New Cozy Mysteries in 2012

Thanks to the publisher, I have two cozy mysteries to give away beginning today! For many of you who are staying at home on July 4 because of the extreme heat, here's something to spice up your day - a book contest for cozies released yesterday, July 3.

Title: In a Witch's Wardrobe: A Witchcraft Mystery
Author: Juliet Blackwell
Lily Ivory owns a vintage clothing store - and practices magic on the side. But when she encounters a sinister sleeping spell, Lily comes face-to-face with a nightmarish evil... A young woman at an Art Deco ball falls under a mysterious sleeping sickness, a curse possibly placed on the woman's corsage. Lily is asked to help solve a string of poisonings in the Bay Area witchcraft community; evidence soon points to a new acquaintance dabbling in dark magic and deadly botany. (book description)

Title:How to Dine on Killer Wine by Penny Warner
Published by Signet, paperback

Presley Parker's event-planning business is the toast of San Francisco. But when she ventures into Napa Valley to oversee her first wine tasting, the lifeless body of the president of an environmental group is discovered under one of the tables at the party.Presley has to clear the winery owners of this crime before someone else gets corked. (book description)

GIVEAWAY CONTEST: Leave a comment with your email address and the name of the book you wish to win! There will be two winners, one for each book. U.S. residents only, please; no P.O. Box addresses. The contest will run through July 10; winners will be notified by email and will have 24 hours to respond. Good luck and Happy 4th!!

UPDATE: WINNERS OF THE GIVEAWAY: Congrats to Zibilee on winning In a Witch's Wardrobe and to Stacybuckeye on winning How to Dine on Killer Wine! Thanks everyone for entering the giveaway. Don't despair if you didn't win this time as there are more giveaways this summer!

Book Review: Andean Express by Juan de Recacoechea

Andean Express by Juan de Recacoechea
Paperback, published April 1, 2009
Genre: mystery set in Bolivia
Rating: 3.5/5

I read this library book in June 2009 and wrote the following comments on Goodreads. I thought I'd reprint it for selfish reasons. I hope to have every country on my Flag Counter visit my blog, at lease once. No one from Bolivia has visited my blog site, at least not recently. de Recacoechea is one of their best known novelists.

My comments on the book: I gave this mystery novel 3 1/2 and would probably have given it a four if I could have read it in the original Spanish! Some things are often lost in translation!

The train ride from the bowl of the city of La Paz, Bolivia up to its rim, across the stark and dry plateau, and then down to the coastline of Chile was the highlight of the book for me. Descriptions of the scenery, the sunsets, the people, and the few lonely homesteads on the plateau, were very interesting. I once flew over the Andes on the way from Brazil back to the U.S. and ofen wondered what it was like down below.

Also, relationships among mestizos, Indians, and Europeans in Bolivia are revealed on board the Andean Express. Granted this train ride was set some 40 years ago, I believe, and there is a hint in the novel about pending social change by a new political party.

The plot followed the general scheme of Murder on the Orient Express and other mystery train rides, but this "noir" novel is not a traditional mystery. Alderete has married a young woman from the upper social classes in Bolivia. It's an arranged marriage. Alderete is hated by close to a dozen people on the train, including his reluctant bride. A young high school graduate traveling to Chile to meet his parents witnesses the interactions and is used as an unwitting pawn in the developments.

Noir and mystery lovers, and armchair travelers, will enjoy Andean Express."

About the Author: Juan de Recacoechea was born in La Paz, Bolivia, and worked as a journalist in Europe for almost twenty years. After returning to his native country, he helped found Bolivia's first state-run television network and dedicated himself to fiction writing. His novel American Visa won Bolivia's National Book Prize; was adapted into an award-winning film. Adrian Althoff is a freelance journalist and translator based in La Paz, Bolivia and Washington, D.C.

In a Witch's Wardrobe by Juliet Blackwell: Book Teaser and Review

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB; choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.

I flipped through the book of shadows until something caught my eye."It's as I thought: says here her soul's been displaced, which makes sense. Mirrors capture souls adrift." (ch. 3)

Title: In a Witch's Wardrobe: A Witchcraft Mystery by Juliet Blackwell
Paperback published by Signet; July 3, 2012
Genre: paranormal mystery
Source: publisher

Lily Ivory is living her dream of owning a vintage clothing store - and practicing magic on the side. But when she encounters a sinister sleeping spell, Lily comes face-to-face with a nightmarish evil... A young woman at an Art Deco ball falls under a mysterious sleeping sickness, a curse possibly placed on the woman's corsage.

Lily is also asked to investigate a string of poisonings in the Bay Area witchcraft community and soon suspects a new acquaintance of dabbling in dark magic and deadly botany. (book description)

My comments: Interesting idea for a cozy series but way too paranormal for my tastes. Too many witches, covens, goblins, gargoyles, pseudo-familiars with scales, snouts, and clawed feet. I couldn't suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the mystery plot. Probably a good mystery series for those who enjoy magic and witchcraft, however.

