Read-A-Thon Progress

Progress Report (10:00 p.m.)
I watched Law and Order CI and In Plain Sight on TV tonight. What a downer In Plain Sight was! Wish I'd been reading instead. Well, I'm signing off and may start reading The Clovis Incident by Pari Noskin Taichert. Tony Hillerman says she's a skilled and witty writer. Sounds like just what I need right now.

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Progress Report (7:41p.m.)
I finished The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, but I'm not sure I'm going to start another book tonight. For one thing, I'm tired. For another, I'm hungry. And for the third thing, I'm not missing In Plain Sight on TV tonight.

I was very happy to be able to spend the day reading such a fabulous book. I just loved every minute of it, every word. I'm going to the PaperBack Swap site shortly and see if I can get the others in the series. Hope I have enough credits left to order at least one. I loved the book, but I'm too tired at the moment to write more about it and do it justice. I need time to think.

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Progress Report (4:30p.m.):
I'm about halfway through The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and am enjoying every single word. I just took a break to stretch my legs, get something to drink and come check out everybody else's progress. Thanks for the lovely excuse to read all day.

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Progress Report (noonish):
I finished Work of the Angels by Kat Goldring. I stayed up til the wee hours reading that last night, but finally had to give in to exhaustion and get some sleep. So after cleaning up and starting the cooking, I read the last three chapters. I must admit, I did not guess who the villain was. I usually can figure it out, but Kat Goldring surprised me. I like that. Now I'm going to have to go find the previous books in the series and catch up on the lives of Willi and Quannah.

I've read the first chapter of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and am completely enchanted. I'm going to go check on the London broils and then get back to Mma Ramotswe.

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Checking In (about 10:00a.m. or thereabouts):

Not going as well as I'd planned. But isn't that how life goes sometimes? I've heard it said that life is what happens while you're making other plans. We had some life happening this morning. When hubby got up to feed the kitties (no such thing as sleeping in with kitties, unfortunately), he found that the upright freezer's door was ajar. SIGH!! The meat was not completely defrosted, fortunately. All the packages were still halfway frozen, so there was no worry about contamination. We decided to cook all the meat and then freeze the dishes for easy reheating. Well, at least I won't have to cook anything other than vegetables for our suppers for a few days.

I've spent too much time today reading other folks blogs and making lists of books to add to my TBR wish list. I love blogs, but I gotta discipline myself and go read a mystery or two. Blogs later. Mysteries now.

Read-a-thon

Tomorrow, June 7, is the first Mystery Read-a-thon. We're supposed to read for 12 hours. Hmm. Not sure I can sit for 12 hours and just read. Well, that's not true. I have done that, most recently with the last Harry Potter book.

Time to do a little pre-reading planning for the day, especially regarding food. Munchies are okay, but hubby's a diabetic, so scratch that idea. We gotta eat right, which means time and planning. So .... I'm thinking we can do fruit, salad and sandwiches. Or maybe hubby won't mind cooking. Or there's always the crock pot. Ah,yes! There are pork chops in the freezer. Add a can of diced tomatoes, a dash of seasoning, turn the pot on and adjourn to my favorite reading spot. Sounds like a great plan to me.

Here are some questions from the Read-a-thon site:

What books do you want to read during this read-a-thon?
I'm thinking I'll start with The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I received that from PaperBack Swap recently and am eager to read it. I had heard such great things about the books from the DorothyL mystery discussion group. Then I discovered the HBO series and really got hooked. So naturally I had to order the first book in the series even though my TBR pile is already dangerously high.

If I finish The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency before the 12 hours are up, I'm planning to start on another book I've been eager to read: The Clovis Incident by Pari Noskin Taichert. It just sounds like a fun book.

If by some miracle I finish that, then I hope it's okay to use Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I gotta refresh my memory before the movie comes out next month! Like I said, I'm a slow reader, especially if I'm enjoying a good book.

How many books do you hope to finish?
At least one, maybe two. I'm a slow reader by choice. I really love good writing, so I savor it.

What (if any) breaks do you intend to take?
As needed for the basic necessities of life.

Do you generally read lots of mysteries and thrillers or are the one of the many genres you like?
I read lots of mysteries, but I enjoy any good book with great characters, plots and settings. I like humorous cozies and historical mysteries the most, but I also frequently read police procedurals and thrillers, an occasional political thriller. And I love science fiction, especially Star Trek. I've recently read some mainstream fiction, for want of a better term. I've even been known to read a romance every now and again. I used to be snobby about romances, but discovered some good ones that I really enjoyed and was forced to change my mind. I just love good stories and good writing.


