Review: Grime Spree by Marji Lane

Amazon Description

Shadows from her past have haunted Dani’s dreams for months. Now, however, the ghosts are real and bringing a trail of death and destruction.

What begins as a romantic evening, the first in far too long, collapses into yet another crime scene. However, this one has someone involved who is familiar to Dani. Too familiar. And worse, he recognizes her.

Jay’s new promotion has increased his working hours considerably, as well as interrupted and cancelled more than one date with Dani. His attempt to make it up to her at one of the nicest restaurants in the area backfires when the place is robbed.

But the biggest problem is that Dani seems to be in on the crime.

My Review

Grime Spree was a short, fast-paced novella following the next steps in Dani and Jay’s relationship—and the next crime they become involved in. This one is more personal: Dani and Jay were at the crime scene before the crime was committed, and Dani recognised someone who knew her from her old life. And Jay is having trouble trusting her, because he knows she’s hiding something from him.

It’s a big ask in a relationship, one person having secrets they can’t share, and the other knowing something is there but not knowing what. Yes, it brings an interesting dynamic to the relationship, especially when intentions and reality don’t exactly fall into line.

Grime Spree is the third novella in Marji Lane’s Grime Fighter series, and the stories should be read in order: Grime Beat, Grime Wave, Grime Spree. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Dani and Jay over the course of this series, and while I’m looking forward to the next (and possibly final) instalment, I’ll also be sad when it’s over.

Recommended for romantic suspense fans.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: Murder at the Mikado by Julianna Deering

A Must for Mystery Fans

Drew Farthering and Madeline Parker are looking forward to their wedding when their plans are interrupted by a visit from an old flame of Drew’s, and (inevitably) a body. Drew and Nick are persuaded to investigate the murder of a local actor, which annoys Madeline, because it’s taking Drew away from the wedding plans—and back into the sphere of his previous life.

The mark of a good mystery (at least in my opinion) is that there is a murder early in the plot (and I hope that doesn’t sound too macabre), that there are lots of clues around who could be the murderer, and that when the actual culprit is revealed, it’s both someone I didn’t expect, yet painfully obvious. Another murder or two only adds to the story.

Murder at the Mikado scored on all my points. I’m enjoying watching the ongoing development of the three main characters, and I appreciate the opportunity to revist Winchester, my favourite English town, through the eyes of Drew, Madeline and Nick. I had an early idea who the culprit might be, but soon found out I was dead wrong.

Murder at the Mikado is the third book in Juliana Dearing’s Drew Furthering series, and it’s just as good as the others, Rules of Murder and Death by the Book. It works as a stand-alone story, but it's best to read them in order to best understand the wider character relationships (because there are a lot of recurring characters). Perfect for those who enjoy old-fashioned British murder mysteries by the likes of Agatha Christie and Georgette Heyer.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Julianna Deering at her website.

Review: Gathering Shadows by Nancy Mehl

Mystery in a Mennonite Town

Wynter Evans is an aspiring journalist with a Missouri TV network, on assignment in the tiny Mennonite town of Sanctuary with her colleague, photographer Zac Weikal. But she’s got another motive: she’s searching for her brother, Ryan, who was kidnapped several years earlier. Reuben King is the young and handsome mayor of Sanctuary, who agrees to work with Wynter despite opposition from some of the townspeople.

Gathering Shadows starts off as a predictable romance in an Amish/Mennonite setting, but soon turns into something more. It’s written entirely from Wynter’s point of view. As we get to know her better, her past begins to collide with the present and we start to realise there is more of a mystery than whether the mystery Mennonite boy is Wynter’s long-lost brother. Why don’t the townspeople want her in Sanctuary? And who is leaving her mysterious notes?

It’s a plot that grabbed and kept my attention, both in the mystery and the strong characters. The Christian elements were solid but not preachy. I especially liked this quote:

“Believing someone’s words, whether it’s a person in our lives or God himself, only comes second to knowing their heart. If you understand someone’s heart, you can believe what they say.”

I liked this because it reminded me of the Bible study I’m doing this year, based on Woman's Guide to Reading the Bible in a Year by Diane Stortz. Each week, Stortz asks, ”How did you experience God’s heart in this week’s reading?” Gathering Shadows illustrates the importance of that question. It’s not just about knowing God intellectually. It’s about knowing Him personally. Anyway, back to the book review …

The one weakness of Gathering Shadows was the romance. It took a long time to get started, and I wasn’t convinced they spent sufficient time together to form a lasting relationship—or that there was any chemistry, and it might have been better with no romantic subplot at all. However, the mystery-thriller aspect of the plot was excellent, and I’d certainly read more books by Nancy Mehl.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free book for review. You can find out more about Nancy Mehl at her website.

Review: A Lady's Honor by Laurie Alice Eakes

Solid but not Spectacular

Elizabeth Trelawney has fled to her family home in Cornwall to escape an engagement she doesn’t want to a man as old as her grandfather. She is kidnapped by one Rowan Curnow, who is pretending to be a friend of her brothers. Can she trust him? Does she have a choice?


