Murder at Teatime: Review

Murder at Teatime (1991) by Stefanie Matteson is a cozy mystery series starring Charlotte Graham, Oscar-award winning actress and belle of Broadway with a nose for clues. After more than forty years on stage and screen, Charlotte finds herself without a play and without a hint of a script. So, she decides to take a vacation at the Maine island home of her dear friends Stan and Kitty Saunders. Gilley Island is beautiful and restful...at least that's what she's been promised. But Charlotte feels like she's walked in to the middle of a melodrama.

The residents are all up in arms over a proposed development project that will bring an exclusive resort to the coastal island. Most are in favor of the project--with the promise of jobs to replace those that have been lost when factories and other industries have moved out of the area. But Dr. Franklin Thornhill, who owns a large parcel of land smack dab in the middle of the area the resort folk want to buy, is one of those steadfastly against the idea and refuses to sell. A harassment campaign has been in force--from letting the air out of Thornhill's tires to crude, child-like drawings with threatening notes--and then, on the day Charlotte arrives, Thornhill's dog is poisoned.

Thornhill's death from a poisoned cup of tea follows after his niece, a white witch who lives with him a Ledge House, holds a Midsummer's Night (Summer Solstice) celebration with plenty of odd...and sometimes poisonous...herbs and concoctions. Did someone mistake monkshood for a bit of tea leaves or was the doctor deliberately done away with? His rivals in the land project aren't the only suspects for hustling the doctor off this mortal coil. His daughter and son-in-law stand to inherit, his niece may have wanted to stop an impending marriage that would have left her homeless, and a book seller may have needed the commission from an estate sale sooner than a natural death would have allowed. Howard Tracey, the local chief of police who has never dealt with a murder before, has heard of Graham's penchant for solving mysteries and asks her help him with his investigation. She'll have to sift the good herbs from the bad to find the right potion to reveal a callous murderer.

A fairly solid cozy mystery. Several motives to work through and a decent attempt at fair play. The characters are mildly interesting but could have been given a bit more depth to spice things up a bit. Enjoyable enough for a quick read, but not necessarily a series that I will deliberately seek out. ★★★

*******
Fulfills "Holiday" category for the Cruisin' Thru the Cozies Challenge. The murder takes place after a Midsummer's Night (Summer Solstice) celebration and the villain is caught by the light of the fireworks on Independence Day.

The Shivering Sands: Review

I got my first taste of mystery/romantic suspense when my grandma sent me Hunter's Green by Phyllis A. Whitney in a box full of books (what treasure trove also included favorites such as The Mystery of Hunting's End and Laddie: A True Blue Story). I'm not sure that Grandma intended to launch me on a reading journey that would take me through most of Whitney's books and lead me to her contemporary, Victoria Holt as well as other Gothic mystery/romance novels. Once started on a genre, I would often devour what books our local Carnegie Library had on the shelf....including The Shivering Sands (1969) by Victoria Holt. Years later I picked up a copy of my own and now the Birth Year Challenge gives me a chance to read my own copy.

The Shivering Sands finds Caroline Verlaine, young widow of the musical genius Pietro Verlaine, looking for a means of support. Pietro may have been magical with the piano, but he was no financial wizard and Caroline's small income needs a bit of bolstering. She was once a promising young pianist as well, but gave up her ambition in her love for Pietro. Now she teaches piano. Her sister Roma, an archaeologist following in their parents' footsteps, disappeared while on a dig for Roman remains on the Stacy estate along the coast of Kent. When the opportunity opens up for Caroline to teach piano to four girls connected with the estate, she grabs it--both for the needed income and for the chance to investigate her sister's disappearance. 

Of course, Roma's disappearance isn't the only mystery surrounding the Stacy home. Years ago, Napier Stacy killed his handsome and popular brother Beaumont in what has been called an "accident." But there are those who think Napier was too envious of the near-perfect Beau and may have wanted him out of the way. His father did want Napier out of the way--to the extent of sending him away because he didn't want to be reminded of the tragedy. That is...until Sir William wants Napier to come home, marry his ward Edith, and produce an heir. Then lights are seen flitting about in the memorial built for Beau and there are those who say that Beau has come back to haunt the brother who murdered him. There's also Sir William's sister Sybil who pops in and out unexpectedly and says the most unnerving things to Caroline and others. Sybil also seems to be far more informed about Caroline's movements than anyone ought to be. 

