Review of "Murder Outside the Lines: A Pen and Ink Cozy Mystery" by Krista Davis

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This is the third book in Krista Davis's 'Pen and Ink' cozy mystery series, but it works fine as a standalone.

*****

Amateur sleuth Florrie Fox is the manager of the Color Me Read bookstore in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC.



This is the perfect job for Florrie, because she loves to read mysteries AND she creates her own line of adult coloring books. The bookstore's owner, Professor John Maxwell, has an office on the building's third floor, where he entertains his erudite friends.



It's the Halloween season, which is serious business in Georgetown. Residents compete to have the most elaborate decorations, stores have seasonal events, and ghost sightings increase dramatically.



For Color Me Read, Florrie has scheduled a reading by psychic author Hilda Rattenhorst, who says she can speak to the dead.



To heighten the ghoulish atmosphere, Professor Maxwell has received a package containing a human skull, with a note claiming the sender, Ellis Willoughby, is in a dangerous situation.



When clairvoyant Hilda Rattenhorst arrives at Color Me Read to give her reading, she's disheveled and flustered, claiming to have seen a rolled up rug with a foot sticking out. Hilda says she feels the vibes of a murderer in the room, and - as if to reinforce Hilda's observations - a loud shriek reverberates through the building.

Florrie and Professor Maxwell don't believe in ghosts or psychics, and think Hilda is just putting on a show. However, a body in a rolled up rug is soon found in Georgetown.....



.....and the victim is identified as a Washington, DC resident named Manny, who works at the bakery where Florrie shops.



The police, including Florrie's boyfriend Sergeant Eric Jonquille, launch a murder investigation, and Florrie takes an interest in the proceedings.



There are numerous suspects for Manny's murder because he had disreputable friends; was accused of cheating in a judo competition; and was generally disliked.

Georgetown seems to be experiencing a crime wave because Florrie's delivery man is bitten by a snake; Professor Maxwell's friend is attacked and almost killed; Florrie's acquaintance is knocked out in his apartment; and a private detective is found dead. Florrie suspects these incidents may be connected, and makes her own inquiries, bringing pastries and pumpkin cookies to loosen people's tongues.



On a more personal level, Florrie helps a friend with marital problems and she and her cat Peaches provide comfort to the Professor's butler, who's afraid of ghosts.

In between shifts at the bookstore, detective work, and assisting her friends, Florrie is enjoying the Halloween season. She walks her dog Frodo past the decorated Georgetown houses to look at the vampires, witches, corpses, coffins, giant spiders, and skeletons; hears ghost stories from Professor Maxwell's friends; goes on a ghost tour with her colleagues; sees a headless spirit walk through a cemetery;



and gets dressed up for Halloween.



The story has numerous threads and a large cast of characters, but the diligent reader will be rewarded with an entertaining mystery filled with surprises. There are also recipes for Russian tea, cinnamon apple pancakes, pumpkin cupcakes, and French apple cake.


Russian Tea


Cinnamon Apple Pancakes


Pumpkin Cupcakes


French Apple Cake

Though this is a Halloween themed book, it's a fun read for any time of year.

Rating: 3 stars

Review of "Unchained: The Eddie Van Halen Story" by Paul Brannigan

I'm not a Rock & Roll aficionado and know little about bands and the music business. But I recently read a memoir by actress Valerie Bertinelli, who was married to Eddie Van Halen for twenty years. Despite the fact that Eddie and Valerie had a tempestuous marriage that ended in divorce, Valerie speaks of Eddie so lovingly that I became curious to read this book about the guitarist.




Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen

*****

Eddie Van Halen's parents Jan and Eugenia, met in the late 1940s when Jan - a Dutch musician - was working in Jakarta, Indonesia.


Jan and Eugenia Van Halen


Jan and Eugenia Van Halen met and married in Indonesia

Jan married Indonesian native Eugenia and the couple moved to the Netherlands, where their sons Alex and Edward were born in 1953 and 1955 respectively. The boys were seven and eight when the family relocated to Pasadena, California and began a new life in America.


The Van Halens on a ship to America

Like their father, both Alex and Eddie exhibited a talent for music, and the boys started their own band while still in elementary school.


Young Alex and Eddie Van Halen showed musical talent as children

Alex played drums, Eddie played the guitar, and by the time the youths were in high school, it was clear they would become famous. Alex and Eddie's group - called Genesis, then renamed Mammoth - was adept at playing covers of bands they liked, such as Cream, The Who, Deep Purple, and Ten Years After.


Teenage Alex and Eddie Van Halen

In 1973 Alex and Eddie formed the band Van Halen, with lead singer David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony.


The band Van Halen (from left to right: Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen, MIchael Anthony)

Van Halen started out in small clubs but was soon on it's way to stardom, and Brannigan writes about the band's songs, albums, and tours; booze, drugs, and groupies; and habit of destroying hotel rooms and property (which seems to be de riguer for hard rock bands). Van Halen remained popular for decades and Eddie is widely considered the best guitarist of his generation.


