November's Books

Meg Lanslow’s husband Michael is directing a local production of “A Christmas Carol,” with their sons Jamie and Josh playing Tiny Tim and Young Scrooge. Famous (and over-the-hill) actor Malcolm Haver, known for a popular television series decades ago, has been brought in to play Scrooge. Haver has been drinking steadily since he got to town, and Michael is worried that he won’t be able to perform his role. There is also a subplot about a rare finch smuggling ring, and Meg’s grandfather, who runs a animal rehabilitation center, is expecting a Fish and Wildlife agent to stop by. Meg gets tangled up with the bird smugglers when she is tailing the actor, hoping to keep him from obtaining alcohol. She stumbles upon a barn with a rare tiger, a chimpanzee, and  dozens of Golden Retriever puppies.

This is the 22^nd book in the series, and the fourth Christmas themed one. Meg is an interesting character—she is a blacksmith who does ornamental ironwork. All the books have puns in their titles, and birds figure prominently. They are good, page-turning reads—this one had a twist at the end. There is humor, and they are not gory murders, but more towards the cozy side of the genre. I’ve read maybe a third of her books, and have not been disappointed. If you start at the beginning of the series, you will follow along as Meg finds romance, marries, has children, and the children grow up.

 

Writing and selling your mystery novel: revised by Hallie Ephron
Some Like it Hawk by Donna Andrews
Pontoon: a novel of Lake Wobegon by Garrison Keillor
How the Finch Stole Christmas by Donna Andrews
The Shooting in the Shop by Simon Brett
The Poisoning in the Pub by Simon Brett
Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic by Terry Jones
Murder Goes Mumming by Alisa Craig
Death Under the Dryer by Simon Brett
Dead Room Farce by Simon Brett
The Torso in the Town by Simon Brett

October's Books

Fans of New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast will find much to laugh about in this volume of her cartoons. Sometimes subtle, sometimes outrageous, always funny.


The Party, After You Left by Roz Chast
The Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes by David Handler
Going Into Town: a love letter to New York by Roz Chast
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
How the Hell Did This Happen? The election of 2016 by P.J. O'Rourke
Glass Houses by Louise Penny
Mad City: the true story of the campus murders that American forgot by Michael Arntfield
The Tao of Pug by Nancy Levine
The Three Little Pugs and the Big Bad Cat by Becky Davies
The Last London by Iain Sinclair
Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin
Clara: the early years: the story of the pug who changed my life by Margo Kaufman

Folk Icon Tom Rush

Tom Rush appeared in Green Lake, Wisconsin, last week and poked fun at the posters that hailed him as a "folk icon." He did a wonderful cover of "Drift Away."

September's Books

A long time family feud has been simmering in Dorset, Connecticut. Sherm Grant and his son desecrate the grave of silent film star Aurora Bing for almost eighty years. It doesn't help that the local building inspector, Hubie Swope, is Aurora's only grandchild, and he is threatening to shut down Sherm Grant's shabby dive bar, aptly named The Pit. When The Pit burns down, and Swope's remains are discovered inside, it means murder, and Gant is the prime suspect. State Trooper Desiree Mitry and crime fighting film critic Mitch Berger investigate.

A favorite series--I haven't been disappointed yet. This is the eleventh book.



Mr. Swirlee by Mike Faricy
The Lavender Lane Lothario by David Handler
The Radium Girls: the dark story of America's shining women by Kate Moore
Bound for Oregon by Jean van Leewen
The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
Musclebound by Liza Cody
Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI by David Grann
Dead and Breakfast by Kimberly Giarratano
Once Upon a Blue Moose by Daniel Pinkwater
Mrs. Noodlekugel by Daniel Pinkwater
The Idler Book of Crap Vacations by Dan Kieran
Elvis and the Grateful Dead by Betty Webb
Let Them East Shrimp: the tragic disappearance of the rain forests of the sea by Kennedy Warne

Ain't That a Shame?

That Fats Domino has died...

Mrs. Pargeter's Public Relations

If Miss Manners had been married to a London mobster , she would be Melita Pargeter, the genteel widow of the late lamented Mr. Pargeter. Mrs. Pargeter was left in comfortable circumstance, but perhaps the most precious item her husband left to her was his little black book. Many a time since her husband’s death Mrs. Pargeter had need of calling upon one of her husband’s associates for help with some little matter.

But when Mrs. Pargeter accompanies her friend Jasmine Angold to a benefit for stray Greek cats—who were being rehomed to Britain—she unexpectedly meets the sister of her late husband. Unexpected because he never mentioned having a sister.

Filled with sly good humor and an assortment of colorful characters, this book will appeal to readers of humorous British mysteries.

Government Cheese

Terrific Keb'Mo and Taj Mahal concert last week in Milwaukee. They performed one of my favorites--"Government Cheese."