Who are some of your favorite authors?
In no particular order: Susan Wittig Albert, M.C. Beaton, Emilie Richards, Jeff Cohen, Tony Hillerman, Margaret Coel, J. K. Rowling, Tamar Myers, Jimmie Ruth Evans (aka Dean James), Betty Rowlands, Sue Grafton, Margaret Frazer, Peter Tremayne, Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Sharon Kay Penman. I could go on and on and on.

If you could make us all read one mystery or thriller for this read-a-thon, which one would it be and why?
Oh, good grief! Just one? I have a hard enough time choosing something for myself to read at any given time. Coin tossing is frequently involved. So I guess I'd pick a writer who may not be so well known but who IMHO deserves to be. But I'll have to think about that recommendation for a bit. There are so many good writers who definitely need more exposure. See the favorites list above.

Do you prefer series or stand alones?
I really love series, but stand alones are okay, too.

Another Trailer Park Mystery Treat

Revenge and Justice

Best Served Cold, Jimmie Ruth Evans
This is the third in the Trailer Park Mystery series by Dean James, aka Jimmie Ruth Evans. I really enjoy this series. Wanda Nell is a person I'd like to know. Although I've never been a single parent and have never lived in a trailer park, I can still relate to her struggles to maintain her dignity and her own sense of herself in a small town in the deep South. The fictional Tullahoma, MS reminds me a lot of Columbia, LA, especially the various characters, warts and all. James (writing as Jimmie Ruth Evans) doesn't glorify small towns, nor does he commit the unforgivable sin of ridiculing southern characters. They simply are what they are, without gross exaggeration or caricature. I deeply respect that. Their struggles, jealousies, friendships, squabbles and politics make me ever so slightly homesick sometimes. And make me glad not to live there anymore, too. Odd feeling, that.

In Best Served Cold Wanda Nell's baby brother Rusty returns to Tullahoma, attitude and all, and shortly afterwards, the murders begin. Of course, Rusty is implicated and Wanda Nell has to try to prove he is innocent. The title implies that revenge is the big motive for the murders. Well, revenge is important, but to the plot in general and I appreciate that even the title is a red herring of sorts.

This is the first time we've met Wanda Nell's brother and I immediately dislike him. He grows on me, though, as the story progresses and I most imagine that is James' intent. By the time the story is concluded and the murders solved, I like Rusty very much and have started feeling some motherly concern about him.

I have some quibbles with the plot, though. If I mention them, I'll probably give away the plot, but since no one reads my blog, it's not as though it matters. I find the characters believable, especially the red-neck good old boys who are full of themselves because of their small town political connections. They are the children of the big fish in the local pond. The sense of entitlement of those in power, no matter how small the pond, never really changes. Only the venue. So it comes as no surprise to learn that certain of the "in" crowd did something heinous and got away with it through parental intervention. I have no problem believing that part of the story.

What I have a problem believing is that so many people in a small Mississippi town give a hoot in a whirlwind about a gang of well-connected rapists ravaging a poor black girl. Not way back when the crime happened and not in the present. I just don't believe the community at large, and especially the legal community as portrayed in this book, would all band together to seek justice for the victim. That's just not the reality of anywhere in the US, not just the South. Maybe that's just my cynicism, but there it is. I guess that is my own prejudice, but it's not as though it's not based on certain real experiences.

As a bleeding heart liberal, I appreciated the story. As a feminist who's been concerned about women and sexual assault for well over 30 years, I truly and deeply appreciate that this novel doesn't shy away from the devastation this crime caused and that the author felt compelled not only to cry out for justice, but to see to it that it was delivered via the legal system, not via violence. And I appreciate that the story ends with justice being provided, the bad guys losing face in their community, and long-estranged family members being reunited with hope for the future. But all that's fiction. I like happy endings. I just don't believe this one is true to the reality of the South as I see it. I like it very much. I just don't believe it would really happen, sorry to say.

That being said, I'm looking forward to the rest of the books in the series so I can find out what happens to Wanda Nell, her newly outed gay son, her daughter who had a bi-racial child out of wedlock, the "good" daughter who causes no one any problems (surely that can't last, can it?), the newly discovered bi-racial nephew, etc. That's a load of problems for further novels to delve into and I'm eager to see how Jimmie Ruth Evans deals with them.

