A Snowstorm in May

Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio (Plume trade paperback, 25 September 2012).


"Blackberry winter" is a colloquial term used to describe a cold snap that occurs in late spring, when the blackberries are in bloom.


In Seattle, the second of May 1933, there was a terrible snowstorm.  Young single mother Vera Ray, who can't afford child-care, kisses her three-year-old son Daniel good night and leaves him alone while she goes to work as a hotel chambermaid.  She tried taking him with her once, but her supervisor was not pleased.  When she finally returns home the next day, Daniel has disappeared and the only sign of him she can find is his snow-covered Teddy bear, not far from their apartment.

Switch to the present, also in May.  A severe blizzard covers Seattle, bringing the city to a standstill.
Reporter Claire Aldridge, of the Seattle Herald receives a call from her editor, asking her to do a story comparing the current storm to the one in 1933. 

At first reluctant, she finally agrees, and during her background research Claire stumbles across the story of Daniel's disappearance, never solved, and during her quest for the truth, discovers that she has a connection to Vera and Daniel.  

The book goes back and forth between Claire and Vera,  and we slowly learn the reasons for Vera's desperate financial straits and Claire's eagerness to do the story.  Although neither is shocking, the
details of both are described in thorough detail. 

This is a charming tale, mysterious and romantic, and the surprise conclusion does not disappoint.


FTC full disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy of the book. 

Gifts for mystery readers

Yes, it's that special time of year, and I've had some requests for gift ideas for mystery lovers.
Here are just a few.  I hope to post a few more gift idea blogs in the next couple of weeks.


Bookends

• Nancy Drew silhouette bookends:  The Sleuth Shop (scroll about halfway down the page)
• Skull bookends:  Amazon
• Shower stabbing: Knob Creek Metal Arts
• Gun bookends:  Theshabbyshak

Clothing

• Crime Scene scarf: Crime Scene  (they also have various jackets and t-shirts)
• Blood-spattered clothing:  Redbubble
• Deerstalker caps: J. Peterman, Hammacher Schlemmer

Kitchen stuff

• Chalk outline trivet: Animi Causa
• The Ex Knife Holder:  Think Geek
• Blood-spattered coasters:  Simply Toyz
• Reusable tumblers:  Skeletons in the Closet (the Los Angeles Coroner's Office Gift Shop which has a    wide variety of great gift items)

Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards

Mainstream Fiction: 

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline (St. Martin's Press)

Every Little Thing by Pamela Klaffke (Mira)
Secret Daughter by Shipi Somaya Gowda (Morrow)
Catfish Alley by Lynne Bryant (NAL)
Night Road by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin's Press)

 
Contemporary Mystery:

V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton (Putnam)

Stagestruck by Peter Lovesey (Soho)
Killed at the Whim of a Hat by Colin Cotterill (Minotaur)
The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill (HarperCollins)
In Search of the Rose Notes by Emily Arsenault (Morrow)


Historical Mystery: 
 

A Lonely Death by Charles Todd (Morrow)

The Beloved Dead by Tony Hays (Tor/Forge)
The Illusion of Murder by Carol McCleary (Tor/Forge)
Bye Bye, Baby by Max Allan Collins (Tor/Forge)
City of Secrets by Kelli Stanley (Minotaur)
Troubled Bones by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur)


First Mystery:

Purgatory Chasm by Steve Ufelder (Minotaur)

The Breath of God by Jeffrey Small (West Hills)
Cookie Cough or Die by Virginia Lowell (Berkley Prime Crime)
Death on Tour by Janice Hamrick (Minotaur)


Amateur Sleuth:

The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder by Mary Jane Maffini (Berkley Prime Crime)

To Have and to Kill by Mary Jane Clark (Morrow)
Killing Kate by Julie Kramer (Atria)
Tempest in the Tea Leaves by Kari Lee Townsend (Berkley Prime Crime)
Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen (Berkley Prime Crime)


Suspense/Thriller:

Love You More by Lisa Gardner (Bantam)

In Desperation by Rick Mofina (Mira)
Among the Missing by Morag Joss( Delacorte)
The Girl Who Disappeared Twice by Andrea Kane (Mira)
Now You See Me by S.J.Bolton (Minotaur)
You're Next by Gregg Hurwitz (St. Martin's)
Death in High Places by Jo Bannister (Minotaur)
New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb (Putnam)
Ghost Hero by S.J. Rozan (Minotaur)


Young Adult:

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (Scholastic)

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (Penguin Group)
Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowsky (HarperTeen)
The Other Countess by Eve Edwards (Delacorte)


Young Adult Paranormal/Futuristic: 

Across the Universe by Beth Revis (Razorbill)
Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr (HarperCollins)
Bumped by Megan McCafferty (Blazer+Bray)
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic)


For a complete list of categories,nominees and winners,please click here.

Passion & Prose

On Saturday, I attended a literary conference called Passion and Prose, intended to be the first of an annual event bringing together "passionate romance readers and several dozen of their most beloved romance writers together for a fabulous day of conversation and fun".  

In actuality, there were also mystery, speciulative fiction, and fantasy  writers in attendance, many of whom were young adult authors.  

The morning keynote speaker was Gail Carriger, author of the The Parasol Protectorate series, which she describes as "Jane Austen doing urban fantsy meets P.G. Wodehouse doing steampunk".  Carriger's latest novel is Timeless, the fifth and final book in the series.

Me (l) with the stylish Gail Carriger.

After lunch was a panel called Breathless Reads, consisting of five young adult writers  who have been on tour together for some weeks.  This was the fnal stop on their tour, and thet participated in a delightful discussion moderated by M.G. Lord ( of whom I unfortunately didn't get a photo).

Me with (l-r) Andrea Cremer, Marie Lu, Beth Revis, Jessica Spotsood and Sara Wilson Etienne.

The afternoon keynote speaker was Meg Cabot, author of many books for both adults and young adults, including The Princess Diaries, The Mediator series, and the Heather Wells mystery series.  She's recenly published Overbite, the second in the Insatiable series.

Me, with the charming Meg Cabot (r).

I was able to snag an extra goodie bag from the conference, and I'm delighted to give it (and the contents) to one of my readers.  Please leave a comment here telling me the name of your favorite female author of all time.  Entries (from the US only, please) will be accepted until midnight on Friday, March 2nd.

I'll post photos of the bag and some of fabulous stuff inside it on tomorrow's blog.

Just finished reading

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James.*

In the author's note prefacing the story, P.D. James apologizes for involving Jane Austen's characters in a murder. She quotes Austen (from the final chapter of Mansfield Park)

Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore everybody not greatly in fault themselves to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest.

James concludes her apology by saying

No doubt [Jane] would have replied to my apology by saying that, had she wished to dwell on such subjects, she would have written this story herself, and done it better.

As much as I admire Miss Austen (and I have been a Janeite for decades), I must respectfully disagree with Ms. James. Her "sequel" to Pride and Prejudice, which begins some six years after the marriage of Elizabeth to Fitzwilliam Darcy echoes Austen's style so well that at times I had to remind myself whose work I was reading.

Our story begins as Mrs. Darcy and her household are preparing for the annual ball in honour of Mr. Darcy's late mother, Lady Anne. Little do they know that Elizabeth's flighty sister Lydia (who, along with her husband Mr. Wickham, is persona non grata at Pemberley) is planning to crash the party.

Lydia turns up at the Darcy's door in a speeding, barely controlled coach, screaming that her husband is dead. On their way to drop Lydia at Pemberley, Wickham and his friend Denny had a disagreement so intense that Denny had jumped out of the carriage and Wickham had gone after him. Hearing gunshots, Lydia had immediately assumed that Wickham had been killed and directed the driver to go immediately to Pemberley.

