Plan Bee - Hannah Reed

Plan Bee

A Queen Bee Mystery
Hannah Reed
Berkley Prime Crime
 
Mystery
 
It’s time for the Harmony Festival in tiny Moraine, WI, but life is hardly harmonious.  Story Fischer, who owns The Wild Clover grocery store, is coming to realize that employing your family members brings its own set of complications.  Her friend, neophyte beekeeper Stanley Peck, has his twelve-year-old grandson, Noel, staying for a visit.  Noel is rocking the town, far too literally.  He just might be a genius.  Unfortunately for everyone else, his current obsession is with explosive devices of his own design.  And Story has a new neighbor who just took up residence in her ex-husband’s house.  Ordinarily, that might be a good thing.  But the new guy, Ford, looks more than a little sketchy.  He’s moved in with a bedroll and camp chair and says he’s only there for the weekend.
 
After a long day, Story is taking a shortcut through the cemetery when she stumbles over a body.  This is shocking because the body in question is above-ground.  Story leaves the cemetery and calls the police, but neglects to remove the garbage bag obscuring the face.  When the police chief, Johnny Jay, arrives, the body is gone.  Johnny Jay and Story, like just about everyone else in town, have history stretching back to childhood.  In this case, it’s not pleasant.  Johnny Jay doesn’t believe Story and, due to this and previous events, declares that no emergency response will be dispatched when Story calls in the future.  This hardly seems fair (or legal) to Story, but small towns run in their own ways.  It’s also unfortunate, since, not long after, Story discovers what she assumes is the same dead body.  It’s Ford.  This time, in her ex-husband’s house.  Stuffed in the fireplace, no less. 

This is the third in an ongoing series that started with BUZZ OFF and continued in MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX.  New readers will have no problems jumping in at this point, as the author is quite good at encapsulating characters and previous events.  This time, the bees don’t really enter things much, but that doesn’t stop Story from launching her own investigation.  She has a very good reason: the main suspect is dating her widowed mother, so finding the killer matters to her, on a very personal level.
 
The eccentric – and possibly unbalanced – neighbor, Patti is given a much larger role in this installment.  That’s not really a good thing, from my point of view.  Patti is a woman who openly uses a telescope to follow the comings and goings in the town.  My personal tolerance for ‘zany’ is quite low, so bear that in mind as you continue reading.  She tags along for parts of Story’s investigation, going so far as to kidnap and beat a suspect while asking questions.  The fact that Story goes along with this bizarre behavior is odd, to say the least.  I’m hoping this is not a new character arc for Story. 

The plot is interesting, and there’s an interesting twist, but the outcome isn’t a huge surprise.  The problem inherent in writing a series of mysteries set in a small town, I suppose, is that it’s the ‘outside’ people who make for the most likely victims and suspects.  An author can’t just go through the town, knocking off each character in turn and sending another one to prison for the crime.  Still, fans of cozies and amateur sleuths will find a lot to enjoy here.  Tips and recipes for honey concoctions round out the book.
 
Rating: 6 ½
January 2012
ISBN# 978-0-425-24621-4 (paperback)

Earthbound - Joe Haldeman

Earthbound

Joe Haldeman
Ace
 
Science Fiction

This is the third in a series that began with MARSBOUND and STARBOUND.  If you haven’t read the first two novels, you’ve missed some great scifi.  And you’re also going to be unavoidably spoiled by this review.

This novel begins directly after the events of STARBOUND.  Carmen Dula and her pilot husband Paul, are back on Earth after a unique trip to the stars where they met and spoke with a race called the Others.  The Others are completely alien to us.  Their motivations and goals are virtually unknowable.  Possibly immortal, the Others set plans for centuries or millennia into the future.  They’ve told the humans, in no uncertain terms, to stop space exploration; to stop interstellar travel or face dire consequences. 
 