Suspense builds as Edith also disappears--shortly after announcing that the long-awaited heir is on its way--and Caroline is nearly killed in a fire. She doesn't know who to trust--the girls she has been teaching all seem to be keeping secrets and, though Caroline finds herself intrigued by and attracted to Napier, he is after all the black sheep of the family. What if he really is destroying his family one by one? And what if Roma stumbled onto a secret that made her death a necessity as well? It looks like Caroline might be next if she continues to ask too many questions.

It is interesting that this appears to be a historical novel, set at a guess during the late Victorian period when travel is by train and horse and trap and the girls talk of wearing their hair up when they reach a certain age. There is also a lot made of Caroline and Roma's education--being more like that of boys than is normal for their sex. But there are no overt references to time period and it doesn't seem that Holt spent a great deal of time researching the period. Much more is made of the setting and descriptions of the estate than of the time in which this all takes place.

It is easy to see why this appealed to my pre-teen self. Lots of atmosphere and Gothic elements to investigate with hints of romance that are quite as heavily infused as some mystery/romantic suspense novels. Caroline isn't quite the investigator that she imagines herself--stumbling on things rather more than deducing (and playing the Gothic suspense heroine who keeps going about alone and getting herself into trouble way more than necessary). Still, a great deal of fun and the culprit proves to be unexpected. ★★★

**************
This fulfills the "Spooky House/Mansion" category on the Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.

May Follow the Clues Reviews

May Mount TBR Reviews

May Vintage Scavenger Hunt Reviews

The Invisible Intruder: Review

The Invisible Intruder (Nancy Drew #46; 1969) was one of my favorite Nancy Drew books when I was a young reader. It ranks up there with The Clue of the Broken Locket, The Clue in the Crumbling Wall, The Hidden Staircase, and Mystery of the Glowing Eye in the top five. I first read it from the school library, but naturally I had to get a copy for my very own. When the Birth Year Reading Challenge was revived this year, I decided I needed to read my copy of the Nancy book that is as old as I am.

Nancy's friend Helen invites her, Ned Nickerson, Bess Marvin, George Fayne, Burt Eddleton, and Dave Evans to join her and her husband Jim as well as three other couples on a ghost-hunting trip. They've pinpointed five places with mysterious reputations: Pine Grove Camp with a haunted canoe that propels itself across Lake Sevanee; Madame Tarantella's prophecy hut which is plague by ghostly thunderstorms; the Red Barn Guesthouse with its phantom horse and unseated ghost rider; a mountaintop inn which was an old fort and has the ghosts of prisoners flitting about; and a private home with an invisible intruder. Most of the young people are prepared to play ghost-busters, but Rita Rodriguez is hoping for a real ghost or two. It isn't long before Nancy realizes that there are some common factors in all the "hauntings" and that some very real humans have ulterior motive for scaring the owners.

Intruder is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it brings back Helen (Corning) Archer. Helen featured several of the early volumes (before the series was rewritten in 1959), but rarely had much of an active role in the investigations. This book gives her--and her husband and married friends--a somewhat larger part, though it is still Nancy and company who do most of the clue-finding. As Helen says when the group draws lots for sentry duty in their investigation of the phantom horse:

We didn't see a thing....I'd like to bet that if there is going to be any excitement it will come during the time Nancy Drew is here!

I did enjoy that she and Jim were able to assist Nancy and Ned in the grand finale--capturing the crooks and handing them over to the police.

The other interesting feature of this book is that Nancy and her friends set out to investigate five mysteries instead of just one. In the other books Nancy is interested in mysterious happenings at one location or surrounding one particular person. This time she and her friends move from place to place checking out incidents affecting a number of people. Of course, they find clues that indicate there may connections but this is the first mystery to cover so much ground.

I had just as much fun reading this now as I did when I was young. More of an adventure story than a mystery--it's pretty clear fairly early who is responsible for the hauntings, but it is interesting to watch Nancy and company figure out how each of the hauntings is really worked. ★★★★

*******
This counts for the "Flashlight" category on the Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.

Deal Me In: Week 18 "Suspicion" by William B. Maxwell

I'm still working my way through Jay's Deal Me In Challenge . In a nutshell--we line up 52 short stories for the year, we match those stories up to a card in a regular deck of card, and each week we shuffle our deck (of real cards) and draw a card from whatever remains in the deck. This week I drew the Ten of Clubs which corresponds to "Suspicion" by William B. Maxwell (from The World's Best One Hundred Detective Stories Vol. 7 edited by Eugene Thwing.

