Reviewed By Liz

ISBN 978-1590584484

IN THE SHADOW OF THE GLACIER - Trouble is brewing in the small, bucolic mountain town of Trafalgar, British Columbia. An American who came to Trafalgar as a Vietnam War draft dodger has left land and money to the town but there’s a catch: the money must be used to build a garden to honor draft dodgers. This bequest has torn the close-knit, peaceful town apart. Then the body of a leading opponent is found in an alley, dead from a single blow to the head.

Constable Molly Smith is assigned to assist veteran Detective Sergeant John Winters in the investigation. But Winters doesn’t want the help of the enthusiastic rookie, and suspects that he’s been assigned Smith for political reasons, her mother, a life-long activist, is the leader of the group arguing for the park.

Egged on by a muck-raking TV personality, outside agitators from both sides are soon streaming into Trafalgar, while Smith and Winters search through small-town secrets for a killer.

Winters is haunted by a recent failure of judgment, and Smith just wants to be a good cop, and a good daughter, in a town where a substantial number of the residents had seen her performing as Number Two Wise Man in the Grade Three Christmas pageant.

In the Shadow of the Glacier is the first in first in a traditional mystery series featuring Constable Smith, Sergeant Winters, and the town in the shadow of the glacier, Trafalgar British Columbia.

Check out Vicki’s web site at www.vickidelany.com/.

Available at Amazon

ISBN 978-0738710822

THE BLACK WIDOW AGENCY - Strong, sexy, smart, and stealthy! The ladies at the Black Widow Agency aim to bring justice to wronged women like themselves, using a lethal blend of computer forensics, surveillance technology, and women’s intuition. The owner is ex-cop Katie Mahoney, a natural at undercover work. Her competent staff includes Alexandria, the mysterious, black-clad cybergoddess who keeps a pet tarantula; Margot, the crafty office manager, who’s not afraid to don a leather bustier for the cause; and Jane, who crunches numbers amid hot flashes. The four Black Widows form a tight sisterhood—depending on each other for emotional support, laughter, and frequent doses of chocolate.

When the Black Widows hear Amber Gordon’s heartbreaking story of sexual harassment, ending in a ruined career and lost custody of her daughter, they vow to spin a trap for the sexist automotive company run by Amber’s former father-in-law.

Check out Felicia’s web site at http://feliciadonovan.com.

Available at Amazon

My bookmark has been a little lazy this week because Dancing With The Stars is on again. With a few exceptions, our television doesn’t get turned on between DWTS seasons. And yes, lack of television is the secret to reading 200+ books per year. But when the dancing shoes, fake eyelashes, and sequins are back our little eyeballs are glued to the screen.

I have no idea why ballroom dancing is so addictive. I have certainly never done it, but watching it is fascinating. And it goes across generations. Our 8-year old calls her grandmother before school to discuss the previous night’s performances. They natter away about which turns weren’t synchronized, who didn’t stay in the hold long enough during the Foxtrot, and the terrible music they picked for the Paso Doble. Everyone knows the highest scores go to the dancers who use traditional music with a strong beat for the Paso. Haven’t these these people watched the past seasons?

Because we have. Emily has been watching since she was four. And she remembers almost all of it - every couple, costume, dance, music selection, and score. She will hear a song and remember that it is what a pair danced to in season two. She will reel off the names of the dancers, the dance, what they wore, and when they were eliminated. The little bugger is always right, too. Believe me, I check. It is a little spooky.

So, instead of finishing Donna Andrews’ NO NEST FOR THE WICKET, I sat with my family and enjoyed and critiqued ballroom dancing. We yelled “watch your posture” at the television. “You haven’t been in the hold long enough!” We tsk-tsked over sloppy footwork and oohed and aahed over unexpected grace. It is early in the season, but in a week or two we will have enough info to make book on the competitors. Yes, it is a strange hobby, but we like it.

And I have just ordered a new crop of books from the library, including several of our SMRC authors. I will let you know how I like them in the coming weeks. I slipped in a copy of the Antonio Banderas dance movie, Take The Lead, too.

So what do you enjoy doing when you aren’t reading? Any guilty secrets like ballroom dancing?

ISBN 0743289927

THE CHARDONNAY CHARADE - Facing a freak late-May frost that threatens to kill the grapes in her vineyard, Lucie Montgomery hires a helicopter to fly over the vines – in total darkness – stirring up the Arctic air on the ground so the fruit will not freeze. But her luck in salvaging the harvest runs out when she discovers the body of Georgia Greenwood, a controversial political candidate, lying near the fields. Georgia’s husband Ross – Lucie’s friend and doctor -– immediately falls under suspicion. To make matters worse, Ross, a renowned collector of Civil War documents, has just discovered a letter that seems to prove Confederate President Jefferson Davis had prior knowledge of the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. In the small town of Atoka, Virginia – proud home to Mosby’s Rangers, a legendary Confederate guerrilla company led by Colonel John Singleton Mosby, the “Gray Ghost” -– the news is a bombshell.