When Elizabeth eventually arrives, she finds her childhood friend is dead, her smuggler brother has run away to hide from the excise men, her cousin has been banished for getting herself into a ‘delicate situation’, and the best friend she hasn’t seen for ten years is homeless after the American heir to the estate just happens to be visiting. And it seems danger still lurks …

It’s a fast-paced story of mystery and intrigue as Elizabeth is challenged by her grandparents to find the family treasure. A Lady's Honor is the first novel in the new Cliffs of Cornwall series, and it’s unusual in that it doesn’t have the usual portrayal of smugglers as jolly good fellows who wouldn’t harm anyone, popular in gothic romances in years gone by. Eakes’s portrayal was uncomfortable in that regard, even if it is more accurate.

I did get hung up on a few glitches, including misquoting Shakespeare, misused words, inaccurate coinage, and the imaginary location of Bastion Point – there really is a Bastion Point in Auckland, New Zealand, and it’s famous for Maori land protests. Incidentally, while the book blurb calls it “Bastian Point”, it’s “Bastion Point” inside. Oops.

I’m also not convinced by the references to Conan Lord Penvenen (which made me think of Conan the Barbarian. Sorry). Shouldn’t that be Conan, Lord Penvenen? Or simply Conan, as they are talking about a close family friend?

My other issue was with the character of Rowan. We find out more about him as the story progresses, with some major revelations towards the end. While these did explain some of the questions I’d had about Rowan’s character, they also left me feeling as if I’d been deceived. Rowan was a viewpoint character, and while he was romantic and reliable as the hero, he was an unreliable narrator, and I felt as if all the conflict around his background was manufactured for the sake of introducing conflict, rather than being an intrinsic part of the story.

Despite these faults I did enjoy A Lady's Honor. It was a good combination of suspense, mystery and romance with a strong underlying Christian message about treasure and unconditional love. However, I didn’t enjoy it enough to read it again, and I’m not convinced I enjoyed it enough to bother reading the sequel when it comes out.

Thanks to BookLookBloggers for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Laurie Alice Eakes at her website.

Review: A Stillness of Chimes by Meg Moseley

Romance, Suspense and Small-town Charm

Laura Gantt has returned to her small home town of Prospect, Georgia, to settle up her mother’s estate. The town is abuzz with rumours: it seems her father, Elliot, has been seen—even though he’s been dead for years. Did he fake his death? If so, why? And if he really is dead, who is snooping around Laura’s house? Meanwhile, Laura also has to deal with Sean Halloran, her high school sweetheart, and Ardelle, her best friend’s mother, who seems to be losing her mind.

The story is intriguing from the beginning, yet it’s only in the very last pages that we see the significance of those first few pages. The plot unfolds slowly, giving us time to get to know the characters and to wonder, along with Laura, if her father really is alive, and to puzzle the other secrets that unfold as we get to know the characters.

A Stillness of Chimes is full of secrets and mystery, and captured my attention from the start. It’s the story of rediscovered romance as three childhood friends reunited as adults and coming to grips with grown-up problems including death, marriage difficulties and ageing parents. Well worth reading.

Thanks to Multnomah Books and Blogging for Books for providing a free book for review. You can find out more about Meg Moseley at her website.

Review: Death by the Book by Juliana Deering

Mystery in a 1930's English Village 

I’ve always enjoyed Agatha Christie novels, as well as Georgette Heyer’s 1930’s detective romps. They are well-written with clever plots, interesting characters, and their ‘contemporary’ setting now reads as a delightful step into days gone by (well, delightful except for the body count).

Juliana Deering’s Drew Farthering mysteries take place in the Hampshire village of Farthering St. John, a small village in which everybody knows everybody else (and their business), and the class system is alive and well. Death by the Book is the second in the series, following Rules of Murder, but can easily be read as a stand-alone—like all good mysteries, we do find out whodunit (and why) at the end, but there is also the ongoing thread of Drew’s relationship with Madeline.

We get straight into the mystery when Drew visits his lawyer in nearby Winchester, only to find he has been murdered and left with a cryptic note stuck to him with an antique hatpin. There’s no apparent motive, and no suspect. Chief Inspector Birdsong is again in charge of the case—and he doesn’t want any help from Drew. However, the lawyer’s widow asks Drew to look into the case, and he soon unearths

The story then moves back to the Farthering estate, where Drew finds Madeline’s aunt, Ruth Jansen, has arrived to take Madeline back home to the States. I have to say I found this abrupt change of pace jarring and I wasn’t convinced by Miss Jansen as a necessary character, as she seemed to detract from the plot rather than add to it.

However, the murder mystery was excellent. As usual, I didn’t guess the identity of the culprit, but in hindsight, the clues all make perfect sense. Recommended for mystery fans.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free book for review. You can find out more about Juliana Deering at her website.

Review: Wildwood Creek by Lisa Wingate

Fascinating mystery with a touch of romance

Wildwood Creek starts in 1861 with Bonnie Rose obtaining a job as a teacher in a remote town, Wildwood. She takes the job because it provides her and her younger sister, Maggie May, a way to escape from a place where everyone knows their past and shuns them because of it.

