Merry Market Murder by Paige Shelton

Teaser Tuesdays  is hosted by MizB; choose sentences from your current read and identify author and title for readers. First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea.

Title: Merry Market Murder: A Farmer's Market Mystery by Paige Shelton
Expected publication: December 3,2013; Berkley
Genre: cozy mystery

Teaser:

"I've never had a real Christmas tree. Mom was allergic."
"That's a shame." She tsk'ed and shook her head. ( ch. 4)

First chapter:

"The rumors are true. He does look a little like Santa Claus," I said to Allison as we watched the bearded man working inside the cargo box on the back of the short freight truck.

Book description:
"Bailey’s Farmers’ Market is this season’s go-to holiday destination, but not all the vendors are feeling the Christmas spirit...

Jam and preserve maker Becca Robins is excited about the extra business that the Ridgeway Christmas Tree Farm is bringing to the market this holiday season. But when a competing tree farmer, Reggie Stuckey, arrives with a truck full of trees, angrily barking that he has exclusive selling rights at the market, Becca finds herself pining for more goodwill toward men.

After Reggie is found with a tree stake in his chest, she wonders when the Christmas tree business turned so deadly. Now Becca has to use the only clues she has to the killer’s identity—mysterious ornaments that begin to show up in her stall—to hook a sinister Scrooge who will go to any lengths to drive home a point." (publisher)

What's your teaser/opening paragraph this week?

Sunday Salon: The Birds of America by Audubon

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! Also visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer; Showcase Sunday at Books, Biscuits, and Tea; and It's Monday: What Are You Reading? at Book Journey, and Mailbox Monday by Crystal at I Totally Paused.

I saw this book at the store and thought how appropriate it would be for a friend. I had the bookstore ship it right away, and I was tempted to get one for myself. Beautiful copies of the original paintings.

Title: The Birds of America by John James Audubon
Published 2012: Sterling

Amazon description: Overview: The culmination of over twelve years of work, Audubon's masterpiece features some of the most stunning bird paintings of all time, from the great crested flycatcher and pin tailed duck to the common American swan. One of the most valuable natural history books ever published, it shows birds in natural positions and in their native habitats. This edition has been created by disbinding one of the two original sets held by the Natural History Museum, London, and then photographing it using the latest digital technology. It includes all of Audubon's 435 bird images, reproduced as large as possible on the page and with the original numbering and captions faithfully recreated. There is an introduction by world-renowned bird artist and author David Allen Sibley, whose The Sibley Guide to Birds is considered by many to be the most comprehensive guide for the identification of birds in North America.

I might treat myself and get it!

I finished reading The Translator by Nina Schuyler, which I borrowed from the library and then bought online for my e-reader. It was a 5-star read, in my opinion. Here is a quote from the book that I and other Kindle readers shared:

"Translation is an art, she's said countless times, requiring all the skill of a writer and then some, because the story, written in one language, one as different as Japanese, must be made as meaningful in another language. It is no small undertaking: each human language maps the world differently. Each language fosters a different way of thinking."

My comments: The main character Hanne Schubert has finished translating a book for Kobayashi, a Japanese novelist, who rejects her translation and her version of his main character, Jiro. She travels to Japan to meet the Noh actor, Moto, who is the real life model for the character in Kobayashi's book. This is easy for her as Hanne has lost her memory of her native language, English, and all other languages, expect for Japanese. This came as a result of an unfortunate fall and head injury.

Meeting Moto, learning about Noh drama and how it communicates story, feelings, and emotions through drama, dance, and music all help Hanne ponder her life, heal, and slowly realize what she has done wrong in her translation of Kobayashi's book as well as in her relationships. She has been estranged from daughter Brigitte for six years and Hanne wonders how she could have done better.

I gave the novel 5 stars for the topic, plot, excellent writing and character development, with a slight caveat - I felt that not all the blame for the broken mother-daughter relationship was Hanne's.
This review is linked to the Japanese Literature Challenge 7 hosted by Dolce Bellezza. 

My mailbox this week includes
Dead Lions by award winner Mick Herron, a spy novel from Soho
Short Leash: A Memoir of Dog Walking and Deliverance by Janice Gary, Michigan State U. Press
The Last Enchantments by Charles Finch, from St. Martin's Press
Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon by Paul Rosolie, from Harper

What are you reading this Sunday?
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The Mountain of Light: a Novel by Indu Sundaresan

Friday 56 Rules: *Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.

Also Book Beginnings by Rose City Reader.