Van Halen performing

The Van Halen band members - and their producers and managers - didn't always get along, and Brannigan details the various changes that occurred over the years. Especially important was the replacement of flamboyant lead singer David Lee Roth with Sammy Hagar in 1985, and then a brief stint with lead singer Gary Cherone. Eddie attributes the shuffling of lead singers to LSD (lead singer disease), which (in short) means the front men got too big for their britches.




David Lee Roth performing with Van Halen




Sammy Hagar performing with Van Halen




Gary Cherone performing with Van Halen

On a personal note, when Valerie Bertinelli's brothers took her to a Van Halen concert, there were immediate sparks between Eddie and the actress. They married soon afterwards, had a son named Wolfgang, and tried to make a go of it.


Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen married in 1981


Eddie Van Halen with baby Wolfie

However Eddie abused alcohol and drugs - which he deemed necessary for his creativity; partied with girls on the road; and was difficult to live with. Valerie admits she was no angel either, but it was Eddie's alcoholism and drug use that finally ended the marriage. Nevertheless, Valerie thought of Eddie as a gentle soul with a good heart and the couple remained close until Eddie lost his long battle with cancer in 2020.


Older Eddie Van Halen

The author did prodigious research for this book, and includes numerous details about Eddie's life, family, guitar construction, guitar virtuosity, song-writing, bandmates, studio work, stage work, etc.


Eddie Van Halen is considered the best guitarist of his generation


Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli with their son Wolfgang


Wolfgang Van Halen playing with his father's band

It's sad that substance abuse marred so much of Eddie's life, and that chain-smoking (probably) led to tongue cancer and lung cancer. One wonders what would have happened if Eddie had conquered these demons sooner.

I enjoyed the audiobook, narrated by Mike Lenz, and highly recommend it - especially to Rock & Roll and Van Halen fans.

Thanks to Netgalley, Paul Brannigan, and Tantor Audio for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "Darkness Falls: A Kate Marshall Thriller" by Robert Bryndza

 

In this 3rd book in the 'Kate Marshall' series, the former police detective looks for a woman who disappeared over a decade ago. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

In 1995 Kate Marshall was a Metropolitan Detective Constable until she discovered that her boss, DCI Peter Conway - with whom she'd been romantically involved - was a serial killer.



The subsequent scandal, plus the fact that Kate was pregnant with Peter's child, got her fired. Since then Kate became an alcoholic, lost custody of her (and Peter's) son Jake to her parents, started going to AA, and became a criminology lecturer at Ashdean College in southern England. In Ashdean, Kate lives in a house on the beach, and starts every morning with a swim in the surf.



It's now 2015, and Kate left her teaching post to open a private detective agency. Kate runs the agency from the office of a caravan rental business she inherited from her friend (and AA sponsor) Myra.



Kate's office also serves as the carvans' supply room, so the space is half-full of towels, sheets, and cleaning supplies.





Kate's partner in the detective agency is her former teaching assistant Tristan Harper, who has a knack for investigative work.



And Kate's now 19-year old son Jake - on summer break from university - helps with the caravan enterprise and takes tourists out on a boat.



Kate's private investigator business is struggling, so she's happy to get a call from a woman named Bev Ellis, whose daughter Joanna Duncan disappeared twelve years ago. The police have now shelved Joanna's case, and Bev wants Kate to continue the search - even if it only results in a body to bury.



At the time of Joanna's disappearance she was an investigative journalist who'd recently exposed an MP for taking bribes to award building contracts. Joanna was also investigating claims the married MP used rent boys, which - at the time - would have been a big scandal.



Grieving mother Bev Ellis and her boyfriend Bill - a wealthy contractor with connections - have the police files relating to Joanna's case, so Kate and Tristan have a good place to start. They soon learn that, around the time Joanna vanished, she was looking into the disappearance of two gay men who'd spent time at a squatter's commune.



To further their investigation, Kate and Tristan make inquiries about the (now defunct) commune and its residents; talk to Joanna's friends; speak to Joanna's (unfaithful) husband Fred;



interview Joanna's editor at the newspaper;



track down the MP Joanna exposed, etc.



Kate and Tristan are also able to get information from their contacts in the coroner's office and police department.





Meanwhile, a serial killer with a flair for disguises is picking up gay men in the area and murdering them.



In the course of their inquiries, Kate and Tristan come across the same names again and again, but can't connect the dots to Joanna's disappearance until there's a surprise breakthrough.

In additional to their professional work, we get a peek into the private lives of the characters. Kate struggles with her sobriety and misses her friend Myra; Tristan has financial troubles and an older sister who disapproves of his detective job; Jake has to deal with having a serial killer father; and so on. On the upside, Kate, Tristan, and Jake sometimes gather for a delicious barbecue on the beach.



Some of the twists in the book stretch credulity, but I enjoyed the story and recommend it to mystery lovers and Kate Marshall fans.

Thanks to Netgalley, Robert Bryndza, and Thomas & Mercer for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars