Review of "Stranger in the Room: A Keye Street Thriller" by Amanda Kyle Williams

In this second book in the 'Keye Street' series, the private detective works on three difficult cases. The book works fine as a standalone.

*****

Chinese-American private investigator Keye Street, who works out of Atlanta, isn't your average sleuth. Orphaned at a young age, Keye was adopted by a Georgia couple and she has the Dixie accent and refined sensibilities of the South. Keye also has a taste for traditional southern meals, like fried chicken, corn bread, and iced tea.



Keye is a recovering alcoholic with a Ph.D who lost her job as an FBI profiler because of her drinking. Keye is sober now, and her time with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) works to her advantage when she consults for the Atlanta Police Department (APD).

Other things to know about Keye:

⦿ Keye is dating hunky Detective Aaron Rauser of the APD.



⦿ Keye has an African-American gay brother named Jimmy (also adopted) who lives on the West Coast with his partner.



⦿ Keye's cousin Miki is an award-winning photographer who has a history of cutting herself, loves attention, and is usually high on alcohol and drugs.



⦿ Keye's sleuthing partner Neil is a stylish computer hacker who smokes a lot of pot.



⦿ Keye has a spoiled cat who likes shots of half and half and other delicacies.



Keye, who lives in an upscale apartment in a hotel - and has to pay for an office, car, and living expenses - takes a variety of jobs to make ends meet. Besides helping the Atlanta police, Keye serves subpoenas; chases down bail jumpers for Tyrone's Quikbail; does security checks; takes jobs from lawyers; and more.



In this book, Keye gets involved in three major cases a few days before Independence Day, for which her parents always make a big 4th of July party.

Keye's cases stack up as follows:

⦿ Keye's cousin Miki is the target of a nasty stalker who, besides following Miki around, breaks into her apartment and leaves a terrible surprise. Keye tells Miki she'll track down the perpetrator.



⦿ A 13-year-old boy - who's a star athlete at his school - is murdered and left in an Atlanta park. The APD is stumped, and Detective Aaron Rauser hires profiler Keye to consult on the case.



⦿ A man in north Georgia has his dead mother cremated, and his mom's urn contains cement and birdseed instead of the appropriate cremains. Keye is hired to find out what's going on at the crematorium.



We follow Keye as she investigates these cases, and it's not a big surprise to learn that some of the inquiries dovetail. Though the crimes are very serious, the book has light moments, such as when Keye and her partner Neil investigate the crematorium. Keye and Neil pretend to be looking for a house in north Georgia, and they meet an octogenarian called Mary-Kay, who isn't fooled for a second.







Mary-Kay plays a rather funny (but racist) joke AND thrusts herself into the investigation of the crematory.



All this leads to an exciting action packed denouement filled with danger and adventure.

Keye's jobs are stressful and exhausting, and she's tempted to drink, but she quells the urge with sugary donuts and her mom's southern cooking....which is DELICIOUS.










This is an engaging suspense novel, though some of the investigations are overly detailed, and drag on a bit too long. Still, the book is well worth reading for fans of the suspense genre.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "What Time The Sexton's Spade Doth Rust: A Flavia de Luce Mystery" by Alan Bradley

In this 11th book in the 'Flavia de Luce' series, the young detective investigates when the family's housekeeper/cook is suspected of murder. Though the book works fine as a standalone, it would be better to have read at least a few of the previous books - to fully appreciate the characters.

*****

Flavia de Luce, who lives in the English village of Bishop's Lacey, is a confident twelve-year-old girl who's deeply interested in two things: chemistry and detective work.



In her young life Flavia has frequently used her scientific expertise - and native smarts - to investigate murders, part of her goal being to beat the police to the punch.

As the story opens, Flavia's father recently died, leaving her the family home, Buckshaw Estate. Flavia's sister Ophelia is off on her honeymoon, and Flavia resides at Buckshaw with her sister Daffy, who'll soon be going to university;



her cousin Undine, whom Flavia considers a nuisance;



and Dogger - a jack-of-all trades who was the loyal manservant to Flavia's father, Colonel Haviland de Luce.



Buckshaw Estate was once a regal home, but is in decline after World War II, its best feature being the chemistry lab on the top floor. Flavia notes, "When my great-uncle Tarquin died, twenty-five years ago, he had left behind a laboratory that caused the chemists of Oxford and Cambridge to weep with envy....He has also left behind a treasure trove of his notebooks and journals [which] I had been devouring for years."



