Carol Early Cooney

Dear Fellow Reader,

Happy Holiday season! Time to put together that list of books that you want to read over the holidays. What? You don’t think you have time? Sure, you do. Get those gift bags stuffed and hide out in a corner with a book.

This week, I have a fresh off-the-press book for you. I was given this book in exchange for an honest review. (Are you sick of that disclaimer? I’m sick of giving it.)

The Sisters Sweet is the story of Harriet Szasz. Harriet was born to parents who are in love with the theater. Her mother was a rising star until she had an accident. Her father was full of design ideas for staging. Both came from non-show-business backgrounds but fell in love with the bright lights. Since their prospects were limited, they decided to push their twin daughters into the limelight. But just being twins that could sing wasn’t enough. They hatched a plan to make their daughters (via a harness) conjoined twins. To make this lie work, the girls had to wear the harness most of the time. This became apparently harder and harder for Josie, Harriet’s twin. Harriet’s natural inclination to be the “good girl” takes over as she tries to help her family.

So, here’s the thing about this book. I would have told you that I didn’t care about the characters. I put this book down and read other books. (Remember my mystery book binge a month or two ago?) Usually, that is pretty much the kiss of death for a book. I forget everything about it and never go back. But I did go back to this book and most importantly, I remembered what was going on. I take that as a positive for the book. Did the plot get bogged down’ occasionally? Yes, but not for long. It moved along. Here’s the thing, while I accept the ending, I am not sure I thought it was totally in character for Harriet. It is unexpected but good. You want to cheer for Harriet. For the first time, she decides to do what she needs rather than trying to save her family. Three cheers for her!

So, once again, I would not put this on the top of my TBR pile, but it is worth the read. Oh, and this is another book that goes back and forth in time. (This seems to be quite a trend. At least in the books I have read this year.)  It is not my favorite thing. So often it is not done well. This author did a good job. I was not confused – it was apparent which character was going back in time.

Thanks for reading!

Dear Fellow Reader,

I am interrupting myself with this post. In the last post, I told you that I was going to tell you about three new to me mystery writers that I had been binging on. Last week, I talked about the Alan Bradley series featuring Flavia de Luce. I also mentioned that I had not be able to readily download Alan Bradley’s final book in the Flavia de Luce series.

On Friday, I picked up the book at the library. The book, The Golden Tresses of the Dead. The book starts out at Flavia’s sister Ophelia’s wedding. There were a few hiccups during the ceremony but the big problem it comes time for Feely and Dieter go to cut the cake. Feely starts screaming and has to be taken away. Flavia runs up to check to see what bothered her sister so much. It seems there is a severed finger in the cake. Flavia, of course, takes the finger for analysis. She and Dogger feel that the finger was from the famous Spanish guitar impresario, Adriana Castelnuovo, who had died in the month or so preceding the wedding. But they are pulled off the immediate work of trying to find out how and why the finger ended up in Feely’s cake by the appearance the next morning of Mrs. Prill at their door. Mrs. Prill had consulted the local vicar and the local doctor who recommended that she seek the help of Flavia and Dogger. She is seeking their help because some very private letters have disappeared from her house. She needs to have the letters recovered. So, Flavia and Dogger have two investigations although the investigation into the missing letters quickly morphs into the investigation of Mrs. Prill’s murder.

I hate to say it but I had a problem with several parts of this book. First off, the chemical formulas that are discussed seem endless. I am impressed that the author learned so much about chemistry (What do I know? I assume he is correct.) but it seems overdone. Then the premise for the severed finger and the murdered woman is very twisted and they don’t really solve the crimes. They get to a certain point and turn the issues over to the police and that is the end of the book. I was pretty irritated.

So, last week I was telling you to read this series. I would still say that but I would skip the last book. I know it is hard to do but there are better books to read. Even for us who like to finish series, this is the time to let it go.

Thanks for reading!

Dear Fellow Reader,

It is my age-old story. I have been reading but not writing. I have been on a binge reading cycle. And what got me here? I found not one, not two, but three new mystery authors and I have been busy reading their series.

I am not sure how I found the first author, but I will admit that the series had a slow start for me. It helped that most of the series was available immediately through my library on eBooks. The funny part is that now that I am ready to read the last book in the series, I am waiting to get it from the library. I

The first book in Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce series is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. The stories take place in England in the 1950’s. The detective is 12-year-old Flavia de Luce. Flavia has not had a typical life. She lives in the family estate, Buckshaw, that is crumbling down around her. She lives with her father and her two sisters (Ophelia and Daphne) and two staff members, Mrs. Mullet (the cook), and Dogger. Dogger is sort of a butler and general overseer.  She has not had a lot of formal schooling but spends most of her time in the chemistry lab that her great-uncle had in the house. She has learned chemistry by reading all the books, journals, and notebooks he left behind. As a result, she knows a lot about poisons.

The story is told from Flavia’s perspective. She doesn’t have a lot of experience with people and (after all) she is 12 and her perspective is often affected by her age. But she is engaging in this first story and she gets better as the books progress.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure that I was going to continue the series after the first book. But somehow, I started reading the second book (I was probably avoiding doing something else.) And then I just kept going back to the stories between other books.  Flavia has really grown on me. I think she got better as the books progressed.

Next week’s mystery series also set in England but it is set in the years between the World Wars. Bring on Verity Kent! Another female detective. Oh my gosh, I just figured out that all my new series are female detectives. See, more of a streak than I realized.

The books in the series (in order) are:

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

A Red Herring Without Mustard

I am Half-Sick of Shadows

Speaking from Among the Bones

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’s

The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place

The Golden Tresses of the Dead

Thanks for reading!