Three years ago Ross saved Lucie’s life after she was involved in a near-fatal car crash. Now she intends to return the favor and prove Ross’s innocence. As the search for Georgia’s killer escalates, Lucie crosses swords with her attractive but cantankerous winemaker, Quinn Santori, and confronts her own unwelcome feelings of jealousy over his new romance and job prospects. Her worries about her kid sister’s out-of-control drinking and a second vineyard-related death further ratchet up the tension. Even though Lucie believes in vino veritas -– in wine there is truth -– the path to uncovering a murderer involves making a heartbreaking decision that will alter the lives of those she loves.

Check out Ellen’s web site at http://www.ellencrosby.com/.

Available at Amazon

ISBN 1-59058-363-9

FALSE FORTUNE features lawyer Hannah Dain. In an effort to improve her relationships with her father and older sister, Hannah has joined the family law firm and is trying to fit in. Hannah and sister Shelby are on an evidence gathering expedition in a remote desert area when a car goes over a cliff into a lake and the driver needs to be rescued from the vehicle. Hannah, an extreme sports enthusiast, takes the plunge and saves the trapped woman. She’s a hero in the morning, but in the afternoon Hannah has to take her sister’s place in court and messes up what should have been a routine case settlement. Now she must take the toxic tort case to trial – something she has never done before.

Shelby is furious with Hannah, who is trying to locate missing evidence, find a new expert witness, and prepare herself for trial. When Hannah’s newly discovered 14-year old half-sister, Anuya, shows up, things get very complicated. You see, Shelby doesn’t yet know about Anuya, and Hannah is trying to keep it that way so she can keep some hurtful family secrets hidden until Shelby is ready to hear them. But it turns out that everyone has a few secrets they are trying to hide and Hannah’s new case proves to be harmful to her health.

FALSE FORTUNE is basically a good book. The bad guys are easy to spot, but the plot is still good, the characters are interesting, and there are some intriguing complications along the way. And the extreme sports thread that runs through the book adds something new for readers, without getting carried away, which is important in these themed books.

However, Phelan needs to devote some research to the matter of incorporating juvenile characters into books. Hannah is completely negligent in her care of Anuya, and I spent the whole book waiting for Anuya to be kidnapped and murdered. Just as authors who are unfamiliar with ballistics need to do research, so, too, do authors who are unfamiliar with the care and feeding of juveniles. When a 14-year old girl travels cross-country and tells no one where she is, responsible people do not wait four days to call her mother. After being threatened with violence and an apartment has been broken into and searched, a responsible person does not leave said 14-year old asleep alone in the apartment and go to work all day. By portraying Hannah acting this way, Phelan conveys to us that she is irresponsible and untrustworthy – and I don’t think that was the intent.

Did I guess it? Yes. Favorite character? Hannah’s secretary Clementine. Will I read another? Yes. The flaw here is an easy fix.

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

Available at Amazon!

ISBN 0312329423

THE PENGUIN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH - While digging a hole to make a pond for his borrowed penguins, Meg’s father digs up a body. And when rumors begin to spread that the corpse might be the owner of the bankrupt local zoo that is normally the penguins’ home, anxious volunteers begin taking advantage of Dad’s generous offer to take in the animals they’ve been fostering. As the llamas, sloths, and hyenas begin to arrive, Meg fears that by the time the police solve the crime, she and her fiance, Michael, will have a zoo in their back yard. A unnerving prospect at any time, but particularly now, when Meg fears it will derail her and Michael’s plan to escape their families and elope. So Meg does some sleuthing of her own.

Check out Donna’s web site at www.donnaandrews.com/.

Available at Amazon

ISBN 978-0-451-22178-0

GRAVE APPAREL is the fourth Crime of Fashion mystery featuring Lacey Smithsonian. Lacey is the fashion reporter for The Eye Street Observer in Washington D.C. and has recently been caught up in Sweatergate. One of her co-workers wrote a scathing editorial panning Christmas sweaters and Lacey is taking the heat for it both in and out of the office. When her co-worker is attacked in the alley behind the paper’s office, an eyewitness to the attack uses the victim’s cell phone to summon Lacey by hitting the redial button.

But the witness is a child and quickly disappears into the night while Lacey is distracted. Lacey knows she must find this child again before the killer does because the police are stymied by the description of the attacker – a “Santa dude” who used a giant candy cane to bash his victim.

This book is a pleasant read. The fashion element is present in the book, but unlike some themed books, isn’t overwhelming and doesn’t feel too contrived. The book is populated with interesting character and has some interesting plot elements, but it isn’t much of a mystery. Instead of developing clues to enable both Lacey and the reader to solve the mystery, Byerrum spends time on characters and has Lacey stumble across the bad guy at the end. I found the book’s happy ending predictable but this is what the readers of this kind of chick-lit quasi-mystery expect, so I guess that is okay.

