June Books

Move Your Blooming Corpse by DE Ireland

Fans of “My Fair Lady” and of the Edwardian era will delight in this mystery by the writing team known collectively as DE Ireland. Eliza Doolittle is now teaching diction for Professor Henry Higgins. Colonel Pickering is still on the scene, as is the annoyingly ardent suitor Freddy Eynsford Hill.

Eliza’s father Alfred, who is making good money now as a lecturer for the Moral Reform League, has bought a share in a race horse. When Eliza joins the party at the Royal Ascot, the race is spoiled by a man running out into the course in front of the horses.  The previous week a young woman had done the same, as a protest for women’s suffrage. Was this another protest? It would seem so, except that the body of an actress, and mistress to two of the other horse owners, was found in one of the stalls, with a pitchfork through her.

 


Pride v. Prejudice by Joan Hess
Eleanor and Hick: the love affair by Susan Quinn
The Battered Badge by Robert Goldsborough
The Merry Wives of Maggody by Joan Hess
Murder Stage Left by Robert Goldsborough
Noir by Christopher Moore
Move Your Blooming Corpse by DE Ireland
Clapton: the autobiography by Eric Clapton
The Lady in White by Wilkie Collins
Death and the Language of Happiness by John Straley
Forty Dead Men by Donis Casey
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
India Gray: historical fiction by Sujata Massey

Forty Dead Men

Forty Dead Men by Donis Casey

Alafair Tucker is a farm wife and mother in early 20^th century rural Oklahoma, and this tenth book in the series takes place just after World War i. Her eldest son, George Washington Tucker, known to his family as Gee Dub, is home from the war in France, but Alafair senses that there is something different about him. He spends a lot of time alone, roaming the property on his horse.

 One day he comes across a young woman on the road, tired and lost, but unwilling to trust in a stranger. 

His mother discovers that the young woman is Holly Johnson, from Maine, whose husband was in the war, but hasn’t contacted her since. She discovered he was from a nearby town in Oklahoma,  and is looking for his relatives to find out her status. Is he alive or is she a widow? 

This is one of my favorite mystery series. It includes a lot of the hardships of the times, but Alafair is a hardworking and practical woman, and the family pulls through each crisis.

May's Books

Lillian Frost was like so many other young woman who made the trip to Hollywood—she won a beauty pageant and a screen test. But she was no actress, and she knew it. She was happy with her sales job at a local department store—at least until her former roommate, Ruby Carroll, was found dead. Ruby, who was always working the angles, died wearing a gown stolen from the wardrobe department of Paramount Pictures, under the supervision of designer Edith Head.

This smart and stylish mystery teams Lillian and Edith Head up to investigate the murder, and includes a mysterious Hungarian princess, a hot shot director, and a crooked private eye. Cameo appearances from popular movie stars of the day, like Bob Hope and Barbara Stanwyck, add to the fun. Renee Patrick is the pen name of married authors Rosemarie and Vince Keenan.

 


Cremains of the Day by Misty Simon
I've Got My Eyes on You by Mary Higgins Clark
The Cutting Edge by Jeffery Deaver
NYPD Puzzle by Parnell Hall
Death of an Honest Man by MC Beaton
The Chocolate Bunny Brouhaha by Joanne Carl
Murder at the Male Review by Elizabeth Perona
The Man Who Couldn't Miss by David Handler
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
Design for Dying by Renee Patrick