GIVEAWAY: Click here for a chance to win this book in a giveaway, now through July 10.

Sunday Salon: On the Road Again - Toronto

Welcome to the Sunday

It's been a while since I've been to my second favorite city after Chicago  - Toronto. Not only the wonderful variety of foods, but a chance to catch up with friends and relatives.The Toronto Hakka Conference begins today but since I'll be here only a short while, I've decided to visit with family instead of going to the two-day conference.

The Chiness of Hakka origin (don't ask me what that means right now; it's complicated) are exploring their roots and history and culture. There will be a ten course Chinese banquet to wrap up the conference that I'll attend, however, with dancing to lively calypso, soca, "jump up", reggae, and other Jamaican music (don't ask me right now why this kind of music; that's also complicated.)

I am reading an ARC of Spencer Quinn's new Chet and Bernie mystery, A Fistful of Collars, a mystery that won't be released until Sept. 11, 2012 so I'll hold my comments till then but I do want to say, it's making me chuckle and smile as I read along. Chet is the one with the black head and two pointed ears, and his pal Bernie sits next to him. They make a delightful duo of detectives.

I'm also listening to an audio book while on the road, Flowers for His Funeral: A Mitchell and Markby Mystery,  a 1997 book by Ann Granger, one of my favorite female mystery novelists. Someone is killed at the Chelsea Flower Show in a most unusual and "sneaky" way. Flowers and mystery - just my kind of thing.

That's all for now! It's a beautiful and mostly sunny day in Canada. Hope the weather's good where you are!

Abdication, a Novel by Juliet Nicolson

Welcome to The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice

Rules:*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence (or a few) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post to the Friday 56 Linky. It's that simple.

Abdication: A Novel

Even so, May longed to have the money to pay for the tea. May had arrived in London with twenty pounds that her mother had given her. "I wish I could afford to give you more, my darling," her mother had said.

Title: Abdication by Juliet Nicolson
May 22, 2012; Atria Books Hardcover
Genre: historical novel
Source: publisher

Book description: England, 1936. 
The year began with the death of a beloved king and the ascension of a charismatic young monarch, sympathetic, glamorous and single. By year’s end, the world would be stunned as Edward VIII gives up his throne in the name of love, just as the unrest and violence that would result in a Second World War were becoming impossible to ignore. 

During the tumultuous intervening months, wise-beyond-her-nineteen-years May Thomas will take the first, faltering steps toward creating a new life for herself. She secures a position as secretary and driver to Sir Philip Blunt, a job that will open her eyes to the activities of the uppermost echelons of British society, and her heart to a man seemingly beyond her reach. 

May and others become embroiled in the hidden truths, undeclared loves, unspoken sympathies and covert complicities that define the year chronicled in Abdication. Abdication is a story inspired by a love affair that shook the world at a time when the world was on the brink of war. 

Book Review: Skeleton Women by Mingmei Yip

Skeleton Women by Mingmei Yip

>Title: Skeleton Women by Mingmei Yip
Paperback; May 25, 2012; Kensington Publishing
Source: author, for review
Objective rating: 4.5/5

About the book:In Mingmei Yip's novel set in 1930s Shanghai, Skeleton Women refer to women who are trained spies, beautiful assassins and courtesans who seduce their male victims in order to eventually turn them into skeletons of death.

And yet, the orphan Camilla, who was trained to be such a deceiver by her boss Master Wang, finds it difficult to dispose of Wang's rival Master Lung as she is ordered to do. She must first find out all Lung's financial secrets and where he stores his important papers and bank books. This is gang rivalry after all, and Wang intends to be the top man in Shanghai after defeating and disposing of his main rival, through his master spy, Camilla.

There are two other well known Skeleton Women in the book - a gossip columnist Rainbow Chang and a magician, Shadow. Shadow and Camilla, whose talent is as a singer known as the Heavenly Songstress, compete to be the best known celebrity for talent and beauty and both rely on Rainbow Chang to promote them in her newspaper column.

The novel is about the relationship between these skeleton women and about Camilla's increasing discomfort with her role as a virtual slave to Master Wang to spy and then assassinate, and being in the middle of the tug of war between Wang and Master Lung, who she must keep deceiving while she ferrets out his financial and gangland activities. There are other conflicts, namely her personal love life and growing emotional attachment to another, younger man.

My comments:The author quotes extensively from two Chinese classics by Sun Tzu, written more than 2,000 years ago - The Art of War and the essay The Thirty-Six Stratagems, which is described as "an essay used to illustrate a series of stratagems used in politics, war, as well as in civil interaction, often through unorthodox or deceptive means." Although Sun Tzu probably wrote for men, the author's character Camilla knows these works very well and uses the advice and strategies for her own means.

The novel is peppered throughout with Chinese sayings or aphorisms that reflect Camilla's own dilemmas, her observation of people or situations, and her plan of action.