Back to the Future --- and the Past

More time travel via the printed page:

PAST:
Silver Pigs, Lindsey Davis

• I had a little trouble getting into this book, but once I did, I loved the main character, Marcus Didius Falco, an informer (private eye in modern parlance) during the reign of Vespasian (69-79 A.D.) and the supporting cast. Marcus rescues a Sosia Camillina from her would-be kidnappers and in the process of investigating, uncovers a conspiracy in the trading of silver ingots, known as silver pigs. Falco falls head over heels in love with Sosia, even though she is the niece of a senator and therefore totally out of his league. After she is murdered, Falco is hired by Sosia's uncle to investigate and he finds himself volunteering to serve as a slave in the silver mines in Britain. There are lots of twists and turns in this whodunnit. It is well plotted and well written, with realistic characters and a good bit of humor. I'm definitely going to be looking for others in the series. I ordered Shadows in Bronze, the next book in the series, from PaperBack Swap already.
  

Dragon's Lair, Sharon Kay Penman

• This is the third in Penman's medieval mystery series set in the 12th century during the time of Elinor of Aquitane. Since I loved the other two books,The Queen's Man and Cruel as the Grave, I was quite eager to read this one. I was not disappointed. Richard the Lionheart, eldest son of Queen Elinor, is in an Austrian dungeon being held for ransom. Elinor has been collecting payments from her followers, but one of the payments vanishes without a trace in the wilds of Wales. Justin de Quincy, known as the Queen's man, is sent to find the ransom and hurry it to London so Elinor can get Richard released. Meanwhile we learn that Richar's brother John is plotting with France's King Philippe to keep the ransom from being paid so John can seize the crown for himself. De Quincy's investigation into the theft of the ransom puts him in the middle of Wales political struggles.
  

Queen's Ransom, Fiona Buckley

• Ursula Blanchard is a lady-in-waiting in the court of Elizabeth I who has a talent for solving mysteries. Elizabeth I is trying to keep civil war from breaking out in Franche. When she learns that Ursula will be traveling to the Loire valley with her former father-in-law Elizabeth gives her a letter with the instructions to deliver it personally to Catherine, Queen of France. Ursula's relationship with her former father-in-law was never good to begin with even when her husband had been alive. And now it gets stormier with her father-in-law as well as other members of the entourage behaving suspiciously. When she meets her estranged second husband, Matthew de la Roche, things get worse. The book takes place during a time of great religious upheaval, Protestant versus Catholic. Ursula and her servants are Protestant, while Matthew is Catholic and is being hunted to be captured and returned to England to be tried for treason. After the letter is presented to Queen Catherine, Ursula's servant is arrested and charged with an attempt to poison the Queen. Ursula must scramble to prove her servant innocent and secure a ransom to buy her release.

PRESENT:
Wildcat Wine, Claire Matturro

• I just finished reading this one last night. It started out a bit slow. I was in a cranky mood, so maybe that's why I didn't warm up to it right away. But Matturro soon got me hooked and I even laughed out loud a time or two. She's got her southernisms and southern attitudes and mannerisms down pat. I hate, loathe and abhor fake Southern accents and characters. The main character, attorney Lillian Belle Cleary, a successful corporate trial attorney, is a real Southerner. She's sort of a female version of Monk, the Defective Detective, in that she is also obsessive compulsive, won't eat anything that's not organically grown even if it means she starves, is afraid of toxins, and cleans and recleans every inch of her house when she's frustrated, which is quite often. But she definitely has better social skills than Monk. Just when Lillian's preparing for oral arguments on behalf of her psychic client who's been sewed for malpractice by a woman who thought she had been abducted by Martians, her former lover and friend, a pot-growing ex-hippie, drops in and life gets a bit crazier than usual. Somehow Dave manages to get mixed up in the middle of two murders and Lillian has to figure out the truth. I didn't guess the real culprit until nearly the end of the book. I love Lillian, her secretary and the single-dad sheriff who once pulled up Lillian's okra plants to pacify the neighbor who swore they were pot. I believe Wildcat Wine is the first in a series featuring Lillian. The blurb on the back of the book says that Matturro "has a wicked sense of comedic timing." And that is so true. Sometimes humorous mysteries are either groaners or just plain silly and stupid. This one is intelligently done so that you feel the humor just arises naturally. Nothing seems forced or set up to get a cheap laugh. I really respect Matturro's comic ability.
  

