Review of "All Aboard For Murder: A Golden Motel Mystery" by Ellen Byron

In this 3rd book in the 'Golden Motel' series, the owner of a railroad tourist attraction is murdered. The book works fine as a standalone since it has a "Who's Who" of all the old and new characters.

*****

Dee Stern was a Hollywood sitcom writer for fifteen years before she and her best friend (and former husband) Jeff Cornetta opened the Golden Motel in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. Dee's hound Nugget came with the motel.





Jeff, who's a freelance website designer, manages a webpage to advertise the hostelry and describe things to do in the area.



The local attractions include the nearby Majestic National Park and two quaint towns: Foundgold, home to the Golden Motel and Williker's All-In-One General Store;



and Goldsgone, a historic re-creation town that looks almost exactly like it did 150 years ago. The Goldsgondians dress in period costumes; speak in Old West lingo; and maintain old timey facades for their stores and businesses.



Dee and Jeff are always looking for ways to attract guests, so for October, they've organized the 'Frightfully Fun Family Package'. The Halloween themed event comes with a pumpkin to carve, paper masks to decorate, caramel apples from Willilker's All-in-One, a kid-friendly Halloween movie on the lawn; and ghostly arts and crafts.



The Halloween festivities coincide with a Historical Society fundraiser and anniversary celebration honoring Angus Sprockles, the man who helped make Gold County a historic site 75 years ago. The fundraiser will feature a retrospective of Angus's life with local actors; former child star Dougie Keefer singing his one hit song 'Ghosted'; charcuterie board refreshments; and a 'haunted ride' on the Sprockles Valley Railroad, which has been turned into a tourist attraction.



A couple of days before the benefit, the opening of a time capsule unveils a foot-long sterling silver railroad spike that now belongs to Angus's heir Moses Sprockles - who owns the railroad tourist attraction as well as a historical museum and a gift shop.



By the time of the fundraiser, the silver spike is on exhibit in the museum, and the attendees can see it before they participate in the other activities. Everything is going well until the haunted train ride, when Moses Sprockles' body is found on the railroad tracks....murdered. Sheriff Raul Aguilar leads the investigation, and amateur sleuth Dee Stern helps.



For me, the story falters here. Dee's method of investigating is to draw up a list of suspects based on the flimsiest of reasons.
    
SPOILER ALERT                                      SPOILER ALERT
 

For instance:

➽ Mayor Barry Ritter's wife left him, which might thwart his political ambitions. Dee speculates Moses might have known about the marital split, and been about to spread the news, so Ritter killed him.

➽ Prism Hart, owner of a trendy nail spa, is secretly putting elastin (an animal product) into her signature hand cream. Dee thinks Moses may have found out about the elastin, so Prism killed him.

➽ Moses' young employee Yancy Digswallow is seen coming out of a pawn shop. Dee speculates Yancy might have killed Moses so he could steal something to sell.

And so on. Not GOOD reasons to commit murder. 

END SPOILER ALERT                             END SPOILER ALERT

That said, other parts of the story are fun. As examples:

➽ Dee's father Sam Stern dresses up as Prospector Pete to give motel guests a 'panning for gold' experience at the motel's tourist sluice.





➽ After Dee becomes business partners with charcuterie artist Serena Finlay-Katz, Serena comes over to Dee's apartment with her baby Emmy cooing in a stroller and her Morkie Oscar yipping in a baby carrier. The women then discuss chacuterie boards for the Historic Society fundraiser.

➽ Ma'am and Mr. Ma'am, a backwoods couple, are valued employees of the motel. Currently, Ma'am is using Dee's sewing machine - and scraps of cloth from dumpsters -to make winter quilts and clothes for herself and Mr. Ma'am.

➽ Fraternal twins Dougie and Danny Keefer, both former child stars, are in Gold County for local events. Dougie is thinking of putting together a band while Danny is a would-be influencer who's CONSTANTLY (and annoyingly) taking photos to post.