The title tells you everything you need to know about Maxwell's short story. Old Mrs. Mayhew lives in a house crammed with knick-knacks and personal treasures. Things may be overflowing, but she knows exactly what she has and where things ought to be. When she can't find certain of her treasured items, she decides to have a "big tidying" to return misplaced items to their rightful place. But the tidying session fails to bring them to light. That's when the air of suspicion settles on the house. Did her nephew remove them--thinking Aunt Kate would never notice? Or was it the faithful cook who had been with her for years? Or maybe it was the housemaid who had that one unfortunate incident long before she ever came into Mrs. Mayhew's service? Everyone looks suspicious when there's no evidence...Will Mrs. Mayhew get any of her treasures back?

The Polka Dot Nude: Review

The Polka Dot Nude (1989) by Joan Smith features Audrey Dane, biographer and ghostwriter, who has been selected by the great actress Rosalie Hart to write her memoirs. She visits Hartland, Rosalie's estate, and is given exclusive access to diaries and other material. Rosalie also makes her a gift of a beautiful self-portrait titled "The Polka Dot Nude."Audrey takes all of the materials with her to a cabin in the Thousand Islands area where she plans to write in seclusion. 

Those plans go by the wayside when a handsome stranger takes the cabin next to her. Brad O'Malley claims that he is a professor on sabbatical, but how many professors pack a Mercedes with Vuitton luggage stuffed with designer clothes, cases of fine wine, and a full hi-fi for a little sabbatical get-away? Is he really who he says he is and why is he so interested in her research on Rosalie Hart? Then Audrey's research disappears and so does the painting. Who took them? What secrets are they trying to hide? Has anything illegal really happened?

....and why should I care? That thought came up periodically until I decided to toss in the towel and skim my way to the last couple chapters just so I could say read enough and had a firm enough grip on the plot that I could claim the thing for challenges. Audrey is such an insecure person. I find it hard to believe that she exudes enough self-confidence in her work that the rich and famous trust their memoir-writing to her. And she's the protagonist who's supposed to be figuring out all the mysterious goings-on in this book. Instead of picking up all the clues dangling in front of her eyes (with darn-near neon signs pointing the way), she is SO mystified. She can't imagine who's doing things. She can't figure out who Rosalie's secret child is. She can't figure out Brad O'Malley's secret. She can't see the romance just waiting for her to respond in the least little way (instead she keeps running like a scared little rabbit and having conversations in her head about how stupid she is to keep ruining things. She's right.). 

The mystery wasn't very mysterious. There was very little suspense. And the characters weren't all that interesting or engaging. Brad is the best of the bunch. Since I didn't actually read this straight through--no rating. 

***************
This counts for the "Book" category on the Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.

Storm Center: Review

Storm Center (1986) by Douglas Clark finds George Masters recovering from a gunshot wound. He's asked by the Assistant Commissioner of Crime, Edgar Anderson, if he would like to combine a "light duty" assignment as an instructor at the Police College, located in the countryside with a bit of a holiday for his family. Masters is perceptive enough to realize that there is a deeper motive behind the ACC's suggestion that the temporary assignment in the country might be a way to relieve his boredom and ease back into work. He's right, but it's not the ACC who has tried to pull the wool over his eyes, it's the ACC who has been manipulated into getting one of his top men down to the College.

For you see, the College has a bit of a problem. Five years ago, a young man who had a record of run-ins with the law (nothing too serious--breaking and entering, a bit of vandalism here and there) disappeared. The highly-recognizable car belonging to a ranking foreign policeman attending courses at the College was seen in the vicinity of the boy's last known whereabouts. But that information didn't even reach the local police until after the Dutchman had returned to his homeland. And no solid evidence pointing towards anyone was ever found...and neither was the boy, alive or dead. 

Now, five years later, another young tear-away has disappeared. That same Dutchman (with a different, equally recognizable car) is back for another round of courses and his car has again been seen where it ought not have been. The head of the College is quite certain that the local police force is building up to pulling the Dutch police officer in for questioning--which, even if the officer is innocent, could be damaging to both the officer's and the College's reputation. He asks Masters for advice on how to solve the problem--and to make any inquiries he wants (all on the QT, of course). Masters wangles "vacations" for his entire team and they launch a discreet and unofficial "investigation" that produces some very surprising and disturbing results.

A few thoughts:

It took forever to get to the place where the title was explained. Normally with Clark's books, it's pretty obvious what the title refers to. This time out, I spent 95% of the book wondering what the heck storms had to do with what was going on. Not a major point, just a bit of distraction.

