Mourning Gloria

Finished August 31

Mourning Gloria by Susan Wittig Albert

This is the 19th book in her China Bayles series. Here, China's husband McQuaid is away on a case and her stepson Brian is at camp, so it's just her, her niece Caitie, and the dog Howard Cosell around. Caitie is helping China in both her home garden and the shop garden, as well as helping at the weekly farmers' market. She's also doing some supervised babysitting for friends. 

After a backyard party where Caitie is staying on to do some babysitting, China notices a house trailor on fire on her drive home, calls emergency services, and stops to see if she can help. When she hears a woman calling for help from inside, she tries to get in, but is injured before she can. The experience haunts her, and she can't stop thinking about the trapped woman. 

Jessica Nelson is an intern at the local paper and on the story. When she hears China's details, she becomes personally motivated. Jessica lost her parents and sister to a house fire, something she is still dealing with. She is motivated and good at her job, so when she disappears after leaving a truncated phone message for China, China gets worried. Worried enough to start following in Jessica's footsteps, except she's involving both the local sheriff, whose territory covers the trailer location, and the town police chief. 

There is an subplot about the relationship between the sheriff and police chief as it becomes more serious. 

We also see how Caitie is excelling at her violin lessons, and growing more confident after her past trauma. 

As there sometimes is, a plant theme is clear here. This time it is hallucinogenic plants which covers many plants from coffee and tea to the titled reference to morning glory. This theme also relates to the plot in multiple ways. 

A good read, as usual. 

Silent Bite

Finished November 27

Silent Bite by David Rosenfelt

This is a novel in a long mystery series starring semi-retired criminal lawyer Andy Carpenter. Andy and his friend and former client Willie run the Tara Foundation, a dog rescue organization named after one of Andy's dogs. 

Willie has come to Andy with a request to represent his former cellmate Tony Birch, who is in jail for murder. The case seems cut and dried, but to Andy it seems like it's a little too wrapped up for the crime. He agrees to take it on partly because of Willie and partly because Tony has adopted one of dogs from the rescue organization. When one murder becomes two and then three, Andy isn't so sure, but he follows the logic of his client's case to find the truth. Why would someone who had left a criminal organization and been clean for years suddenly begin to kill? Or is someone framing him for these crimes? 

The tone of the novel is a cross between old-fashioned detective stories and dad humour. The plot is more complex, with a couple surprises along the way. 

The Fire Court

Finished June 10

The Fire Court by Andrew Taylor

This is the second book in the series that started with The Ashes of London, which I read nearly eight years ago. At the center of the book are two characters from the earlier book. One of them is James Marwood, clerk for Mr. Williamson, the Under-Secretary of State to Lord Arlington. He is also clerk to the Board of Red Cloth, which is attached to the Groom of the Stool's department, run by Mr. Chiffinch. This serving of two masters sometimes puts him in a difficult situation. He is also worried about his father, who well healthy in body is falling into dementia, and James has hired Margaret and her brother Sam as servants to assist in managing his father as well as his new house in Infirmary Close in Savoy. 

The other character that is key here and played a role in the previous book is Catherine (Cat) Lovett, now going by the name of Jane Hakesby, and acting as both servant to and cousin of Simon Hakesby, an architect and draughtsman. Hakesby also employs a draughtsman, Brennan, who has come to him only recently. Jane feels wary of him, and feels him watching her, but can't pin down why she feels uneasy. Hakesby has health issues that sometimes make him weak.

The third character that we see closely is Lady Jemima Limbury, wife of Sir Philip Limbury and daughter of Sir George Syre. She also sometimes has health issues and also seems worried about what her husband has been up to and what debts he has accrued. She knows that her family money is one of the reasons that he married her, but she also longs for his love, and to bear the grandson her father so desperately wants. 

At the center of the story is a piece of land that was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and which will soon be coming up as a case in The Fire Court. This court has been set up by the king to be as impartial as possible, judging each case on its own merits, with none of the decisions subject to become precedents in future cases. The court is working to decide cases quickly, trying to be as fair as possible to both the owners of the properties as well as leaseholders. The overall aim is to rebuild The City as quickly as possible.

In his position, Mr. Hakesby often comes before the court, or sits in on decisions that affect clients of his. Jane often takes notes, using shorthand, as well as working as a draughtsman for him. 

When Marwood's father gets out of the house on his own one day and tells a confusing story of his adventures, Marwood at first dismisses it as a delusion of dementia, but when his father dies in an accident the next day, he begins his own investigations, going on clues from his father's ramblings. 

This will draw all the players' stories together in an interesting, often suspenseful series of encounters. 

I like both Marwood and Lovett/Hakesby. Both are passionate, curious, and sometimes impulsive in their actions, but they also want to serve justice and be fair to others no matter their rank. 

I really enjoyed this followup to the first book, and look forward to seeing further tales of the central characters in the following books in the Marwood and Lovett series. 