Predictably, the military begins to construct a defensive space fleet.  During a launch, the Others make good on their threat.  They turn off the power, worldwide.  Nothing electrical or better works.  The Others effectively return Earth to a nineteenth-century existence.  This means that billions will die.  Most of them will die from starvation when food cannot be grown, harvested, and transported (gas-powered vehicles are a rarity) to them.  Many more will die off when life-saving technology simply stops working. 
 
Carmen, Paul, and the rest of the participants in the journey to meet the Others are stranded on Earth with little to no food, water, or weapons to survive the coming years.  Survival from day to day is paramount; after that, planning for a future no one expected. 
 
Their struggles on the ground seem pretty realistic.  They each bring a certain amount of scientific or local or psychological knowledge to the table.  There are other groups of people roaming the land (the world, one assumes) who are of the ‘kill the competition and take their resources’ mind-set.  The story becomes an almost post-apocalypse type of road trip.  It could be read that way, if the reader is starting with this volume.  But that’s really selling the story – and the characters – short.  Due to space travel and time relativity, these people have spent decades together, for better or worse.  Their collective background adds a real resonance to their current situation.   My only real quibble is that the ending feels a bit rushed. But that’s probably because I would have been happy to read another three novels with these characters. 
 
This is a great series for fans of scifi, and also for newcomers to the genre.  It’s a story that clearly spans Earth, Mars, and what lies beyond our own galaxy; but the story and events are truly driven by the characters and how they interact over time.  Highly recommended.
 
Rating: 9
December 2012
ISBN# 978-0-441-02095-9 (hardcover)

Cemetery Girl - David Bell

Cemetery Girl

David Bell
New American Library

Crime Fiction

Four years ago, when she was only twelve, Caitlin disappeared.  She went out to walk the dog in the park that borders a cemetery near her home.  The dog came home, but Caitlin didn’t.  The police investigated, but seemed to suspect that she might have run away.  Her parents, Tom and Abby, were left to pick up the pieces of what had been their life together.  As is often the case, a rift opened in the marriage and only got wider and deeper over time.  Abby feels that it’s time to move on, to “turn the page” in life, regarding Caitlin.  Tom disagrees; feeling that this is tantamount to giving up hope on their only daughter.

During the four years, Tom continued to post flyers with age-progressed photos.  He’s worked with a lawyer and advocate for victims of crime.  He’s followed every lead and listened to every theory.  He contacts the police with every lead.  Finally, a woman comes forward with a story of seeing Caitlin.  According to her, Caitlin has been in the area the entire time.  Part of Tom refuses to believe that, but he would do anything, go anywhere, to get her home.  When that day comes – when the police deliver Caitlin back to her parents – she’s not just four years older.  She’s like a different person.  Tom thought that simply having her back alive would be enough.  Now that it’s happened, he realizes that simply having her isn’t enough.  He wants to know “what happened” during those four years.

This is a difficult book to read, for multiple reasons.  First, and most obviously, because it involves a child.  Each parent has a completely different point of view, and neither one is wrong.  Abby finds comfort in her church; Tom occupies himself with the search.  Abby wants to place a grave marker as a sign of closure.  Tom hates the idea, since it seems like admitting defeat.  Abby has the backing of her pastor; Tom has the backing of his half-brother, who was himself a suspect in Caitlin’s disappearance.  Once Caitlin is home, Tom still wants to know the truth.  Abby wants to put it all behind them.  They both have their child's best interest at heart, but cannot find a middle ground.

Of course, as the reader sees long before Tom does, that truth is going to come at a steep price.  There’s no good answer to why the child was missing for four years.  It’s going to involve some kind of violence.  But Tom won’t let it go.  Even when the police and everyone around him want him to, he continues his quest.  Even when Caitlin, a virtual stranger now, demands that he not ask her about her time away, he can’t help himself.  The author tells the story through Tom’s eyes, and while he’s not infallible, he seems like a living, breathing person with a past, hopes for a future, and an almost impossible present.  There are no easy answers, and not much possibility of a happy ending here.  Still, it is a compelling read for those who enjoy crime fiction.  I missed out on some sleep just to find out “what happened.”