In the present day, Allie Kirkland wants to follow the footsteps of her dead father by breaking into film, and a summer job working as a production assistant on the new reality TV show, Mysterious History, might be just the break she needs. She wins the job and her best friend, Kim, wins an acting part on the show. As the preparation for the show gets underway, the two try to determine where the show will be set with the assistance of their librarian neighbour, Stewart.

Allie’s new boss let slip a name, Bonnie Rose, and that forms the basis of their research. They discover Bonnie Rose lived in a small Texas town called Wildwood, a town that was mysteriously abandoned, with no trace of anyone who ever lived there… thus setting up the mystery of Wildwood Creek.

This is a dual timeline story, switching between the story of Bonnie Rose in 1861 Wildwood, and Allie in the contemporary recreation of the town. The suspense in Bonnie’s story is only enhanced by what we know in the present day, that all the inhabitants of Wildwood disappeared without trace. I often find dual timeline stories annoying, as one story is usually weaker than the other, but this was not the case in Wildwood Creek.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a novel by Lisa Wingate. The last two I read were too lightweight for my taste, and despite being marketed as Christian fiction, didn’t have any Christian content to speak of (in my opinion, there is more to ‘Christian fiction’ than a lack of swearing, sex or gratuitous violence. Or there should be). There was a faith element in Wildwood Creek, but it was only a light touch and didn’t come into play until the last quarter of the book. In terms of genre, Wildwood Creek was a mystery set in two timelines, with an element of romance in each, and a highly gratifying and unusual finish.

Wildwood Creek is the fourth book in the Moses Lake series, but works well as a standalone. I haven’t read any of the earlier books, and didn’t feel I’d missed anything (which is always a good sign for a series). Nor did I feel there was excessive backstory or explaining of the previous books (again, a good sign). Recommended for someone looking for a book that’s slightly different.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Lisa Wingate at her website.

Review: Planet Willie by Josh Shoemake

Willie Lee is a member of “an elite unit of highly bored individuals”, better known as angels. He’s been an angel since he got topped by the guy in the pink paisley shirt four years ago, but sometimes gets sent back to Texas to answer someone’s prayers (which is funny in itself: it seems Willie’s ‘friends’ don’t know he’s supposed to be dead). He’s a detective with the Lost Souls department.

His case this time is Harry Shore, who is concerned about his daughter, Fernanda—mostly because he thinks she’s stolen his million-dollar Botticelli painting of the Madonna. Willie travels to New York to find Fernanda, and runs into a group of Albanians calling themselves the Art Liberation Front, and their current project: to devalue Shore’s Botticelli. This sets Willie (and the ALF) off on a cross-country chase to track down the original painting (which is reminiscent of the 1980’s British comedy, 'Allo 'Allo, and their perpetual search for the painting of the Fallen Madonna with the Big you-know-whats).

Willie’s a great first-person narrator. He has a very healthy self-image, particularly when it comes to his opinion of how he is seen by the ladies (he has a collection of smiles he gives the ladies, and has names for them all. What does that tell you?). His narration is rather stream-of-consciousness which is usually a criticism, but Willie’s voice is strong and engaging enough that it works. He also has great collection of one line jokes.

But hidden in the comedy are some thought-provoking lines:

“If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you won’t do it, and it won’t happen.”

That’s good advice—thinking too much is a recipe for procrastination. We need to do things, not think about them.

Planet Willie is an irreverent comedy that’s a lot of fun. It can be hard to read on the Kindle—the paragraphs are too long—and the plot sometimes disappears in the comedy, but I enjoyed it. There is the occasional use of bad language and the plotline isn’t exactly the standard Christian fiction I normally review, but I enjoyed it. A good read for those who don’t take life (or death) too seriously.

Thanks to Opium Books for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Josh Shoemake at his website.

ARCBA Review: An Unholy Communion by Donna Fletcher Crowe

2 - 6 September 2013

Australia Christian Readers Blog Alliance

Introducing

An Unholy Communion

 

Lion Hudson (1 April 2013)

by

Donna Fletcher Crow

About the Author

"Donna Fletcher Crow has created her own niche within the genre of clerical mysteries." - Kate Charles, author of Deep Waters

First light, Ascension morning. From the top of the tower at the College of Transfiguration, voices rise in song.

Felicity's delight turns to horror when a black-robed body hurtles over the precipice and lands at her feet. Her fiancé, Father Antony, recognizes the corpse as Hwyl Pendry, a former student, who has been serving as Deliverance Minister in a Welsh diocese. The police ignore the strange emblem of a double-headed snake clutched in the dead man's hand, labelling the death a suicide. But Hwyl's widow is convinced otherwise, and pleads for Felicity and Antony to help her uncover the truth.

Matters grow murkier as Felicity and Antony, leading a youth pilgrimage through rural Wales, encounter the same sinister symbol as they travel. Lurking figures follow them. Then a body is found face-down in a well …

"Donna Fletcher Crow gives us, in three extremely persuasive dimensions, the world that Dan Brown merely sketches." - Timothy Hallinan, author of The Queen of Patpong

About the Book

Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 40 books, mostly novels dealing with British history. The award-winning Glastonbury, A Novel of the Holy Grail, an Arthurian grail search epic covering 15 centuries of English history, is her best-known work. She is also the author of The Monastery Murders: A Very Private Grave, A Darkly Hidden Truth and An Unholy Communion as well as the Lord Danvers series of Victorian true-crime novels and the literary suspense series The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries. Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 11 grandchildren. She is an enthusiastic gardener.