I must confess to being somewhat disappointed that Lydia's husband was fine. It was Denny who was dead; being the only other person present, Wickham was charged with the crime. Such a turn of events caused all kinds of turmoil to this Janeite: is the admittedly immoral Wickham really capable of murder? The Darcys believe not, and set about to prove his innocence.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this novel is James' descriptions of life in the early 19th Century, and the amount of detail that she imparts about the day-to-day activities of not just the Darcys, but their servants, their families and their peers. The description of Wickham's trial and its aftermath is particularly interesting.

Like P.D. James' more typical works, her paean to Jane Austen is well-written and -constructed, and completely absorbing. If Miss Austen were to read it, she just might approve.

*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to my sister-in-law for the gift of this book.

Just finished reading

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.

In the world of this book, there are humans and creatures. Creatures are supernatural beings, and there are three types: witches, vampires and daemons. Although there is no open hostility between the three groups of creatures, they do not commingle.

Dr. Diana Bishop is working on a paper at the Bodleian Library in Oxford when she comes across a book which seems to respond to her touch.

The Reading Room of the Bodleian

The last of the Bishops, an august New England family of witches, Diana prefers not to make use of her abilities, maintaining that she wants to succeed as a scholar due to her intelligence and hard work, not magic. Thus, she is somewhat surprised by what happens with Ashmole 728, as the manuscript is called.

She's even more surprised the next day when the library is filled with creatures of all varieties, apparently attracted by the "awakening" of valuable Ashmole 728, which had been missing for centuries. Rushing to escape the magical bedlam, she runs into Dr. Matthew Clairmont, who, though he happens to be a vampire, helps her to elude all those who are suddenly trying to get close to her and therefore, the manuscript.

Diana had returned the book to the stacks, and though she requests it again when she realizes it's importance, it cannot be found. She and Matthew begin to search for it, and as they get to know each other, they fall in love.

Dr. Harkness' universe proves that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to supernatural beings. All three groups are different from each other, and from those described in other literature, though also the same in some respects. The vampires here are quite capable of being in sunlight, although they do survive on blood. Witches (female) and wizards (male) inherit their magic, although they do need to be trained. Not as much concrete information is imparted about daemons here, other than that they can be very powerful, and good or evil (as with all individuals).

Some of the romantic scenes are a bit trite; Diana comes across as a lovesick teenager early in her relationship with Matthew. Once past that, however, Harkness' writing is absorbing, and most of the characters are well-defined. What's important here is the Story, and a compelling one it is.

The ending is something of a cliffhanger, as this is the first volume of a proposed trilogy. The second book in the All Souls Trilogy, Shadow of Night, will be released in July 2012.


The Penguin Group is kindly providing a trade paperback copy of A Discovery of Witches to one of my readers. Please leave a comment below to enter. (Entries from the U.S. only, please.)

*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a copy of the book for review purposes.

Just finished reading...

The Baby Thief by L.J. Sellers.*

Jenna wants a baby, even though she doesn't have a man in her life. A strong, independent young woman, she decides to be artificially inseminated and visits a fertility clinic. The doctor who examines her, however, has her own agenda. Dr. Elizabeth Demauer also wants a baby, but isn't able to become pregnant. A DNA test confirms Elizabeth's suspicion that she and Jenna are related, so she decides that Jenna will be her surrogate.

Dr. Demauer is involved with David Carmichael, a disgraced physician-cum-evangelist who believes that his mission is to artificially inseminate young woman so that they can populate the earth. He runs a compound on an isolated farm, where he lives with several women and girls.

Meanwhile, the restaurant that Jenna manages is robbed, and even though the the thieves are successful, Jenna saves the life of a customer. A freelance journalist who happens to be dining there asks Jenna for an interview, and in the time they spend together, they make a connection.

Demauer and Carmichael conspire to get Jenna out to the compound so that they can impregnate her using Elizabeth's eggs. What they don't consider, however, is Jenna's strength and resourcefulness.

This is a gripping, read-in-one-sitting story. Highly recommended!

*Many thanks to L.J. Sellers for the e-galley!