Tilt-a-Whirl, Chris Grabenstein

• Another series I'm going to have to check out. This book came highly recommended by the DorothyL mystery list and I'm glad it finally became available via PaperBack Swap. Somebody else snapped it up immediately after I re-posted it. I'm going to be on the lookout for the others in this series. And I'll probably ask the St. Tammany Parish Library to buy copies.
  

Some Like It Hot-Buttered, Jeffrey Cohen

• What a great month for reading. Here's yet another writer who can really write comedy! Some Like It Hot-Buttered is one of the best humorous mysteries I've read in a very long time. It's funny, it's witty, and it is very well written. It has loads of references to classic comedies, most of which I adore as much as the main character, Elliot Freed. Elliot bought a vacant theater to refurbish so he could fulfill his dream of a theater dedicated strictly to comedy. Unfortunately, a patron dies from poisoned popcorn, threatening to destroy Elliot's dream. I wish I hadn't waited so long to read Some Like It Hot-Buttered, but I will most definitely not wait too long to seek out the next two books in this great series.
  

Dying to Sing, Margaret Chittendon

• This one wasn't horrible. But it wasn't all that great either. I'm not really sure why I didn't take to the characters. I liked the main character reasonably well. Charlie is a thirty-something divorcee who sank her life savings into the country western tavern called CHAPS, located between the San Andreas and Hayward faults. That is significant because the book starts off with an earthquake which reveals a skeleton in the flower bed. There are plenty of "characters" in the neighborhood, but I never really warmed up to any of them. I did not hate the book, but I'll not be rushing out to secure the rest of the books in this series. I didn't think the solution to the crime was all that believable and that is pretty unforgivable in spite of all the lovable and not-so-lovable characters introduced. Maybe a little later I'll check the series out again. But the blurb from the second book starts off with male characters harassing Charlie and Charlie does not kick them in the balls! She doesn't ever yell or sock them in the eye or anything like that. And it's not as if Charlie is the shy, retiring type. Nor is she afraid of losing her job since she's a part owner of CHAPS. So why put up with that crap! Now, honey, THAT'S unforgivable! I don't mind sexiness and flirtations, but sexual harassment is a whole other matter altogether.
  

FUTURE:
Windows on a Lost World, V. E. Mitchell

• I took a break from mysteries and history to delve into a futuristic adventure via a Star Trek novel. It was a fun side trip which involved some speculation about alien cultures and just how alien they can be, as well as speculation about non-verbal modes of communication. As usual, Kirk and Spock and the Enterprise crew figured it all out and saved the day. I think only one Red-Shirt died in this book. Pretty amazing considering how nasty the alien culture was. Well worth the time IMHO. Of course, I'm a trekkie and just about anything Star Trek is pleasing to me.

PAST and PRESENT:
Lincoln's Dreams, Connie Willis

• Long time ago in what seems like another life, I read a lot of science fiction, especially feminist science fiction. And of course I discovered the amazing talent of Connie Willis. This book was published in 1987 and I must have bought the paperback version around that time. But for some reason, I put it to one side and just never got around to reading it, especially after I quit reading so much science fiction. But in going through my book shelves to find books to list on PaperBack Swap, I came across this book and decided now was a good time to read it. Wow! I'm blown away once again by Willis' talent. This book was not easy to read simply because it was so emotionally compelling. Annie is a young woman who is convinced she is dreaming Robert E. Lee's dreams. Jeff Johnston, a historical researcher for a best-selling Civil War novelist, gradually comes to believe her. How else can she know so many arcane details about Antietam and Gettysburg and Arlington and Lee's family life? An amazing book. Wish I were a good enough writer to express just how much I loved this book. Makes me want to get back into feminist science fiction again. I know I have a few such novels lurking in the hidden corners of various book shelves and book boxes. Maybe it's time to hunt them down and read them.

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Wow, that was quite a pile of books! Traveling from the 1st century, to the 12th century and up into the 15th, then jumping several hundred years to the 21st, then toggling back and forth between the Civil War and the present, and finally blasting off into whatever century Star Trek represents! Lots of fun, lots of good stories, great characters, excellent plots. Lots to think about.