To read more about all of Donna's books and see pictures from her garden and research trips go to: http://www.donnafletchercrow.com/ You can follow her on Facebook at: http://ning.it/OHi0MY

My Review

While attending the dawn service of Ascension, Felicity is horrified to see someone fall from the tower and land at her feet. It seems there is another mystery when she picks up a piece of paper with a strange symbol that dropped from the victim’s fingers and it bursts into flame as she opens it. Although it looks like an accident or suicide, it’s obviously a murder (otherwise why is it the opening scene in a book series called The Monastery Murders?).

Felicity agrees to accompany her fiancé, Antony, to supervise a pilgrimage to Wales for teenagers as a way to get her mind off the fatal fall, but that’s not easy with her dreams. And when she finds the strange symbol represents an ancient heretical society, it seems escaping might be harder than she thought.


An Unholy Communion is a murder mystery, and starts well with a body appearing almost immediately. But the mystery of poor Hwyl’s death is then ignored as Antony and Felicity go walking in Wales, and apart from the obvious fact that Hwyl is Welsh, this has no apparent relevance to the mystery. In fact, I was about 75% of the way through the novel before they started to address the mystery at all, and then it was quickly apparent (to me at least) who was behind it.

The walk, as described, was much like I imagine a real walk across Wales would be: long and boring, with occasional short bursts of action. It was supposed to be ecumenical (i.e. representing all the Christian world), but was actually Anglican—and high Anglican at that, complete with bells and smells, praying exclusively out of the prayer book, and saying the Stations of the Cross at regular intervals. This wouldn’t have bothered me except the characters made a point of saying the walk was ecumenical, and it detracted from what was supposed to be the mystery of Hywl’s death.

An Unholy Communion made a lot of references to deliverance, exorcism and demonic powers working against Christianity. While this was relatively well explained, I didn’t feel either of the main characters had real understanding. Antony displayed a solid practical understanding (e.g. knowing which prayers to pray), but didn’t seem to see the bigger picture linkages (like wondering if two teenagers who wear black decorated with black and constantly quote Twilight are actually Christians). And Felicity seemed to be entirely ignorant of the dark side—she reminded me a little of some of Dr Who’s companions from the 1960’s.

One bugbear I constantly have with American authors setting books in Britain is their research and language. I was happy to find the research in An Unholy Communion was excellent (as I expected it to be. I’ve read several of her historical fiction epics, and they were outstanding). Given all the excellent research, it was distracting to see language issues: the reference to Cwm Rhondda spelled incorrectly, and the very English Antony using several Americanisms (gotten, granola bar, grill).

An Unholy Communion is the third in The Monastery Murders series, the first one I’ve read and probably the last. It didn’t work for me as a murder mystery, and I didn’t like the characters sufficiently to care what happens next.

Thanks to ARCBA, Lion Fiction and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Donna Fletcher Crowe at her website.

Review and Giveaway: Carolina Reckoning by Lisa Carter

Alison Monaghan has just found proof of her husband’s infidelity. She hasn’t loved him for a long time, and this is the end. But instead of confronting the controlling fault-finder, she is awakened to the news Frank has been murdered, leaving her an almost-destitute widow with two teenage children.

Detective Sergeant Mike Barefoot is in charge of the murder investigation, but finds himself more interested in the beautiful widow and her growing Christian faith, a faith he rejected years ago. He finds himself competing for her affections with a mature Christian—and protecting her from an unknown threat.

While I found the book easy to get in to, I did feel it was let down by the writing. Too many characters were introduced in too short a time, and it seemed most of them had red hair. It was difficult to keep them all straight—a particular problem in a mystery, where one of the characters is likely to be the murderer (and others may well be additional victims). And Alison suffered from TSTL syndrome (too stupid to live). I know conflict is the essence of good fiction, but when the 911 operator says stay outside away from the intruder, why did she have to go inside?

I’m not convinced Carolina Reckoning knew what it was doing. At first it seemed to be a mystery, with a dead body and a cast of interesting characters, many of whom were hiding secrets. But at times it seemed to be more of a romantic suspense, as it didn’t follow some of the conventions of the mystery genre and the love triangle seemed to take on more importance than the underlying mystery.

The Christian aspect of the novel was strong and generally well-presented. Frank’s murder challenged several characters to reconsider their faith. A solid debut in Christian mystery, an under-represented genre.

Thanks to Abingdon Press and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Lisa Carter at her website.

Giveaway

Abingdon Press have kindly offered a free paperback copy of Carolina Reckoning for one of my blog readers. The only catch is they can only post to US addresses. So, if you live in the US, leave a comment below with a contact email address before midnight on 18 August to be in with a chance to win. I can't accept entries without a contact email address because otherwise I have no way to contact the winner (which is what happened with my last giveaway).