Did I guess it? Yes. Favorite character? Felicity Pickles, the food editor. Will I read another? Probably. This isn’t the first Crime of Fashion mystery I have read. They are the kind of low-impact read that you sometimes want.

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

Available at Amazon!

ISBN 0758211937

ANTIQUES MAUL - As autumn splashes color across the small Mississippi River town of Serenity, newly divorced Brandy Borne is on the brink of going crazy after her ever-impossible mother quits the local theater group. She comes up with a brilliant idea for preserving her sanity and keeping Mother busy: open their own booth at the new antiques mall in town. But they are about to cross paths with a killer…

Brandy, along with Sushi, her spoiled Shih Tzu, pays a visit to the town’s Chief of Police to ask about federal auctions of confiscated goods, a little-known source of great antiques and collectibles. Her buys at her first auction in Rockford, Illinois turn out to be a success. On the other hand, her first visit from her ten-year-old son Jake, who has been living with his father, turns out to be a challenge.

While Halloween looms large on the horizon, things turn grim when a body is found at the antiques mall. To the cops, the case seems pretty clear cut: the victim’s dog, the normally good-natured Brad Pit Bull, mauled its owner to death. But Brandy knows her canines, and this dog has definitely been framed.

Brandy and Mother are soon snooping into nooks, crannies, and cubbyholes while stepping on assorted toes. As All Hallow’s Eve shenanigans grow increasingly frightening, true terror unmasks itself when Jacob goes missing. Is his disappearance just a childish prank? Or are sinister forces bubble-bubble-toiling trouble in Serenity?

Now Brandy and her over-the-top mom are on the hunt to find Jake before a devious killer mauls again…

Available at Amazon

ISBN 1-59058-354-x

A HARD BARGAIN is the second book featuring former beauty queen Madeline Maclin. Mac, as her friends call her, has given up the crown in favor of a private investigator’s license and is looking for cases of any size on which to cut her teeth. Mac quickly lands several small cases that she hopes will be good PR in her small town, but when a murder is committed literally in her front yard, Mac can’t help but get involved. She is more than a little worried that her housemate’s old partner in crime has roped him into a new scheme. And since Mac has hopes that she and Jerry won’t be sleeping in separate bedrooms for much longer, she needs to help him both keep his nose clean and confront some issues from his past.

And boy, does Mac have her hands full. She is trying to solve her PR cases, involved in the murder investigation, and trying to fend off the Pagentoids – her personal wild-eyed beauty queen fan club – who have pressured her into being involved in a local beauty pageant. Oh, and she is trying to get to the bottom of the giant Mantis Man monster sightings that are threatening to turn her small town into a three ring circus of monster hunters and souvenir hawkers.

I really enjoyed this book. It is more than a little wacky and jam-packed with comings and goings, to-ing and fro-ing as Mac tries to juggle the responsibilities she has taken on. Jerry, the housemate she desires, is more than a handful himself. His primary occupation is paranormal fraud and Mac does her best not to throttle him as he performs exorcisms and sells special tomato-growing incantations to their neighbors. But this levity is counterbalanced by Jerry’s belief that he caused the fire in which his parents died when he was a child. This is a delightful book that will leave you hungry for more.

Did I guess it? Parts of it. Favorite character? Jerry. But I would probably have strangled him. Will I read another? Absolutely!

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

Available at Amazon!

ISBN 0553804235

REBEL ISLAND - In the seventh entry of the Tres Navarre mystery series, Tres Navarre had given up private investigation—and with it a violent past that had buried too many friends. Newly married, with a baby on the way, it was time to find a safer line of work. He and Maia had come to Rebel Island to celebrate their honeymoon and a new future. But no sooner had they arrived than a reminder of the past showed up in the form of a corpse shot dead in room 12.

Just like that Tres finds himself flashing back on the memory of a grim childhood summer spent on the island—a summer that changed everything in his life. A summer he could never forget but never entirely remember either. And when a second corpse turns up, it’s clear to Tres that the past is not dead and buried after all, but is stalking Rebel Island with unfinished business of its own.

What really happened that long-ago summer, what dark secrets were kept, and who has come back to avenge them…these are the questions Tres, his brother Garrett, and the very pregnant Maia must answer—and time is running out. For a monster hurricane is about to hit Rebel Island, cutting them off from the mainland and leaving them trapped on a flooding island with the hotel’s remaining guests brutally dying one by one. Tres knows better than anyone that the bloodlines of South Texas are as twisted as barbed wire. This time they’re guarding a revelation that can turn his dreams of happily ever after into the ultimate nightmare.

Check out Rick’s web site at www.rickriordan.com/.

Available at Amazon