Miss Aldridge Regrets

Finished April 23

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare

This is the first book in an historical mystery series called A Canary Club Mystery. The time is 1936 and Lena Aldridge is singing at a basement club in Soho, London. Lena's father, Alfie, brought her up in the world of music. Alfie was a black piano player from the U.S. who had migrated to England and made a life there. He has died recently and Lena is still grieving.  He never talked about her mother, but because Lena is white passing, she believes that her mother was white. Lena's best friend from childhood, Maggie, is married to Tommy, the owner of the club, but things haven't been going well in their relationship and Tommy has told Maggie he plans to leave her with nothing and marry his current young mistress. 

Recently someone came to blackmail Maggie and gave Tommy incriminating photographs that he can use against Maggie, something she has confessed to Lena about, while also telling her that the photos were a setup. So when Maggie turns up at the club that night, Lena is worried that something bad is going to happen. 

When the evening ends with Tommy dead, she knows she was right and she is placed right in the middle of it all. Earlier that day, a man named Charlie Bacon had appeared at Lena's rooming house, claiming to represent a man named Bennie Walker who had been a friend of her dad's back in the U.S. Lena has never heard her father mention the name, but Bennie apparently feels bad for the falling out between them and has done well, and wants to give Lena a leading role in his new Broadway musical to make amends. Lena isn't sure, but her new circumstances with Tommy's death convince her to take advantage of the opportunity to make a fresh start. 

Much of the book takes place on the Queen Mary, as Lena and Charlie make passage to New York. They are in first class courtesy of Charlie's employer and their seating places them at a table otherwise composed of a wealthy American family and the people that work for them, the Parkers. The patriarch, Francis, is in a wheelchair and obviously unwell. Other family members include his daughter Eliza, her husband Jack, their children Frankie, a young man, and Carrie, a teenager, Francis's nurse Daisy and his attending doctor, Dr. Wilding. 

Out on the deck taking air one evening, Lena encounters black bandleader Will Goodman, and is at first taken aback when he clearly identifies her as mixed race. But she feels a connection and wants someone she can be more herself with, and begins to make friends with him, and join him in below deck socializing. 

When Francis suddenly dies at dinner one night, Lena knows he has died the same way Tommy did, and she worries that someone will connect her to both deaths. As things escalate and she becomes more involved with the family, she begins to think that someone is framing her for the crimes. But why?

I enjoyed this novel, the plot and the main character. Lena hasn't lived an easy life, but she also hasn't taken her life firmly into her own hands even now. The social environment of the time and the place is brought alive, with the elements of class and race. I'd definitely be interested in reading more in the series. 

Goody Two Shoes

Finished June 17

Goody Two Shoes by Janet Elizabeth Henderson

This novel takes place in a small Scottish town. American singer Josh McInnes has recently bought the small castle in town which had fallen into some disrepair and the original details were either covered or missing. Caroline Patterson has lived her whole life in Invertary and has almost given up on love. Her younger sister is living in the Middle East and currently expecting her second child. They are close, but haven't seen each other lately. Caroline is a woman who gets things done. She runs the community centre, and the library, and is on pretty much any committee going. 

Josh doesn't believe in falling in love. He sings about love, but has only experienced lust, not love. He loves the way his parents love each other, but they got married because his mother was pregnant with him. He thinks an arranged marriage is the way to go. He has asked his best friend and manager Mitch to pick a woman for him. He wants a partnership, a friendship, a lifelong commitment. 

When his friend sets up a meeting with Caroline, she thinks it is about renovation of the castle. When he explains his philosophy around marriage and proposes to her, at first she can't believe it. Then she negotiates. She gets to do whatever she wants regarding the castle (which she wants to bring it back to its original condition) and she will agree to marry him and have a family with him. 

At first they manage to keep it a secret within the town, except for Josh's parents. But then someone leaks the news and they find themselves under media scrutiny, something Caroline definitely isn't ready for. As the critiques of her life, her looks, and her fashion choices come in, things really get out of hand. 

Saving graces are the townspeople who love Caroline as their own. There is a group of retired men known as the domino boys, who meet regularly at the centre and who latch on to the wedding offering planning and security. Josh's parents, Andrew and Helen, have their own issues which come to the fore during their visit, and some of Josh's fans are a bit enthusiastic about changes to his life.

This novel is lighthearted and fun, with humour, escapades, and great lines. Both Josh and Caroline find themselves growing in ways they didn't expect, as the learn about each other. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and it is the second in a series set in this small town. 

Sugar Plum Poisoned

Finished November 12

Sugar Plum Poisoned by Jenn McKinlay

This was a fun read. It is the fifteenth book in the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series, and the first one I've read. This one is set on the central characters' home turf of Scottsdale, Arizona. The two main characters are Angie Harper and Melanie DeLaura. The two, alone with Angie's husband Tate own Fairy Tale Cupcakes. They have franchised the business to other locations, with Tate being the one going on the road and do this side of the business. Angie and Melanie run the local shop, along with counter help staff. 

The book opens with news that a close friend that Angie made before her marriage is coming to town and wants them to do catering for her several nights. Shelby Vaughn is a singer, just starting to make it big, and she will be playing Christmas shows at a hotel in town. 

Once she shows up, it becomes apparent that something is off about her relationship with her manager. Doc. He seems very controlling, and questions begin to emerge about whether he is acting in Shelby's best interests. 