Review: Rules of Murder by Julianna Deering

Drew Fathering has returned home to the family estate in Hampshire, England, and finds his mother and stepfather are hosting a house party, and the ‘odious David Lincoln’ has been given his room. But other guests are more pleasant, particularly Miss Madeline Parker, his stepfather’s attractive American niece. Drew finds he and Madeline share a common interest in reading detective stories: Drew’s current favourite author is Ronald Knox, a Roman Catholic priest who postulated Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction (hence the book's title, Rules of Murder).

So, this is a murder mystery, and the party gives Deering a good opportunity to introduce the reader to the house guests, and to the victim. Someone dies (that’s not a spoiler. It’s a murder mystery. Someone has to die – see the above commandments), and Drew attempts to solve the murder with the help of Madeline, and his good friend, Nick Dennison (son of the Fathering Place butler).

The writing was solid, and I particularly liked the occasional injection of dry humour, as in this conversation between the Fathering Place gardener and the police detective, discussing what the gardener might have seen while pruning the roses:

“And did you see anything during that time?”
“I seen some of them has aphids.”
“I mean anything unusual,” Birdsong pressed.
“That is unusual for my roses.”

It’s been years since I read a Miss Marple novel or even one of Georgette Heyer’s contemporary detective stories (contemporary in that they were set in the 1930’s, when they were written). Rules of Murder is Christian fiction, so part of the story is Drew’s faith journey as well as his desire to solve the mystery.

The author has a strong voice and makes good use of vocabulary and word order to indicate the working class accent, and has a good grip on the vocabulary of the time (although I still noticed a couple of Americanisms, like a quarter after eight and inviting most everyone). But Julianna Deering has captured the essence of the genre, and I’ll look forward to reading more of the Drew Fathering Mysteries.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. Julianna Deering is the pen name of multi-published author DeAnna Julie Dodson. You can find out more about Julianna Deering at her website.

Review: A Plain Scandal by Amanda Flower

A Plain Scandal is the second Appleseed Creek Mystery, following A Plain Death, in which Chloe Humphrey investigated the death of the local Amish bishop, developed a crush in the handsome Timothy Troyer, and gained a new housemate, Becky, Timothy's sister.

In this sequel, the Amish of Appleseed Creek, Ohio, have appointed a new, stricter, bishop, the two hooligans who caused the trouble that led to the first bishop's death are in the area again, and four Amish girls have been attacked and had their long braids cut off, a potential religious hate crime but one the local police can do nothing about, because the Amish 'want to settle the case within the district'.

Chloe has a new landlord, a professor from the college where she works, who has plans to renovate and sell the period house and who disproves of the free maintenance Timothy has been doing. There is also conflict between the Troyer family and the new Bishop, partly because of their friendship with Becky, which causes her some anguish as she doesn’t want her new friends to be rejected because of her.

A Plain Scandal was very good. It is a solid murder mystery, with intelligent and realistic characters (not something I can say about many Amish novels), a couple of red herrings, a twist, and all the loose ends tied up by the last page, and some nice progress in the romance between Becky and Timothy. I will certainly be looking forward to reading the next Appleseed Creek mystery.

Thanks to B&H Publishing and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Amanda Flower at her website.

Review: Take the Trophy and Run by Gail Stattler

Amber Weathersby owns the Gardens and Gifts Galore. Each year, she places a gnome in the garden that wins the Bloomfield Garden Club prize. Except this year, Gnormon (with a silent ‘g’) the gnome has gone missing, along with the trophy. She soon finds a clue, a poem comprised of letters cut out of the local paper, and this leads her and her best friend, Stan Wilson, to the gnome. But no trophy. And then Gnormon disappears, and so starts the chase to find Gnormon’s next location, and hopefully the trophy.

As he works with Amber, Stan discovers that Amber isn’t just the girl he grew up with, his oldest, closest friend. He’s in love with her. And she seems to be drawing away from him. Stan doesn’t know that Amber is also struggling with financial issues. Her parents are dead, and her uncle is pressuring her to repay his business loan, on which he has doubled the interest payments (not exactly sure how he could do that with a written contract, but never mind. Don't want to let logic get in the way of the story).

I found Take the Trophy and Run difficult to get into, although I usually enjoy cozy mysteries and I have a real soft spot for friends-to-lovers plots (this is Christian fiction, so lovers in the Victorian sense, not the modern sense). The style of writing didn’t really work for me, although there was nothing I could pinpoint as why. I think my main problem was that I was more interested in the relationship between Amber and Stan than in the mystery of the missing gnome or Amber’s financial issues. And even this has been done better, particularly in the Smart Chick Mysteries by Mindy Starns Clark. Take the Trophy and Run wasn’t bad, it just didn’t grab me until about three-quarters of the way through, and that wasn’t enough to make up for the weaker start.

Thanks to B&H Publishing and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Gail Stattler at her website.

Review: Material Witness by Vanetta Chapman

Mrs Knepp, the ornery owner of the one of the two quilt shops in Shipshewana, Indiana, is found dead outside Callie Harper's quilt shop, and the only witnesses are a dog and a disabled seven-year-old boy. Callie soon hears from the murderer, when he drugs her dog, tears up her apartment and threatens to harm the boy if she doesn't turn over the money. It is an obvious case of mistaken identity because she doesn't have 'the money', but can the police find the murderer before he makes good on his threats?

