Tuesday Book Reviews

Five-star review of My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood

 

Actually a long short story, The Evil Mother is about a child’s belief and interpretation of what her mother has told her. Do we consider our mothers’ warnings as coming from a concerned parent or a witch? Do our mothers try to scare us into complying with their demands? If your answer to these questions was ever yes, you’ll be able to relate to the narrator. And when do we become our mothers?

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

 

Four-star review of Murder at the Mortuary by Lee Strauss

 This is the fifth in the Ginger Gold series about an heiress in 1920’s London. Intrepid Lady Gold is on her first official case with help from her pathology student friend Haley, who discovered the first body in the mortuary without an identification tag. With Chief Inspector Basil Reed trying to make a go again with his estranged wife, she can’t rely on him. There are enough suspects who could have removed the tags from the first and succeeding bodies. Throw in a connection to the Mafia and a horse-breeding farm, as well as several interesting characters, and there’s enough of a plot and plot twists for this not-so-cozy historical murder mystery. And through it all we see instances of Ginger’s generosity and also examples of the attitudes, fashion and ambience of the time period.

Tuesday Book Review on Thursday

 

Four-star review of City of Whispers by Marcia Muller

Years ago, I read all the Marcia Muller books I could get my hands on, but I’ve been reading so many other novels lately that I fell behind on the Sharon McCone series. In this one, the twenty-eighth, Sharon is looking for her unstable half-brother Darcy Blackhawk with help from nephew Mick and eventually from her husband. Many of the familiar characters, including other members of her staff are mentioned but don’t appear. With Darcy missing and possibly a murderer, it falls to Shar to search for him. The story revolves around two dead women and their long-ago group of friends. Sharon needs to unravel what happened to the two women in order to find Darcy, whose emotional unbalance is shown in occasional short characters from his POV. The backdrop of a changing San Francisco helps create the atmosphere of the book—especially the slowly clearing fog. My only quibble was the amount of repetition.  

Tuesday Book Review

 Five-star review of The Bone Thief by Claire Buss

 In this third book in the Roshaven fantasy series, the Spice Ghosts’ bones have been stolen. A series of people are found to have had them at one time, but even though the Spice Ghosts accuse Jenni of stealing them, they ask chief thief catcher Ned and sprite Jenni to find them. A series of adventures, with their fathers, Ned’s new wife and others, eventually leads them to a final confrontation. Jenni, my favorite character in the series, has to make decisions mostly concerning magic. The danger in this one is heightened, increasing the tension from start to finish.

Tuesday Book Review

 

Four-star review of Tall Boots by Linda Wilson

 This lovely book tells the story of a young girl, Ashley, who wants to win a blue ribbon at the 4H horse show. Wonderful pictures accompany the story. She’s trained her horse for a race for girls at her experience level but is mistaken for a more experienced girl because her helmet hides her face. Her horse runs the race, jumping over obstacles and winning the race. Her mother rewards her with a pair of tall black riding boots to replace her red rubber ones. Information on joining 4H is at the end of the book.

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

  

Five-star review of The Mapmaker’s Apprentice by C.J. Archer 

As with the first book in this series, I was in the middle of two other books when I started this one and I ignored them until I’d finished this one. It was even better than the first. A young mapmaker’s apprentice has gone missing, and Glass and Steel are asked to find him. India’s hand warms when she touches one of the exquisite maps the apprentice drew, telling her it’s magical, and so is he. Meanwhile, Matt’s Aunt Letitia is trying to arrange a marriage between him and every eligible young woman with at least a little noble blood. Matt’s pals, Cyclops and Duke and his cousin, Willie, join in the fun through the main parts of London in Victorian times. This story involves another guild, this one for mapmakers, as well as the desire to keep their magical abilities secret due to the antipathy of non-magical people.

Tuesday Book Reviews

 Five-star review of A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

 I’d heard of this book but didn’t get it to read until a friend invited me to join her and her book club for a discussion about it. The style is unlike any other book I’ve read but fits in a story about Russia from the 1920’s to the 1950’s. I recognized places in Moscow mentioned in the book, although I didn’t visit the Metropole hotel when I was there almost fifty years after the story ended. Alexander transforms from a Count to just an ordinary bloke, but one with a full life is thanks to his childhood training and adaptability. It’s his relationships with the hotel staff and with the two girls in his life that make the read most enjoyable. I don’t know how accurate the historical parts of the story are, but they don’t seem too far off from what I know.