Next, this is the first time that the suspect was so absolutely obvious to me in a Clark book. Flashing lights and alarms went off as soon as a certain incident happened. I immediately knew who, though not how. And, quite honestly, there's no way I would have figured out how without being led by the hand straight to the solution by George Masters. Which is okay--after all, these are police procedurals, so the object is to watch Masters and his team at work. But a little less blatancy on that certain incident and a few more hints in the direction of how would have balanced things out nicely.

Also, it's a bit odd to watch Masters and company pussy-footing around. They're there to solve a "problem" but they aren't really on the job. They haven't been called in officially by the locals, so they really shouldn't be investigating. But they are. And Masters manages to hand the locals the solution on a silver platter and somehow gets most of them to like it--when the locals ought to be pretty upset that the Yard men have been trotting around drumming up clues. This is the second novel of this sort that I've read--where Masters and his team wind up investigating a crime they haven't been officially called in on. I do think that Clark handled the diplomatic footwork (arranging for the men from the Yard to work on the case) much better in the earlier book (Poacher's Bag).

Nevertheless, Clark writes a fine police procedural and it was an added treat to watch George Masters lecture at the Police College. A very pretty piece of showmanship. As always the interactions of the team are enjoyable--especially the work between Masters and Green. Entertaining and I do recommend this series, though there are definitely stronger entries for those who like to be a bit more mystified about the solution for a longer period of time. ★★★ (though a bit weaker three than usual)

[Finished on 5/1/17]

**************
This fulfills the "Furniture" category on the Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.
 

April Wrap-Up and P.O.M. Award

Here we are continuing another year of tracking reading progress and statistics for all things bookish on the Block. I will also be contributing to Kerrie's Crime Fiction Pick of the Month and handing out the coveted P.O.M. Award for the best mystery. So, here's what happened here on the Block in April....

Total Books Read: 13
Total Pages:  2.842

Average Rating: 3.04 stars  
Top Rating: 4 stars 
Percentage by Female Authors: 54%
Percentage by US Authors: 38%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors:  0%
Percentage Mystery:  85% 
Percentage Fiction: 85%
Percentage written 2000+: 8%
Percentage of Rereads: 0%
Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% {It's easy to have every book count for a challenge when you sign up for as many as I do.}    
Number of Challenges fulfilled so far: 9 (28%)

AND, as mentioned above, Kerrie had us all set up for another year of Crime Fiction Favorites. What she was looking for is our Top Mystery Read for each month. April was another big month for mysteries with all but two coming from that field--for a total of 11 out of 13--plus one non-fiction book related to the mystery field. Here are the books read:

Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-Fifth Street by William S. Baring-Gould [Non-Fiction]

I Could Murder Her by E. C. R. Lorac (4 stars) 

A Grave Case of Murder by Roger Bax (3.5 stars)

Murder Comes First by Frances & Richard Lockridge (3.5 stars) 

Stroke of Death by Josephine Bell (2 stars) 

Coffin's Dark Number by Gwendoline Butler (1.75 stars) 

They Tell No Tales by Manning Coles (4 stars) 

Death With Blue Ribbon by Leo Bruce (2.75 stars) 

Who Is the Next? by Henry Kitchell Webster (3 stars) 

Grounds for Murder by Kate Kingsbury (3 stars) 

The Fennister Affair by Josephine Bell (3 stars) 

The Vanishing Violinist by Sara Hoskinson Frommer (3 stars)


This month is a bit tricky. We have two 4-star winners: E. C. R. Lorac with I Could Murder Her and Manning Coles with They Tell No Tales. Both of these were highly enjoyable--with the quality I expect from these authors. I definitely recommend that you give them a try if you haven't already done so. But Both Lorac and Coles have won the coveted P.O.M. Award previously, so we'll need to move on to the next tier. Again, we have two contenders with a 3.75 rating: A Grave Case of Murder by Roger Bax and Murder Comes First by Frances & Richard Lockridge. The Lockridges are great favorites of mine and, as you might guess, they have also picked up a P.O.M. Award of their very own.

Which leaves us with this month's P.O.M. Award Winner....

 

A lively crime novel with an interesting family at its heart. Inspector James is a perceptive and sympathetic detective. Not exactly a fair play mystery (although anyone who can spot and figure out the meaning of the primary clue may figure it out before the final reveal), but definitely well worth the attention and time.