Meanwhile, Callie and her Amish friends, Deborah, Melinda, and Esther, have received a strange commission in the will of old Mrs Hochstetler: to restore and sell three antique quilts. The quilts are not in traditional Amish patterns, and they seem to present their own mystery to solve.

Material Witness was good, but not as good as the other two books in the series. Although I liked the way the plot lines all came together at the end, the last couple of chapters almost felt a little rushed, as if something had been cut out to make way for the required epilogue that ties up all the loose ends. I think I would rather have had more detail around the puzzle surrounding the quilts, and have left the relationship a little more vague. But the thing I really liked about this series was still present: a positive presentation of mature Amish women, as I am over the teenage Amish romances that have flooded the market in recent years.

I understand that Material Witnessis the final of Vanetta Chapman’s Shipshewana Mysteries, following Falling to Pieces and A Perfect Square (both previously reviewed on this blog). While I have enjoyed this series, I am pleased for the residents of Shipshe (pop. 600), who might have wanted their small town to retain its name as a well-known shopping destination, not a potential murder capital! However, (fictional) murder in small Amish towns is obviously a trend that is catching on, as I have another book in my review pile from another author that is also set in Shipshewana, so this won’t be the last time I visit (in a literary sense). And I hope that the author will consider writing a similar series in another location, because I do enjoy these mystery novels.

Thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley for providing a free book for review. You can read more about Vanetta Chapman on her website.

Review: Beauty to Die For by Kim Alexis and Mindy Starns Clark

Juliette Taylor is visiting the Palm Grotto Resort and Spa in Cahuilla Springs, California, to lead a Christian retreat weekend. The ex-supermodel has a brand of exclusive skincare products, JT Lady, and Palm Grotto is one of her main customers. However, an internal investigation suggests that products are being counterfeited.

Also on his way to Palm Grotto is Marcus, an expert in disaster prevention and recovery. He met Juliette decades ago when she was at the height of her fame, and fell hard for her. Marcus has been working with the FBI on a counterfeiting case, and it seems that Juliette's business has been targetted by the criminals, which gives him an excuse to reconnect.

Another spa guest is Raven, an ex-supermodel with a reputation for diva behaviour and temper tantrums, and a difficult past. Raven's presence is a puzzle that turns into a mystery when she is found to have died during a routine beauty treatment. Juliette joins up with Marcus to protect the reputation of her products by finding the real culprit.

Beauty to Die For didn’t really work for me, despite the cool cover and the catchy title. In the beginning, Juliette and Raven have a mini-showdown in the airport before arising at the resort. As a reader, I thought Juliette was totally misinterpreting what Raven said to her, and I couldn’t understand why. I still don’t, as it turns out that my immediate interpretation of Raven’s comment was, in fact, correct. But it took Juliette most of the book to work that out, even though she’s supposed to be this switched-on businesswoman.

We are told early in the book that people don’t really understand how difficult modelling is. Well, this isn’t really a statement that is going to gain sympathy from many readers, because it just seems to show how out of touch with reality the fashion industry is (many jobs in life are difficult. Supermodels have the advantage of having found a high-paying difficult job, not a minimum-wage difficult job). Later (much later) in the book, Juliette is remembering a photo shoot, and we are actually shown the difficulties she alluded to. This scene gave me a much better understanding of the issues, and made Juliette seem a lot more likeable. But it should have come earlier. As readers, we want to like our fictional heroines and heroes, so we need to be given reasons to like them.

I also got annoyed by the supposed incompetence of the police investigating Raven’s death. They didn’t actually feature in the story, except to get things wrong or to not look at vital evidence. Instead, Juliette was all over the resort, listening in on conversations and finding all the missing links. This also seemed odd – no one questioned that a guest (albeit an important guest) kept nosing around staff-only areas? And the counterfeiting seemed to be set up to be a major plot point, but really was just a device to get Marcus in the picture. There was potential, but aspects of the plot were too unbelievable, even for fiction.

It’s not to say I didn’t like Beauty to Die For at all. I thought the action scenes were well done, the ending was lovely, and I really liked the way the spa weekend was aimed at Christian women who spend too much time giving to others was great (sign me up!). But the second half of the book was not strong enough to make up for the weak first half.

Thanks to B&H Publishing and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: Two Crosses by Elizabeth Mussler

It is September 1961, and Gabriella Madison is on a one year Franco-American exchange programme in Castelnau, near Montpelier in France. The programme is headed by Mother Griolet, who Gabrielle herself has met before, as a child of six, even though the nun does not mention the fact. This gives us an early sense of hidden secrets and unsolved mysteries. And Mother Griolet is not the only one with secrets. It appears that the handsome young professor, David Hoffman, has some of his own, and these are about to involve Gabriella.

David invites Gabrielle out socially (obviously student-teacher relationships are not an issue), and she begins to fall for him despite the fact that she is a strong Christian, the daughter of American missionaries in West Africa, and he is a half-Jewish atheist. Ophélie is the six-year-old daughter of Anne-Marie Duchemin, a pied noir, a French woman born and raised in Algeria. Anne-Marie is missing, and Ophélie finds herself in Castelnau, in the orphanage run by Mother Griolet. Like Gabrielle, Ophélie wears a Huguenot cross necklace, but doesn’t understand its’ significance.