This knowledge of chemistry comes in handy when Buckshaw's longtime housekeeper/cook, Mrs. Mullet, is suspected of poisoning a retired gentleman called Major Greyleigh.



Mrs. Mullet has a side job cooking breakfast for Major Greyleigh, and this morning she picked mushrooms, sautéed them in butter, and served them to Greyleigh.....who was later found dead.



Mrs. Mullet is now being questioned by Major Hewitt of the Bishop's Lacey police.



Flavia is determined to prove Mrs. Mullet is innocent AND to identify the real killer before Major Hewitt can. To further her goals Flavia rides her bicycle to Major Greyleigh's cottage, sneaks in, and searches for evidence.



To Flavia's dismay she's followed by her annoying cousin Undine, who wants to be an apprentice detective. In fact Undine pops up everywhere Flavia goes, and proves to be surprisingly clever and helpful.

In any case, Flavia retrieves specks of vomit spewed by Major Greyleigh before he died, and tests the puke in her state-of-the-art laboratory. To Flavia's satisfaction, she determines that Major Greyleigh was poisoned by saxitoxin, which comes from shellfish, NOT mushrooms.



Saxitoxin is found in butter clams prevalent in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and there's an American army base called Leathcote in Bishop's Lacey. So Flavia puts two and two together, and suspects the army base may have something to do with Major Greyleigh's death.



There are additional suspects, however, because Major Greyleigh was a hangman, known to have executed 13 people during his career. It's possible relatives of the executed convicts carry a grudge, and with Dogger's help, Flavia investigates this as well.



In the midst of all this comes talk of the Nide, a secret organization to which members of Flavia's family - including her mother, her father, and her aunt - belonged. Flavia even suspects the Nide may be involved with Major Greyleigh's homicide, for some unknown reason.



All this provides plenty of scope for Flavia's inquries, and she flits here and there to ask questions, and sneaks into restricted places, to further her investigation.

Part of the fun of the Flavia de Luce stories are the historical quotes and arcane knowledge spouted by the residents of Buckshaw. For instance, Dogger observes "It is a capital mistake to theorize in advance of the facts" (Sherlock Holmes); and Daffy recites "Truth is the most precious thing we have have. Economize it." (Mark Twain). Even Undine chimes in, talking about a Frenchman called Joseph Pujol who became wealthy by farting musical selections onstage, in front of enormous audiences.


Joseph Pujol

I enjoyed visiting with Flavia and her compadres, but the story took a turn that was too weird to be credible (in my view). Still, I'd real more stories in the series just for fun.

Thanks to Netgalley, Alan Bradley, and Ballantine for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3 stars

Review of "The Brutal Telling: A Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Mystery" by Louise Penny

In this 5th book in the 'Chief Inspector Armand Gamache' series, the homicide detective investigates an especially murky killing in Three Pines. The book can be read as a standalone, but knowledge of the characters is a plus.

*****

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, has solved many murders in the beautiful village of Three Pines. (In fact Three Pines is a hotbed of homicide. Beautiful or not, I'd think twice about moving there. 😏)



As a result of his many inquiries, Gamache has become friendly with the residents of Three Pines, including B&B owners Gabri and Olivier. The partners run the combination inn and bistro together, and their rapport with Gamache makes it tricky to investigate when the B&B is the site of a crime.





Gabri and Olivier's bistro is a popular dining destination, and the townsfolk are shocked when the body of a murdered man is found there one morning.



Gamache and his homicide squad - which consists of Agent Jean-Guy Beauvoir and Agent Isabelle Lacoste - arrive in Three Pines to investigate, and arrange to remain in town during their inquiries.



The homicide team sets up an situation room, examines the bistro, sends out evidence to be analyzed, and interviews the residents of Three Pines. The detectives learn that the victim had no identification on him, and no one admits to recognizing him. Gabri and Olivier claim they have no idea how the body came to be in their establishment, but acknowledge that the key to the bistro is right outside, available to everyone.

In time, the detectives assemble a handful of clues:

The victim was murdered elsewhere, then moved to the bistro.
The victim was killed with a blunt instrument and has tallow in the wound.
The victim looks like he's seventy, but is in fact fiftyish.
A local Czech man saw a stranger lurking in the woods near his home.
A couple that plans to open a spa/restaurant in Three Pines have contentious relations Gabri and Olivier.

When the detectives eventually discover the cabin where the victim was killed, they find that it contains an unimaginable treasure trove of artworks, gorgeous pottery, rare books, crystal goblets, silver goods, objects from the Amber Room looted by the Nazis, valuable carvings, cash, and much more.....a bonanza worth MANY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.