When he is found dead in Shelby's dressing room, things get more tense. There seem to be plenty of people around that have issues with Shelby, Doc, or both, and Angie and Melanie take it upon themselves to protect Shelby while getting at the truth. 

Melanie also has Christmas dinner to plan as she is hosting it this year for the first time and the size of the gathering keeps getting bigger. 

I enjoyed the mystery as well as the interesting cupcake ideas. There are quite a few recipes at the back of the book for those readers interested in trying them out. 

A Painted Doom

Finished July 11

A Painted Doom by Kate Ellis

I was so enjoying the last Kate Ellis that I read I decided to immediately read the next one in the series. As is usual for this, there is an historical plotline that is gradually revealed through the archeological work that occurs in the novel and through letters or other writings that are given at the beginning of chapters. Here the historical is about the Merrivale family, a well-off family of the late 1400s that had links to the Earls of Devon, and who were loyal supporters of the House of Lancaster in the Wars of the Roses of that time. Recently, a skull was discovered when digging was done in an area of land not built on for some time, where a new town hall is planned for. Neil thinks that they may be excavating the foundations for a manor house of the Merrivale family. 

Meanwhile, in the present, farmer Terry Hoxworthy is preparing an old barn on his land for possible sale. He has roped his teenage son Lewis into helping him, and Lewis makes a discovery in the old barn's loft that comes into play later in the plot. He also sees a large wooden panel with a disturbing scene painted on it that he recoils from. The following day, when the local planning agent comes by, he brings Neil with him to check for any historical significance relating to the old barn. Neil also discovers the panel, which he soon identifies as a 'painted doom', a panel often displayed prominently in churches to depict the horrors that awaited those who weren't destined for heaven. 

Terry also finds something else on the property, a man's body, apparently a victim of murder. As the modern story unfolds, we get stories of the more recent past, the death of a minor celebrity, and, excitingly, a new coroner, a competent and confident young woman, Laura Kruger. We also see a different side of Gerry Heffernan, Wesley's superior, on both personal and professional levels. 

I enjoyed seeing the development of the different repeating characters in the series, and seeing them in lives beyond the professional. 

I liked learning about 'painted dooms' and their history. Bringing in the personal correspondence of the Merrivale family brought aspects of the story a more personal slant, and as always there is a modern day parallel to the story of what happened in the Merrivale family. 

Altogether, a satisfying read.

Two White Queens and The One-Eyed Jack

Finished May 12 

Two White Queens and The One-Eyed Jack by Heidi Von Palleske

This book is a winner. It takes you into the world of four young people, following their lives from the age of six to their early twenties. Gareth and Johnny are best friends, up for any adventure. When Gareth climbs a tree successfully, Johnny is urged to tackle it after him, climbing higher and higher, but he falls, and is hurt. The fall results in the loss of one of Johnny's eyes. Gareth struggles with the guilt he feels of urging Johnny on. The boys remain friends, but for a long while, there is distance between them that wasn't there before. Interestingly, the incident results in another revelation, the fact that Gareth's older brother Tristan is blind in one eye. As Gareth's family deals with this, and numerous doctor visits are kept, Gareth has a random encounter with two young girls in a waiting room.

These two girls are twin sister, Blanca and Clara, albinos who live with their grandfather in a very dysfunctional family. Their mother, Faye, is living in a mental institution and they go to see her from time to time. The also spend time at the home of their uncle and his family. They are bullied at school, and subjected to strict rules at home, but they find refuge in the home of their downstairs neighbour, Esther Perlman, a refugee from World War II, who was the only one in her family to escape the Nazis. Esther teaches them art and manners, and they begin to plan a way out of their situation, by taking advantage of their uniqueness instead of feeling lesser because of it. These are strong-willed girls and their intense connection with each other is their strength.

Johnny's mother Hilda, is another European immigrant, in her case running from a life that she didn't want to face. But she remembers a figure from her childhood and thinks about how he may be able to help her son. As she reconnects with Siegfried, she also finds that her relationship with her husband, already unravelling, grows even more frayed. 

As Johnny grows up, he grows tired of being the "junior" of his father and reclaims his name as Jack, and finds himself using photography as a type of replacement for his partial loss of vision. It is not until they are teenagers that the young people encounter each other again. But this time, they spend more time with each other and are influenced by each other's experiences. 

This book takes us into the past, dealing with loss and shame and the impulse to forget. But it also looks into the future, with the hope these young people have of starting anew, reinventing themselves and finding new purpose. The book's final scene is a fabulous metaphor for new beginnings. 

Don't I Know You?

Finished May 4
Don't I Know You? by Marni Jackson

This novel follows a woman, Rose McEwan from the age of seventeen to middle age. Rose keeps having encounters with famous people. As it begins the encounters seem to fit into her life in a normal way. The first encounter is when Rose takes a summer creative-writing course and John Updike (a young man at the time) is the instructor. A few years later, backpacking around Europe with her boyfriend, she encounters Joni Mitchell when camping in caves near a small Greek town. The encounters are generally pleasant ones, with the celebrities coming across as normal people. As the book moved forward though, the celebrities began to be doing things that you wouldn't expect them to do and meet up with other celebrities that seem unlikely.
As the book got stranger, I began to enjoy it less. Jackson certainly has an imagination, but I found myself unable to suspend disbelief after a certain point. It was also at this point that the plot disappeared for me.