteries. Probably mostly cozies, but all mysteries are fair game. And I decide what to call a mystery.

I'm starting with the first entry in the Teashop Mysteries by Laura Childs. Ms. Childs also writes the Scrapbooking Mysteries and Cackleberry Club Mysteries.


Death by Darjeeling

A genteel Southern woman, Theodosia Browning, runs a tea shop in Charleston, SC. At the annual Lamplighter tour, a shady developer is poisoned while drinking a cup of her special blend. Suspicion falls on the shop in general and one waitress in particular.

A 4-star cozy. Childs pretty much hits all the right notes with this one. Lots of credible potential suspects. A likeable cast of regulars. Good dialogue. Nice pacing. And a plausible plot. The tension builds all the way through. And she got me. I didn't see the culprit coming, but there were no author cheats involved.

My one nitpick would be the extremely unusual character names. When you start with a protagonist called Theodosia, adding in first names of Drayton, Jory, Doe, Dundy, Delaine,
and then a Miss Dimple--well, it gets overwhelming. But it's a very small nit to pick.

In addition to the fun puzzle, setting and characters, the author includes yummy recipes. Earl Grey Sorbet, Tea Scones and Cucumber & Lobster Sandwiches are all tempting. And then there is the Liver Brownie Cake for the pooches in your life.

Well played, Ms. Childs, well played.