In addition, the cabin contains what appear to be clues written in cypher - such as a carving with the word WOO - which the homicide investigators and other experts try to decipher.



In the course of the investigation, Gamache even hops a plane to British Columbia, to speak to people who may have a connection with the victim. To say more about the plot would be a spoiler.

An ancillary storyline involves Clara and Peter Morrow, married artists who live in Three Pines. Until now, Peter has been the big success in the family.....



......and he's jealous that Clara, who's about to have her first solo show, is on the cusp of becoming famous. Peter even considers sabotaging his wife. (Can you imagine? 😝)



Of course, no Armand Gamache novel is complete without the eccentric old poet Ruth and her duck Rosa, who puts on something of a fashion show in her hand-me-down toddler clothes.





This is a good mystery with the author's usual twists and turns, but too many surprises to be believable (in my view). Nevertheless, I'd recommend the book to readers who like mysteries, especially fans of Louise Penny.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Wedding People: A Novel" by Alison Espach

Phoebe Stone is a forty-year-old professor of literature in St. Louis, Missouri. Phoebe especially loves novels that end with a wedding, which has always been the high point of the story for her.

Phoebe's own 12-year marriage ended when her husband Matt, a philosophy professor, suddenly walked out on her. The divorce came after years of unsuccessful IVF treatments, which may have been a factor since Matt left Phoebe for his colleague Mia, who'd recently had a baby. Thus, insta-family (among other things) for Matt.



Phoebe is depressed about the divorce, but the rest of her life is going poorly as well. Phoebe has spent ten years trying to turn her Ph.D. thesis about 'Jane Eyre' into a book, so she can apply for tenure, but it's going badly. Phoebe is tired of teaching the same classes again and again, to students who may or may not care. And Phoebe's cat Harry is dying of cancer.



So, on the first day of the semester after summer break, Phoebe snaps. She leaves school, puts on her best green dress, takes a plane to Newport, Rhode Island, and checks into the luxurious Cornwall Inn - where Phoebe had once hoped to vacation with Matt. Phoebe plans to relax in her $800 per night room; eat a delicious dinner; and commit suicide with her cat's pain pills.



As it happens, the Cornwall Inn is almost completely booked for a six-day wedding celebration, and Phoebe finds herself in an elevator with the bride. When the bride - a beautiful 28-year-old woman named Lila - asks if Phoebe is in her family or the groom's family, Phoebe explains she's not at the Cornwall Inn for the wedding, but to kill herself.



Lila is shocked, and exclaims, "No. You definitely cannot kill yourself. This is my WEDDING week.....This is the most important week of my life." Lila doesn't want her wedding marred by a suicide, and she more or less stalks Phoebe, to talk her out of the nefarious hari-kari plan.



To cut to the chase, Phoebe's suicide attempt is a failure, and Lila talks Phoebe into being her maid of honor. Phoebe therefore becomes an integral member of the wedding party, and since she's a professor, the other guests look up to her; confide in her; and ask her for advice.



Phoebe's closest confidant turns out to be the bride Lila, who got engaged to fulfill her father's dying wish.



Thus Lila is spending the million dollars her dad left her to pay for this extravagant wedding week, during which Lila will marry Gary - a pleasant, widowed doctor with an 11-year-old daughter nicknamed Juice.



We follow along as Phoebe attends the wedding activities, which include things like water massages; brunches; surfing lessons; boat rides; a tarot reader; penis-shaped straws; a Sex Woman; the rehearsal dinner; and so on.





Phoebe is also roped into doing errands with the groom Gary, and shopping with his daughter Juice, which gives Phoebe insight into their feelings as well.





The book is intended to be humorous, and it IS funny, but with serious undercurrents. The scenes of the wedding brouhaha alternate with flashbacks to the past, where we learn that Phoebe's mother died during childhood and Phoebe was raised by a single father;

Phoebe and Matt liked each other at first sight, and - for a while - had a happy marriage;



Phoebe isn't completely satisfied with her job and is frustrated with the book she's writing. Phoebe does like her work colleagues but feels pressured by her mentor Bob.



As the story unfolds, Phoebe realizes she's always been a buttoned-up person, averse to making waves, and it seems to be time for a change.

All the ancillary wedding guests, including Lila's high school friends, and Lila and Gary's extended families - which include a lot of men named Jim - add interest and humor to the book.



I enjoyed the novel, my major critique being that the story had too much of a predictable 'fairy tale' aura for my taste. Still, this is a good story, highly recommended.

Rating: 3.5 stars