Some of the sayings:

"If you pay enough, you can make a dead man turn a millstone." 

"When the rabbits are caught, the hounds are cooked." 

"...tiehan rouqing, an iron man with tender sentiments."

What also made this book enjoyable to read was the author's frequent inclusion of famous Chinese poetry and songs, words that mirror or reflect her feelings or situation. I wish I could include some of them here, but there are too many.

One question that I do have about the plot: If Camilla is known as a skeleton woman, why is she kept and trusted by her patron Master Lung, whom she has vowed to destroy? Even though he has his bodyguard search her every time she enters his bedroom, still he must have been taking a big chance!
I also liked that Camilla gradually changes from being callous and unfeeling to developing genuine love and feelings of human friendship as her life story goes on. How she deals with the twin rocks of disaster between which she is caught is the tension that also kept my interest in the novel.

A book I highly recommend for those interested in women's fiction, historical fiction, romance, and the poetry, and some of the classics of Chinese literature.

Learn more about the author at her websiteMingmei Yip and on her blog.

Author Interview: Kathleen Jabs, Black Wings

Title: Black Wings by Kathleen Jabs

Paperback; Fuze Publishing, LLC (December 15, 2011)
Genre: mystery

LT Bridget Donovan suspects the worst when her former Naval Academy roommate, Audrey Richards, perishes in a botched take-off from an aircraft carrier. The Navy says it's an accident, but facts don't add up. Could it be suicide, or murder? Donovan's unofficial investigation into what really happened, both during their past Academy days and in Richards' final hours, forces her to examine the concepts of honor, justice and the role of loyalty in pursuit of those ideals.

Kathleen Toomey Jabs is a 1988 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and is currently a Captain in the Navy Reserve. She holds an MA from the University of New Hampshire and an MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University. Her stories have been published in a number of literary journals and received several prizes, including selection in the National Public Radio Selected Shorts program. She lives with her family in Virginia.

Based on your personal experience in the Navy, why write a mystery?

Kathleen: "I certainly didn’t start out to write a mystery! For that matter, I didn’t start out to write about the Navy at all.

In 1999, I enrolled in the MA program at the University of New Hampshire. I had two small children, a Navy spouse, and a fierce desire to write. I snatched every free minute and began to write short stories.

My first characters were: a Japanese woman living with her in-laws in a strict marriage, a teenage boy visiting the Paris catacombs with his mom and new stepdad, and a 17^th century noblewomen leaving the “new world” to return to Spain. I had been stationed in Japan, visited France, and accompanied my military spouse to Panama so the choices weren’t as far-fetched and random as they might’ve seemed, but in many respects the stories were about places not people. The characters never really came alive. None of the stories were even close to submission ready. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be thesis-ready.

One day, my creative writing professor challenged me: “Why don’t you ever write about the military?” I had no quick, glib response. My own military background was something I tended to hide or downplay. As a 1988 Naval Academy graduate, my experiences of school and the military, in general, were complicated. How was I going to dissect that or peel back the careful veneer of spit and polish without revealing something raw or embarrassing? Exposing some part of myself? Yet I couldn’t face the idea of getting another round of lackluster comments in workshop. I took the challenge.

For the next 18 months I wrote about women in the military, and as I did, I faced down old ghosts—the constant scrutiny, the sweat, the discomfort with self, body, choices, the loneliness and longing. Along the way, I found characters that were human, likeable, charting their way through a strange and hostile land. I kept writing. Once I started writing fiction in a military setting, I found I wanted to understand the women and tell their stories.

Bridget Donovan, the main character in Black Wings, grew from one of my early story drafts. I watched her emerge from self-conscious plebe to assured midshipman. I’d been writing a series of stories around her and various roommates when one day the sentence, “Audrey Richards wanted to fly” popped into my head. I was hooked.

At one point in my Navy career, I’d considered switching to aviation. The whole aviation world was cool and mysterious, but it was also competitive and fraught with danger. My imagination wandered. Could the intensity of competition drive someone to consider murdering a rival or maybe arranging an accident? What if rivalry and bad blood between two pilots went all the way back to the Naval Academy? What leads to obsessiveness? To murder?

These kinds of questions began to haunt me. Once I knew Audrey Richards crashed I found I had a mystery. I needed people to understand Audrey, but I also needed a cast of characters around her who might have a motive. That led me to thinking about honor scandals and what honor means. At the US Naval Academy, there is a very prescribed honor code. While it seems black and white, I saw firsthand during my time at the Academy that the issues are often complicated, the choices are really hard. Why not put Bridget and Audrey in that situation and let them explore the choices and their consequences?

The story grew on its own in many ways, becoming more of a “mystery” with each twist. My personal experience gave me the insight into the Academy world and also fueled the questions I couldn’t answer but couldn’t help but ask."

Thanks, Kathleen for visiting and discussing Black Wings. 

For more interviews/reviews visit the Black Wings Blog Tour Site:

http://black-wings-mystery.blogspot.com/ or 

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