Traveling Through Time

I've read three historical novels over the last few weeks. The first was a mystery, Roman Blood by Steven Saylor, set in Rome in 80B.C.E. I've never read anything by this author before, unfortunately. I will definitely be reading more by him in the future. Roman Blood is the first in Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series and features a sleuth named Gordianus the Finder. In this book, Gordianus is hired by none other than the famous Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero who is about to argue his first case before the courts. Cicero's client is Sectus Rosius of the town Ameria who is accused of the crime of murdering his father. The plot is quite intricate,but not too confusing. The story was well paced and I like almost all the characters I was supposed to like, suspected those I'm pretty sure I was supposed to suspect and distrusted most everybody with money and status. Some things never change, do they? It was to Saylor's credit that even though I knew Cicero was to win his case since he's a historical figure and we know he had a brilliant career, there were times when I just could not see how he could win even when he managed to rouse the fury of Roman dictator Sulla.

Saylor has a talent for characterization and his portrait of ancient Rome and the complexities of its various levels of societies was fascinating. I know this is fiction and the portrayals of famous historical figures requires a certain amount of freedom of interpretation from the author. In another's hands, the characters might well have been portrayed quite differently (see Sunne in Splendour discussion below). But Saylor convinced me that all these people were quite real, even the nonhistorical ones. Actually I liked Gordianus, his slave Bethesda and Cicero's slaveTiro best, as I suppose I was supposed to. They seem quite believable to me.

Next time I get to the library, I'm bringing another Saylor book home with me.

The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman brought me forward in time to England, 1459, and another story of political intrigue. This novel told the story of Richard III quite differently from the way most of us have learned it from Shakespeare and others. It was quite a thick book and with my short attention span I was a bit afraid I'd not be able to finish it. But I stayed up way too late way too many nights reading. Even though I knew that this novel could not possibly have a happy ending, I read it anyway. I was not disappointed. As a matter of fact, Sharon Kay Penman is completely 100% responsible for my fascination with medieval England, especially the late 15th and early 16th centuries. I thought that was nigh on to impossible to do, but I have been reading and researching online since I started reading this book. That alone should let anyone know beyond a doubt just how fascinating this book was. I had to keep reminding myself that this is a work of fiction, that Penman's characterization of Edward IV and his little brother Richard were just that - part of the process of creating fiction, albeit from historical sources. I hated all the folks I was supposed to hate and later began thinking about winners writing history and how what we read as gospel about historical figures might not be so gospel-ly after all. Anyway, this book, like the other Sharon Kay Penman books I've read, was well worth the time. I'm already hooked on her mystery series, and now I'm hooked on her other novels as well.

So next time I get by the library, not only will I be bringing home another Steven Saylor Roma Sub Rosa mystery, I'll be bringing home Penman's When Christ and His Saints Slept, the first in her trilogy about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitane.


The third historical novel moved me up a mere century to 1569, the time of Elizabeth I. Assassin: A Lady Grace Mystery is actually a young adult novel by Patricia Finney (using the nom de plume Grace Cavendish, the main character). Since I had read Karen Harper's The Fyre Mirror, I was fascinated with this period and was eager to read something else featuring Queen Elizabeth I. So I did a search on PaperBack Swap and ordered this Lady Grace book. I'm not sorry I did. I really enjoyed it. It is definitely a children's novel, but like all really good children's fiction, the tale is so well told that anybody of any age could read and enjoy it.

Lady Grace, age 13 and an orphan, is one of Elizabeth I's favorite handmaids. Elizabeth has decided it's time for Lady Grace to choose her future husband. Someone needs to look after the properties her parents' left her when they died and in this time period, that means a husband, for the most part. So at the Valentine banquet, Lady Grace is to choose one of three suitors for her hand. Things are complicated when one spurned suitor is found murdered with the knife he had given Lady Grace. The man she had chosen was implicated and will probably be hanged for the crime if Lady Grace doesn't find out who the real murderer is.

I enjoyed the author's style and approach to telling the story as much as anything. Finney used the motif of Lady Grace's daily journal. I don't normally care for first person accounts, but this one worked so well I frequently forgot to grouse.