➽ When Dee was a writer for a comedy show, her misogynist boss Lucas Stalley made her write a dreaded 'jump the shark' episode, then fired her. Now, years later, Dee manages to get revenge.



➽ Bud the bear has learned to take the cover off the motel's hot tub, turn it on, and have a soak.



......and more.

Though the novel is entertaining, the mystery and its solution are disappointing.

As a bonus, the book contains a recipe for Peanut Butter Cornflake Bars, which many of the characters enjoy.

I had the digital book and the audiobook, narrated by Amy Melissa Bentley, who does a fine job.

Thanks to Netgalley, Ellen Byron, and Kensington for an ARC of the book.

Rating: 3 stars 

Review of "America, U.S.A. How Race Shadows The Nation's Anniversaries" by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

 

 

Eddie Glaude is an author, scholar, and professor of African American studies and religion at Princeton University.


Author Eddie Glaude

Glaude wrote this book in the lead up to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the nation.



In the introduction, Glaude observes, "Anniversaries of this magnitude occasion opportunities to tell the American story, to look back and reaffirm the basic ideals of the country." 



But, like the centennial, sesquicentennial, and bicentennial events commemorating the founding, the semi-quincentennial exposes the maddening split at the heart of the country. Today, Americans remain bitterly divided, and those divisions are rooted, in part, in the irresolvable ideas that 'America is a beacon of freedom' and that 'it must remain a White republic.'



The author asserts that, like the celebrations before it, the 250th anniversary "reaches back to a storybook America that requires either the banishment of Black people from view or the reduction of [their] role in the country's history....These ritual moments [ignore] the realities...like the compromises in the Constitution to protect slavery....The celebrations ignore the fact that the founders made a tragic choice that corrupted the American soul, and Americans have been bound by it ever since."



In Glaude's view, the Black problem in America is not close to resolved. He writes, "After 250 years, and after all that has been done and said, Black people still face the consequences of a country that insists it must remain White...There is a sense [among White people] that somehow the country that belonged to them has been lost, and the darker souls...are using the power of government to discriminate against White people, denying their children admission to elite universities and colleges, filling their seats with unqualified Black people, and forcing them to feel guilty about the past and responsible for racism."

The author says these sentiments led to the election and re-election of Donald Trump, who aspires to restore the control of America to 'true Americans' (White people). Trump deports immigrants; dismantles diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; attacks voting rights; and suppresses education about slavery and racism.



In Glaude's view, the damage done by Trump and MAGA, though not necessarily permanent, could take generations to repair. To become better, America will have to be honest about the past; admit the harm done by racism; and accept a true multiracial society.

Glaude doesn't rely on general observations; he provides concrete and heartrending examples of America's racist past. He starts with the American Revolution, and - in subsequent chapters - recalls anniversary years and events that support his argument.

Throughout, Glaude quotes American writers, historians, intellectuals, and advocates for racial justice, including: Frederick Douglas; W.E.B. Du Bois; James Baldwin; Ralph Ellison; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr; Vincent Harding; Lonnie Bunch; Walt Whitman; Langston Hughes; and more.



The author's coverage is very thorough, and I'll include a few examples to provide a feel for the book

*****

In 1776, after the Declaration of Independence, Caleb Trueblood - a North Carolina Quaker - manumitted his slave Moses Gordon. However, North Carolina had passed a law that forbade "masters from liberating their slaves." North Carolina then passed another law that ordered those manumitted illegally to be captured and sold to the highest bidder. Moses was free for a time, but when he was captured in 1797, Moses took his own life rather than live once again as a slave.



Glaude emphasizes that "Lawmakers felt no need to end slavery or the slave trade; instead they decided to secure the rights of those who owned slaves."

*****

For many Americans, July 4th has always been a day for fireworks, good barbecue, and celebration of the country's founding. But not for slaves. On July 5, 1852, as racial violence consumed the country, statesman Frederick Douglas delivered his famous speech, "What to the slave is the Fourth of July?" Douglas shouted, "The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham. Your humanity is a base pretense, and your Christianity is a lie." Douglas wanted White Americans to confront the hypocrisy between their celebration of liberty and the continued enslavement of millions of people.