The background to Two Crosses is the Algerian war for independence from the French. The early chapters therefore have quite a bit of explanation of the historical context, which some readers might find slow or off-putting. Personally, I have always enjoyed history, and one of my personal bugbears is authors who set novels in a particular time and place but get the facts wrong. So while there was quite a bit of information in the opening chapters, I liked the fact that the author knew the time and the area. The story is very well plotted, and the disparate strands come together as the story progresses.

One of the characters says, “The war is over independence, but still religion divides”. Rick Warren recently tweeted that church splits are less often about differences in doctrine than they are about a clash of egos. It seems that the same could be said of many wars. Are they really about religion, or are they a fatal clash of ego? Two Crosses would seem to confirm Rick Warren’s view.

The writing style reminds me of Michael Phillips, particularly his 'Secrets of the Rose' series. Both cover a similar period of history, both feature American protagonists in living Europe, both have characters with a strong Christian faith and both are written with varying third person points of view. I particularly liked the character of Mother Griolet, the wise old nun who provides Gabrielle and others with practical and spiritual guidance.

Two Crosses is not a light read, nor an easy read. But it is a worthwhile read. While telling a story about the recent past, the stories of the Huguenots’ reflect on the more distant past, and encourage the reader to think of the present and the future. As the old saying goes, those who do not learn the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them. Well worth reading, particularly for those who enjoy solid historical fiction.

Thanks to David C Cook Publishing and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: A Plain Death by Amanda Flower

Chloe Humphrey is a twenty-four-year old Masters graduate, a computer geek with a pet cat called Gigabyte and counts two suitcases full of obsolete computer parts among her most precious possessions. She is moving from Cleveland to Appleseed Creek, Ohio, to take a two-year job as Director of Computer Services at the local college. As she is driving to her new home, she picks up an Amish woman who is being harassed by two men. Nineteen-year-old Becky has recently left home, following an argument over her artistic desires, and Chloe finds herself with an unexpected boarder who places her in the middle of a family argument.

Things get even more untidy when Becky borrows Chloe’s car without permission, and has an accident which kills the Amish Bishop. But what appears at first to be a simple car accident turns into a murder investigation, and Chloe works with Becky’s handsome older brother, Timothy, to determine who the likely victim was, investigate who could possibly want to kill them. Timothy has left the Amish faith, and is now working at the college as a carpenter. Meanwhile, Chloe has been asked to make budget cuts in her new role, which will mean making one of her staff redundant, which is not a decision she wants to make.

I really enjoyed A Plain Death. It is a cozy mystery set in an area with significant Amish and Mennonite populations, and involves both Plain and Englisher characters, which I find more interesting than a story centred around the Amish. It also has an intelligent and likeable heroine working closely with a strong, good-looking hero to solve a mystery, with a good level of suspense and a little romance thrown in. All that was missing was… um, no. That would be a spoiler. I look forward to reading more about Chloe, Timothy and Appleseed Creek in future books.

Thanks to B&H Books and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: Secrets of Roux River Bayoux by Kathy Herman

Today's review is actually the three books in the Secrets of Roux River Bayeux. The murder plots are stand-alone, the subplots are related and I would recommend reading the books in order, back-to-back, as there is a large cast of characters that can become confusing. I know the author has thought of little other than these books, but they each appeared six or seven months apart, which means I had forgotten some of the first book before I read the second (I learnt, and read the second and third together).  
Ten years ago, Shelby Sieger changed her name and left her home, bound for Lafayette and a new life…

Vanessa and Ethan Langley have just moved into Langley House, with the intention of turning it into a B&B. But Langley House has a six-generation history that includes its share of ghosts.  Meanwhile, they are renting an apartment from Zoe and Pierce Broussard while Langley Manor is being renovated. Pierce and Zoe run a cafe together.

Trouble begins when a white man, the simple-minded Remy Jarvis, is lynched just 200 yards from Langley Manor. Meanwhile, Zoe starts getting anonymous notes, each the same five words cut from the newspaper: I know what you did. Her past is a secret from everyone, including her husband.  Does someone know? If so, what do they know? And what will she do to prevent her secrets becoming known?  The answers to these questions are slowly uncovered as the story progresses.

 

Dangerous Mercy begins around three years after the end of False Pretenses, which could have been made clearer. The story opens with the discovery of a murder victim, a businessman who has been found dead in his own bathtub. More disturbingly, “#1” has been written on the wall, -implying there will be more victims—and there are. As in False Pretenses, Zoe B’s restaurant becomes the central area where all the community characters meet and discuss what is happening in their town, especially when one of the victims is more closely related to them.

(I have to say that the North American convention of referring to # as the pound symbol annoyed me. I call it the hash symbol. To me, the pound symbol is 'lb' for weight, or £ for currency. And # is a hashtag on Twitter). Dangerous Mercy finishes with a clear gospel message without being saccharine or preachy. Overall, it was a good read, but was weaker than the first book in the trilogy.