Suspects and Profits

In Let There Be Suspects, book 2 in the Ministry Is Murder series by Emilie Richards, Aggie Sloan-Wilcox has to deal with yet another murder. This time in her very own house. At Christmas. With a house ful of guests right there. Aggie's free spirited mother had invited herself and Aggie's two sisters to Aggie's house for the holidays. Trouble is, she forgot to mention that to Aggie, so not only does Aggie have to prepare for the Christmas open house for her husband's congregation, she also has to deal with keeping the peace in her newly extended family. To make matters worse, Junie springs a surprise guest on Aggie and her two sisters: Ginger, their former foster sister. This is not a happy family reunion. Old, unresolved resentments rear their ugly head and Aggie's sister Sid and Ginger get into a fight at the Christmas party. When Ginger later turns up dead in the parsonage dining room Sid is the prime suspect. Aggie, of course, feels compelled to prove her sister's innocence and find the real killer.

There's a lot of humor, warmth and wisdom in this book. I was a little surprised, however, that there weren't more family flare-ups with a house full of in-laws, but the characters' personalities were basically realistic, allowing room for a little fun and spoofing, of course. I love the way Richards deals with Teddy's six-year-old theological misgivings. In any other family, that child would be in for some serious therapy down the line, but Aggie, Ed, and Junie work together to help Teddy reach conclusions appropriate for her age.

Beware False Profits has Aggie's Mom taking up permanent residence in Emerald Springs. At the end of the last book, Junie had decided to buy the Victorian that Aggie and her friend Lucy are remodeling. So now they have to try to speed the process upu and remodel the house so Aggie's mom can move in and open a quilt shop. I'm glad Junie is in Emerald Springs. She's such a free spirit that you just know there's plenty of room for tension to develop between Aggie and the Tri-C Women's Society. However, Junie has such an outgoing personality, that she wins everybody over.

I had just a little trouble getting to the real story in this book. I loved the beginning! It was hysterical, but confusing insofar as I could not easily determine early on how the disappearance of a parishioner who had a secret life performing as a female impersonator related to the central murder. But Richards wove that story in beautifully and it was worth hanging in until things became clearer.

The book started out with Aggie and Ed taking a much-needed vacation from family in New York. But they are not going to be allowed to really relax, now are they? Ed gets a frantic call from a church member whose husband had supposedly been at a business meeting in New York and was several days overdue back home. Joe Wagner, faithful church member and director of Helping Hands food bank, is such a stalwart, responsible man, that Ed and Aggie agree to give up a little of their vacation time to try to find out what happened to him. The trail leads to the Pussycat Club and the revelation that Joe had not been attending a conference every month for the past several years as his wife and everybody else in Emerald Springs thought, but had actually been performing as a female impersonator! How in the world are Aggie and Ed going to break the news to Joe's wife?

Back in Emerald Springs, Hazel Kefauver, the wife of Emerald Springs' mayor and Helping Hands board member from hell, falls dead during the annual fundraiser. The missing Joe becomes an absentee suspect since he had such an adversarial relationship with Hazel. Hazel's husband, a notorious womanizer, is also a suspect and he begs Aggie to help prove him innocent. So now Aggie has two mysteries to solve. Eventually the two stories merge beautifully and we find out how Joe wound up belting out Cher's old standards at the Pussycat Club as well as learning who murdered Hazel. Very enjoyable. I may have to read this one again.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

In honor of Mardi Gras, here's a quick little review about Keepsake Crimes, the first of Laura Childs delightful scrapbook mysteries set in New Orleans. This cozy was a fun read for me. We've been in Slidell, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, for a few years now and I've fallen in love with the area, especially New Orleans, warts and all. I've been searching out books, especially mysteries, set in and around my new home.

In this book, the protagonist Carmela Bertrand, owner of Memory Mine, a French Quarter scrapbooking shop, comes face to face with murder. As she and her friends are watching the Pluvius parade, a float stops right in front of them and a body is handed down. An autopsy subsequently shows that the well-known and powerful Jimmy Early Clayton was poisoned and Carmela's ex, who dumped her just a few months before, is now looking to her to help prove he did not do this dastardly deed.

I really enjoyed this book, especially its descriptions of New Orleans, the French Quarter, the people, restaurants, food, sights and sounds of a great American city. Carmela is someone I think I'd enjoy knowing and if she really had a shop in the French Quarter, I'd be one of her customers. She's suffering from the loss of the great love of her life and being so cruelly dumped, but manages to find the inner strength to create a good life for herself. I like women who are strong enough to let their vulnerabilities show, so I'll be reading the rest of the books in this series. I am especially looking forward to the later books in the series which deal with New Orleans post-K (that's post-Katrina for those who don't know the local shorthand).