*****

The ratification of the 15th amendment in 1870, giving Black men the right to vote, escalated racial hatred and violence.

⚫ In 1873 in Colfax, Louisiana, White men armed with rifles and a small cannon opened fire on a courthouse containing elected Black officials. The courthouse caught fire, and even as Black men showed the white flag of surrender, they were butchered by the mob.

⚫ On July 4, 1874 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, a group of Black people gathered to celebrate the defeat of Confederate troops during the Civil War and the beginning of the end of slavery.



"For many Whites in Vicksburg...this gathering was an obvious provocation...A group of White men on horseback attacked the crowd. As they began shooting, people scattered, screaming in panic...Whites rampaged as if the sight of blood intensified their frenzy."

Stereotypes and prejudices blinded White America to the horrors and cruelty of its racism. Many Whites believed that "Black folk were lazy, unintelligent, morally suspect, and prone to violence...They were exalted by false hopes; bewildered and without leaders, and yet insolent and aggressive; sick of work, [and] covetous of pleasure." In many White minds, Negroes had to be cared for and trained to belong in American society.

*****

The 1926 Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia glaringly demonstrated the problem of race relations.



Black people were locked out of construction projects, and the single Black speaker, A. Philip Randolph - the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters - was not included in the printed Opening Day program.



The president of Haiti, Louis Borno, was denied entry by an angry White Philly cop who didn't believe Borno was a head of state and refused to believe 'n-people' could be that important.


Louis Borno, President of Haiti

And "among the thousands of veterans celebrated for their service and who led the Opening Day parade, not one African American stood among them - despite 350,000 of them having served in World War I."


Calvin Coolidge opens the Sesquicentennial World's Fair

*****

After World War II, desegregation of public schools, civil rights legislation, and Black boycotts, sit-ins, and acts of civil disobedience were met with assassinations, lynchings, the brutality of sheriffs, and the violence of the Ku Klux Klan.


Ku Klux Klan demonstration

Years later, in August 1975, a special bicentennial issue of Ebony magazine called attention to "200 years of slavery, servitude, segregation, discrimination, poverty, and even death and destruction." The magazine contained articles about the progress of Black people, the challenges they still faced, and the rank hypocrisy of the country's bicentennial celebration.





*****

When Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, "conservatives who rejected the basic premises of the civil rights movement...now had a champion in the White House...In so many ways, the former B-list actor turned politician stands as the prototype for Donald Trump." Even so, Reagan signed the Martin Luther King Day bill into law, and noted that traces of bigotry still mar America.


Ronald Reagan signing the Martin Luther King Day into law

However, Glaude notes that for both Republicans and Democrats, admission of the history of racism was thought to be enough for absolution. No need for further race-specific remedies. Many White people thought, "What more do those 'n-people' want?"

*****

The yearlong celebration of America's 250th anniversary kicked off with Donald Trump's appearance in Iowa on July 3, 2025. Trump's ultimate agenda was "to renew our national pride and beat back those ideologies that threatened America's freedom...For him, the appeal to consensus distinguished true Americans from the un-American menace of unwanted immigrants and from those who failed to demonstrate the requisite gratitude and fidelity to the country."


Donald Trump kicks off the yearlong celebration of America's Semiquincentennial

Trump's administration pursues an agenda that aims to erase the history of racism, of the horrors of slavery, or reasons for the Civil War, or the Tulsa Race Massacre, or historical examples of the country failing to live up to its stated ideals and values. Glaude writes, "I cannot help but think that Donald Trump and his supporters believe, in some way, that his election amounts to the end of American history."

*****

Glaude acknowledges Black Americans have made progress economically, professionally, and socially since emancipation, but is angry about the refusal of many White people to acknowledge Black struggles.



I think everyone should read this book. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., and Crown for an ARC of the book.