Promise Not to Tell

Finished May 29
Promise Not to Tell by Jayne Ann Krentz, narrated by Susan Bennett

This thriller takes place in and around Seattle, with two main characters who have a shared traumatic past. Virginia Troy was only a young child when she survived a deliberate fire at a rural cult compound. Her mother died in the fire, and Virginia still has nightmares about that night, despite being raised by a loving grandmother. Cabot Sutter was a bit older than Virginia when he survived that fire, and he also lost his mother. His mother's family wanted nothing to do with him, and he was raised along with two other young male survivors by a man who had his own terrors from that night, Anson Salinas, the police detective that saved them. Anson and all three of the young men have now joined together in a detective agency, and they have reason to believe the cult leader Quinton Zane is still alive despite the boat fire that was supposed to have killed him.
Virginia has made a good life running her own art gallery, and recently made contact with a couple of older women who also survived that night. They were friends of her mothers, and one of them found her truth through painting. The pictures she painted of that night are dark and haunting, even disturbing, but also very good. Virginia has taken the paintings, but it is the last painting, sent to her just as the artist died in a very suspicious manner, that has made Virginia seek out Anson and his agency as people who won't dismiss her suspicions that Zane is still alive. She is correct, and as Cabot returned to the office as she was describing the situation, he is the one that works with her on the case. It doesn't hurt that there is a spark between them, and that they both understand the other's PTSD symptoms.
At the same time this is all happening, Xavier, a younger cousin in Cabot's estranged family approaches him out of curiousity and rebellion wanting to know more about this cousin his father and grandfather hated so much. At first Cabot doesn't want to deal with him, but Virginia and Anson convince him to give the young man a chance without blaming him for his family's actions.
The cult element is very interesting, showing the tactics and personal characteristics of a sociopath intent on his own interests. This is the second book in a series, and I haven't read the first, but had no issues with that.

A Cast of Vultures

Finished April 18
A Cast of Vultures by Judith Flanders

I thoroughly enjoyed the first in this series featuring book editor Samantha Clair, A Murder of Magpies, so was eager to read this one. There is a lot going on in this book, which always makes for a page-turner. Sam is involved in her neighbourhood, and has become a go-between between two gardening friends, Mr. Rudiger and Viv. Mr. Rudiger is her upstairs neighbour, living on the top floor of her house, and Viv is an older woman who lives closer to the farmer's market Sam visits every Saturday. When she stops by Viv's as normal to deliver some cuttings, Viv unexpectedly invites her in and involves her in a little B & E as a worried neighbour of a missing man. Soon after, a house in the neighbourhood burns down, and the circumstances lead to an investigation.
Meanwhile, the publishing firm Sam works at has called in management consultants to make some changes, and her able assistant Miranda has concerns about a memoir she is editing.
Sam attends meetings, both work and community, gathering information, calls on her well-connected mother Helena for assistance, as well as a young techie, and her boyfriend, a CID investigator.
When she finds herself targeted by unknown men, she can't help but start making connections.
I love Samantha's intelligence and wit, and the writing is wonderful.
One of my favourite scenes is this one:

Christ, I was naked. I'd been too startled, first, and then too scared, to notice, but here I was, standing with an adolescent boy in a light well at two in the morning, with only a phone to cover myself with. And phone coverage, as we all know, is never very reliable.

which gives an example of her humour. I also like that she knows her skill set and her values, but also acknowledges her failings and her insecurities. She is a woman who stands up for herself and her friends, but isn't afraid to admit her mistakes. A very relatable character.

The Arsonist

Finished August 9
The Arsonist by Sue Miller

Frankie has worked as an aid worker in east Africa for fifteen years, and come home regularly during that time. This time is different. She isn't sure when she'll be going back, or even if she'll go back at all. She's come to stay with her parents in Pomeroy, New Hampshire. Her parents recently retired to the vacation home that has been in her mother's family for generations.
The first night there, Frankie wakes in the night, still on a different time zone, exhausted but unable to sleep. Instead she gets up and takes a walk.
Later that night a fire call goes out. A house up the street from Frankie's parents has burnt down, the fire call going out too late to save the house. When more houses go up in flames, the concern in the community mounts, and talks of arson escalate.
Frankie moves into her sister's unfinished cabin down the hill from her parent's place, the thought being that having it occupied will reduce the likelihood of it being a target for whoever is setting the fires. With all the targets being homes owned by summer people, there is talk of resentment by a local being at the root of the crimes.
At one of the first summer parties Frankie attended, she met the local newspaper editor, Bud, and the two connected. As she begins a relationship with him, she still holds back, unsure of what she wants, or what is next in her life. Bud wants something with Frankie, but is afraid of pushing too hard, and his work with the paper keeps him busy, especially with all the fires.
Meanwhile Frankie's father Alfie is having episodes where his memory seems to be failing. He mother Sylvia is both worried and resentful, and unsure what the future holds for her. As Frankie tries to help, a crisis with Alfie will change everything.
This is a story about a community, about the complex nature of relationships, about how taking a chance means risking heartbreak.