August's Books

In "A Wilder Rose," Susan Wittig Albert imagines the relationship between successful writer Rose Wilder Lane and her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder of the "Little House" books. How much of the "Little House" books did Laura write, and how much did Rose contribute? Based on extensive research, the author--best known for her mysteries--provides a fresh view into the well-known children's series.



Nanny Ogg's Cookbook by Terry Pratchett
Cry Me a River by Patricia Hagan
Death of a Political Plant by Ann Ripley
Winning Elections and Influencing Politicians for Library Funding by Patrick Sweeney
Double Up by Gretchen Archer
A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert
The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas
The Deep Dark Descending by Allan Eskins

July's Books

All the elements of an appealing cozy mystery are here in "The Ghost and Mrs. Mewer"—a small town, cats and dogs, tantalizing food, a local festival, and an interesting main character. Oh, and a punny title.  In the second book of her “Paws and Claws” mysteries, Davis has Holly Miller busy organizing the guests at the Sugar Maple Inn—members of the Apparition Apprehenders, ghost hunters who have descended upon the town to develop a tv series. Holly finds a young woman drowned in the hotels gazebo—under circumstances too suspicious to be an accident. Is there anyone Holly can trust? A treat for mystery fans.

 


The Ghost and Mrs. Mewer by Krista David
Al Franken: Giant of the Senate by Al Franken
The Housewife Assassin's Handbook by Josie Brown
The Lighthouse by P.D. James
Clammed Up by Barbara Ross
Stop the Presses! by Robert Goldsborough
Murder Packs a Suitcase by Cynthia Baxter
An Affair to Dismember by Elise Sax
Dry Ice by Stephen White
Murder She Wrote: Knock 'em Dead by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain
Murder in Christmas River by Meg Muldoon
Murder at Sissingham Hall by Clara Benson
Optical Delusions in Deadwood by Ann Charles

June's Books

How to be an Indian in the Twenty-first Century by Louis V. Clark III (Two Shoes)

Clark grew up on the Oneida Reservation, just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin. His book combines poetry with autobiographical commentary on each of the poems. He reaches through pain with humor, and the poems touch many subjects—fatherhood, love, baseball, discrimination, and his Oneida heritage.

 


Decades of Dirt: murder, mayhem, and mystery edited by MB Dubray and Barbara S. Miller
Archie in the Crosshairs by Robert Goldsborough
Mrs. Pargeter's Public Relations by Simon Brett
Legend of the Christmas Ship by Carl Behrend
Funhome: a family tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Murder in Exile by Vincent O'Neil
Must Love Dogs: new leash on life by Claire Cook
How to be an Indian in the Twenty-first Century by Louis V. Clark III (Two Shoes)
Murder at the Rocks by Jill Paterson
Underwater Dogs by Seth Casteel
A Little Class in Murder by Carolyn Hart
Shirley, I Jest: a storied life by Cindy Williams
Rose Gold by Walter Mosley
Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King
A Man's Head by Georges Simenon
Christmas Cookies: beautiful and easy by Better Homes & Gardens
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Devil's Breath by G.M. Malliet
The Day I Died by Lori Rader-Day
Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen
Aviatrix: first woman pilot for Hughes Airwest by Mary Bush
Heaven is Paved with Oreos by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
March: Book one by John Lewis

Deadly Proof

Deadly Proof by M. Louisa Locke

Nate Dawson, an attorney, is engaged to a widow, Annie Fuller, who owns a boarding house and moonlights part-time as a psychic, Madam Sybil. The Madam dispenses financial advice, which she gleans from reading the financial papers, and she is also a skilled bookkeeper. 

When Joshua Rashers, owner of a printing company, is found dead in his office, his body is discovered by his employee, Mrs. Florence Sullivan. Rashers’  widow, Catherine, accuses Mrs. Sullivan of having designs on her husband, and killing him in a rage of passion because she was going to be fired . Nate Dawson is hired to defend her, but Mrs. Sullivan will not say a word in her defense. She even refuses to see her husband or her ailing mother.

Dawson’s sister Laura is a typesetter, and helps him to investigate the crime. Police aren’t looking beyond Mrs. Sullivan for a culprit. Franklin Griggs, the print shop foreman, says that Florence was a valued employee and would never have been fired. The victim, who had an eye for the ladies and exploited his young female apprentices, also undercut competitors, and was complicit in driving other printing companies out of business.  Orrie Childers, an attractive young employee, is spreading gossip about the suspects.

During the investigation, Laura crosses paths with Seth Timmons, a man she had met before. They had both been teachers, but had taken jobs in the printing business to help make ends meet. They both hoped to attend the University of California, but will the investigation interfere with their plans to study for the entrance exams?

Annie is finding it impossible to plan a wedding amid Nate’s long hours on the case, and not knowing whether their families can travel to attend.

An absolutely enjoyable mystery. The details of life in 1880 San Francisco are woven into the story so that the reader is transported into another time and place. Women struggling to gain entrance to the printing trades, and battling with the shop owners and the unions, lend a rich background to this tale of murder.