Relentless Pursuit begins two years after the events in Dangerous Mercy. More murders are occurring in Belle Fourche, this time as a result of poison injected into locally-bottled water. This gives the police two problems: catching the culprit based only on a grainy security camera photo, and ensuring that all the bottles of water sold are located before anyone else dies.

While the murder hunt is going on, there is a visitor in town - Zoe’s brother, who has returned to find the sister he abandoned many years ago. They had an abusive father, and Zoe has to work on forgiving her brother for not taking her when he left. Even though she has been a Christian for many years, she still finds this difficult.

Overall, I enjoyed this series, even though the concept of a murder mystery where the police force where not the main character was a novel concept (if you will excuse the pun), and I did work out who did it before the police in two out of the three books, and I prefer that the culprit not be so obvious. The books are well-written, the characters are strong and likeable, but not perfect, and the setting is well done. These are solid mysteries with underlying themes of faith and forgiveness.

Kathy Herman is now working on another trilogy, Tales of Foggy Ridge, which will be set in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, and will contain some characters from this series. Thanks to David C Cook and NetGalley for providing free ebooks for review.

Review: Hiding in Plain Sight by Amy Wallace

Ashley Walters has recently moved to Montezuma, Georgia, a small town with a sizeable Mennonite community. She is still mourning the death of her brother, Eric, who died ten years ago when she was eighteen, an unsolved crime that inspired her decision to join the police. One night, a callout to a store robbery introduces her to Bradley Yoder, a thirteen-year-old Mennonite boy who is searching for his birth mother following the death of his adoptive father. She befriends Bradley and his handsome uncle, Jonathan, and finds that Bradley is implicated in a series of accidents at the Yoder farm.

She has also started dating for the first time since Eric’s death, after being set up by a neighbour. Patrick is a marriage and relationship counsellor and a Christian (even though Ashley hasn't been on speaking terms with God since Eric died). He is on the town's revitalisation committee, which has plans to revitalise Montezuma by capitalising on its Mennonite heritage. But the investor wants to forbid the Mennonites from sharing the faith that defines them as a group, which causes friction.

I thought I knew where Hiding in Plain Sightwas going after the first few chapters, but then it changed to become more of a romantic suspense, with the addition of the farm accidents and occasional scenes from the point of view of the vandal, as we try to puzzle out his identity. I liked the subtle way the author introduced this, and the way it gradually grew in importance as the story progresses, while other plot points that I had thought would be important turned out not to be.

I really liked the way Hiding in Plain Sightdealt with Ashley's attitude towards God. She softens gradually throughout the story, in a way that felt a lot more realistic than many Christian authors manage. I also liked the strong underlying theme of faith and forgiveness, and the way the author built it in without preaching, but without compromise. 

There were a couple of conversations that I had to reread to work out who was actually speaking, although that could have been because I was reading an ARC with some formatting issues and a couple of typos. (An ARC is an advance reader copy of the book, provided to people like booksellers, librarians and reviewers in advance of publication. Sometimes these are the 'clean' ebook version of the printed book, but often, as in this case, they are unproofed copies so there can be mistakes.)

Overall, Hiding in Plain Sightwas a well-written book with a solid underlying Christian theme, and some lovely poetic language hidden between the more suspenseful scenes. Thanks to Harvest House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: A Perfect Square by Vanetta Chapman

A Perfect Square brings us back to Shipshewana, to Callie and her Amish friends, and to what looks like another murder, when the Amish women find a teenage girl drowned in Reuben’s pond. Their discovery is observed by a hidden stranger, who escapes unseen and narrates his portion of the story through a series of flashbacks.

As A Perfect Squareunfolds, we find out that the victim is newly-wed Katie, and the reader is left to uncover the mystery that links her with the mysterious stranger, Reuben and the four women. In the middle of this, Callie receives a visit from an old man who wants her to find his daughter. The problem is that Ira Bontrager has dementia, and his son says he was an only child. This is potentially another mystery: is there a missing daughter, and how does this relate to the murdered girl?

There are aspects of Amish culture that I find strange, such as the way they answer direct questions but will not volunteer additional information even when it might be relevant. Reuben is particularly reticent. This has the potential to be misleading and could be seen as an obstruction of justice. And this time, withholding information is going to get Reuben into trouble. The rules of the mystery genre dictate that the culprit is a character we know. This gets a bit awkward, as we get to know the cast and don't want it to be any of them, not even Reuben, who is definitely hiding something.

One of the things I like most about these books is that the characters seem very real. Callie is reluctant to date either Andrew or Trent because she just feels herself pulling back. It seemed like the natural reluctance of a young widow, and I liked it. The characters are by no means perfect. Even the Amish have tempers and meltdowns and question God just like the rest of us (I say ‘even’ because so much Amish fiction romanticises the Amish to the point that they all appear to be ‘perfect Christians’). And I really liked the ending. It was beautiful, full of understanding, grace and forgiveness. But you’ll have to read it yourself to find out why.

A Perfect Square is the second in the Shipshewana series, following Falling to Pieces, and the third book, Material Witness, is due to be published in August 2012. More information about Vanetta Chapman can be found at her website or blog. Thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.