Rating: 9
October 2011
ISBN# 978-0-451-23467-4 (trade paperback)

Success Secrest of Sherlock Holmes - David Acord

Success Secrets Of Sherlock Holmes

Life Lessons from the Master Detective
David Acord
Perigee
 
Nonfiction/Self-Help
 
As the author states, up front, you don’t need to know anything at all about Sherlock Holmes in order to read or understand this book.  Which begs the question: why would you read the book if you didn’t know Holmes?  But that’s a small quibble, I suppose, really.  Just something I couldn’t help wondering.
 
This book takes the major traits of Sherlock Holmes (and some of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, his creator) and uses them as examples of how to succeed in life.  There are chapters devoted to such things as attention to detail, finding your passion in life, and taking credit where credit is due.  All characteristics well known to fans of Holmes.

For fans, this is an interesting way to look at Holmes; as a sort of Successful Person Template.  There are a few quotes and excerpts from various stories, and a couple of spoilers for the uninitiated.  Whatever your interest, this is a very fast read.  Chapters can be read out of order, since they’re all basically stand-alone concepts.  I’m honestly not a huge fan of self-help books, but I do love Holmes and his partner, Watson.  If you’re a fan and someone looking to improve some aspect of your life, it’s worth a look.  And if you’re not yet a fan, and this leads you to read some of the best detective fiction ever written, so much the better.
 
Rating: 5
November 2011
ISBN# 978-0-399-53698-4 (trade paperback)

At The End Of The Road - Grant Jerkins

At The End Of The Road

Grant Jerkins

Berkley Prime Crime

Crime Fiction

It all starts with an innocent mistake: a ten-year-old boy, riding his bike down the country road near his home, watching the plume of dust that rises behind him.  Coming the other way is a young woman, a little bit late, driving a little too fast, who sees the boy only at the last moment.  She’s able to swerve enough to miss him.  Both are completely shocked.  She’s injured and in need of help; he’s a terrified child with absolutely no idea of what to do about it.

The boy walks up his driveway to his home and, not knowing how to tell his mother what happened, he simply waits for the bloody woman from the car to knock on the front door.  But she doesn’t.  He’s sure she followed him up the driveway.  When he ventures out later, there’s no car and no woman.  As only a child could do, he mostly convinces himself that it was some kind of dream.  It almost works, until a deputy arrives at the door, looking for a missing woman.

This amazing novel is the story of the summer of 1976, when Kyle Edwards turned ten and narrowly avoided what would have been a fatal accident.  It’s also the story of how that one event ripples outward until it seeps into the lives of everyone along that road, changing them in fundamental ways.  In some ways, it’s a coming-of-age story.  It’s the last summer of innocence before Kyle realizes that evil things can happen, and to him; before he sees that even his family can be divided by divorce.  There are scenes that play out in every family, as his two older brothers attempt to separate themselves from the younger Kyle.  Playing in the cornfield next to the house with Grace, his seven-year-old sister who wants nothing so much as to be Wonder Woman and Kyle’s best friend.  Times of resenting being forced to play with his little sister, and times of breathtaking sweetness when they understand each other like no one else ever could.

Part of being a child is the belief in fairy tales.  Mama says to be good or Soap Sally (a local bogeyman) will get you.  When the neighbor across the road, the man who was a church deacon, has a stroke and comes home in an electric wheelchair, it’s reasonable – to a kid – to think he’s some kind of monster, too.  He’s different, therefore scary.  Each little event dovetails into the next, just as in life.  Once you get a good piece down the road, you may look back and wonder at how you started at A and ended up at G.  This novel, by an incredibly talented author, is about filling in just want happened between points A and G, and continues, in some cases on to point Z.  Not a good choice for cozy fans, obviously, but readers who can take a dark, rather bleak look at events will find a story that allows you to inhabit its expertly-drawn world, observing how one action can touch the lives of many.  My best advice before you begin reading is to get comfortable.  I read this in one sitting, but I’m sure I’ll be thinking and talking about it for days.