Rating: 4 stars 

Review of "The Dying Light: A Detective Matthew Venn Mystery" by Ann Cleeves

 

 

In this 4th book in the 'Two Rivers' series, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn investigates the deaths of two teenage girls. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

It's summer in North Devon, and residents and tourists are looking forward to MillsFest, a two-day music festival that features local bands and sells beer and alcohol.



A couple of attendees will be seventeen-year-olds from London: brunette Hannah Armstrong and blonde Lottie Cauldwell.



The girls just completed their A-Levels, and drove to Millscombe to spend a few days at Tide House - a vacation home owned by Hannah's family.



The morning after the festival, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn gets a call from Detective Sergeant Jen Rafferty, the duty detective. Jen reports, 'We have a body and a missing young woman at a fancy holiday home out at Millscombe. The owner is a politician called Paul Armstrong, who turned up this morning with his wife and two young sons. Armstrong's daughter and her friend arrived Friday morning. The Armstrongs found the friend drowned in the pool and the daughter disappeared."



Matthew meets Jen in Millscombe, a tiny hamlet that features a pub called the Fisherman's Arms, the Brennan farm, and a few scattered houses, including Tide House. Paul Armstrong explains they found Lottie in the pool, and he and his wife Cath fear their daughter Hannah was kidnapped, perhaps for ransom or political reasons.



Things are even more dire than that because Hannah's body is found in the woods below Tide House. This sets off a murder investigation led by DI Venn, whose team includes DS Jen Rafferty and Detective Constable Ross May.



Interviews with family members reveal that Lottie and Hannah met at a private school in London and became friends. The detectives also learn Hannah had a boyfriend in Millscombe, a lad named Jake Brennan whose parents own the Brennan farm - a working farm that hosts the music festival and rents out glamping pods.



When the investigators trace Lottie and Hannah's activities in Millscombe, they learn the underage girls tried to buy alcoholic drinks at the Fisherman's Arms and were refused. Lottie made a big fuss and antagonized the owner. Then, over the weekend, Lottie engaged in other mischievous behavior.



The detectives also learn that an American couple renting one of the glamping pods on the Brennan farm, Geoff and Karen Kinzalow, have a daughter Elizabeth who went to school with Lottie and Hannah.



The murder investigation moves along very slowly since the detectives speak to the same people again and again; key persons make themselves unavailable; and almost everyone either lies or withholds information.

In the meantime, Matthew Venn and his husband Jonathan Church have a personal concern. Jonathan is an adoptee who's found his birth mother, and they've arranged a meeting via email. Both Jonathan and Matthew are apprehensive about the reunion and its possible aftermath.



The 'Two Rivers' novels are character studies as well as mysteries, and it's interesting to see the changes in the protagonists' lives.

DI Matthew Venn was brought up in a religious sect called the Barum Brethen, which shunned him when he lost his faith, and estranged him from his parents. Matthew's father died, but he's now partly reconciled with his mother, who knows Matthew is gay, and that his husband Jonathan is part of his life.



DS Jen Rafferty is a single mother who was struggling to raise teenagers Ella and Ben, do her job, and have time to party. Ella is now off to university; Ben is in the sixth form; and Jen doesn't party so much as enjoy an evening glass of wine with her musician neighbor.



DC Ross May had inflated ideas about his abilities, and chafed at being assigned (what he considered) boring, mundane police duties. Ross has now learned to interview witnesses and no longer complains about routine assignments. Ross might have matured because of potential fatherhood, since he and his wife Mel are trying to have a baby.



The story moseys along to a conclusion that will get the best of most armchair detectives. I enjoyed the novel, but became irritated with the detectives' snide thoughts about 'rich people', 'educated people', 'successful people', 'well-spoken people' and so on. What's wrong with being

 smart and doing well?

I had a digital copy of the novel as well as the audiobook, narrated by Jack Holden, who does a fine job.

Thanks to Netgalley, Ann Cleeves, Macmillan Audio and Minotaur for ARCs of the book.

Rating: 3 stars