Rating: 9

November 2011

ISBN# 978-0-425-24334-3 (trade paperback)

 

Hickory Smoked Homicide - Riley Adams

Hickory Smoked Homicide

A Memphis BBQ Mystery
Riley Adams
Berkley Prime Crime

Mystery

It seems that almost everyone who knew her had a reason to want Tristan Pembroke dead.  She was running the family business into the ground, angering her sister.  As a pageant coach and judge, she was apparently known to be biased and dealing in ‘insider information.’  (Pageants are serious business in Memphis.)  She had an affair with a married man, then dumped him, angering both the man and his wife.  She was verbally and emotionally abusive to her only daughter, Steffi.  And she’d commissioned a portrait of herself, only to refuse to pay for it.
 
The painter was Sara, daughter-in-law to Lulu Taylor, the owner of Aunt Pat’s, a bbq restaurant and local institution.  When Tristan ends up dead at the end of her charity art auction event, Sara is the most likely suspect.  The two women had a fairly public to-do about the portrait, after all.  But Lulu knows that Sara had nothing to do with it.  The problem is, there were so many people there that night, and so many of them had a reason to kill Tristan, that it’s hard pick out just one.  The police seem to be having the same problem, so, with the assistance of her good friend, Cherry, Lulu decides to investigate another murder.
 
This is the third in this entertaining series, following DELICIOUS AND SUSPICIOUS and FINGER LICKIN’ DEAD.  It’s probably the most well-crafted and convoluted of the plots so far, which makes it the most interesting.  Many different credible suspects from several different walks of life make for a lively mystery.  Many regular characters appear, as well, making Lulu’s corner of Memphis feel a lot like a small town. Obviously, a huge part of Southern culture is based around food, so there’s a lot of eating and several recipes included at the end.

Rating: 7 ½
November 2011
ISBN# 978-0-425-24460-9

Blood Rules - Christine Cody

Blood Rules

Christine Cody
Ace

Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

Note: If you haven’t read the first book in this great trilogy, BLOODLANDS, this review contains some serious, but unavoidable, spoilers.  Do yourself a huge favor and read the first book before proceeding here.

This second installment picks up roughly two months after the events of the first book.  By this time, Mariah and the rest of her neighbors have found a new homestead.  They managed to defeat Stamp, a former Shredder, in their last home, but they know that men like him will never stop.  They know that, at some point, he’ll be back to wipe them out, or die trying.  Because Shredders, monster-killers, never stop.

The community faces a new threat now.  Mariah continues to lose control over her were form, and even the peace that Gabriel, a vampire, passes through their shared link is beginning to lose effect.  In desperation and with the tacit approval of the group (whose very existence is constantly threatened by Mariah’s problems) Mariah decides to leave the new homestead and head for the hubs in search of a cure.  This rumored, almost mythical, cure may not even exist, but she feels that she must do everything she can to find it.  Not only for herself, but for her neighbors.  Gabriel accompanies her, partly out of a sense of duty, but also with a cautious hope than any cure for Mariah might affect him, too.
 
Sometimes, the second book of a trilogy serves only as a way to get the characters from the Big Conflict A to Big Conflict B.  Not this time.  This second installment is at least as good as the first, and possibly better.  Watching Mariah and Gabriel travel through the New Badlands into outposts and finally a hub, the reader gets an expanded sense of the world.  While the story is set in a dystopian future, there are plenty of aspects of the world that are recognizable projections of society today.
 
The author’s world-building skills are undeniable.  This is a multi-faceted society that resulted from natural and economic disasters.  Members of each social ‘layer’ have concrete reasons for acting as they do.  There are hard choices, and no clear answer, but each solution is, ultimately, understandable.  Layer this realistic society with were-creatures and vampires and various other monsters, and you’ve got a post-apocalyptic Western action paranormal urban fantasy that’s as difficult to put down as it is to define.
 
Rating: 8
September 2011
ISBN# 978-0-441-02076-8