Page 56:

The girl reached on tiptoe and kissed Jindan's arm, somewhere above the Kohinoor, and then she fled, the sound of her footsteps sucked into the pile of the dhurries on the floor.

Book beginning:

June 1817
The midday sun leaned over to place its fiery kiss upon the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, four and a half miles east of the fort and walled city. The blazing light wavered into a haze around the almond, guava, and mango trees, and except under the trees where it could not penetrate, all shadows leached into the blistering ground.

Publisher description:
"A novel based on the tumultuous history of a legendary 186-carat diamond and the men and women who possessed it. It is the “Mountain of Light”—the Kohinoor diamond. Its origins are the stuff of myth, but for centuries this spectacular gem changes hands from one ruler to another in India, Persia, and Afghanistan.

In 1850, the ancient stone is sent halfway around the world where it will play a pivotal role in the intertwined destinies of a boy-king of India and a young queen of England—a queen who claims the Mountain of Light and India itself for her own burgeoning empire, the most brilliant jewels in her imperial crown. The Mountain of Light is a story of loss and recovery, sweeping change and enduring truth, wrapped around the glowing heart of one of the world’s most famous diamonds."

Title: The Mountain of Light by Indu Sundaresan
Genre: historical novel
Published October 8, 2013; Washington Square Press.

What are you reading this week? 

WOW: What I Had Before I Had You by Sarah Cornwell

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted weekly by Jill @ Breaking the Spine. Let us know what new releases you are eagerly awaiting. Link your post to Breaking the Spine.

Title: What I Had Before I Had You: A Novel by Sarah Cornwell
To be published January 7, 2014; Harper
Genre: fiction, women's fiction

Publisher synopsis: "A woman must face the truth about her past in this evocative literary novel of parents and children, guilt and forgiveness, memory and magical thinking, set in the faded, gritty world of the New Jersey Shore.

Olivia was only fifteen the summer she left her hometown of Ocean Vista. Two decades later, on a visit with her children, her nine-year-old son Daniel, recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, disappears. Olivia’s search for him sparks tender and painful memories of her past—of her fiercely loving and secretive mother, Myla, an erratic and beautiful psychic, and the discovery of heartbreaking secrets that shattered her world."

What book are you waiting for to be published?
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Book Review: Death Overdue by Mary Lou Kirwin

Title: Death Overdue: Karen Nash Mystery Series by Mary Lou Kirwin
Published November 5, 2013; Gallery Books
Genre: cozy mystery
Objective rating: 4.5/5

"What I would like to know..."the inspector humphed. "How does a bookcase fall down like that?" he asked the room. (ch. 7)

Plot:  Midwestern librarian Karen Nash has a long-distance relationship with book lover, Caldwell Perkins, who runs a bed and breakfast in London. Karen has gone over to help Caldwell open a bookstore, and Caldwell hopes that Karen will be co-owner in the new venture.

Unfortunately for their plans, Caldwell's former partner, Sally, returns to London with her Italian fiance, and decides she wants to run the bed and breakfast with Caldwell. When Sally is killed by a heavy bookcase and an avalanche of books in the B&B, the police suspect Caldwell of murder. Karen decides to find the real killer, to save Caldwell and their fledgling plans for their new bookstore.

Comments: I just love that this mystery does not have a gazillion extraneous characters as too many cozy mystery books tend to do. There is only one subplot involving the love life of Karen's library assistant back in the U.S., but other than that, the plot stays on target and gets to the point effortlessly. It's also interesting that Karen, in naming the culprit at the end of the book, tells us she will copy Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot's methods in revealing the killer. She calls all the suspects into one room and proceeds to show how the clues point to one person. Very clever.

Recommendation: Likeable characters and smoothly flowing plot make this a delight to read. Book lovers will like the setting and the plot. Other cozy lovers will, also. I will say the same for the first and previous novel in the series, Killer Librarian.

Thanks to the publisher for review copies of the books.
Also submitted to Teaser Tuesdays hosted by MizB; choose sentences from your current read and identify author and title for readers.  

Monday Reading

Vicki from I’d Rather Be Reading At The Beach is the host this week for It's Monday:What Are You Reading?

I have several books on my list to read:

Words With Fiends is a Black Cat Bookshop Mystery by Ali Brandon, third in the series. Bookstore owner Darla tries to get her black cat Hamlet out of a bad mood by hiring a cat whisperer and joins a dojo to get her own spirits up. Hamlet comes out of his funk when he has to help Darla with a new murder mystery - the death of the sensei at the karate dogo. I like the play on words in the title.

Tuscan Rose by Belinda Alexandra will be published November 19, 2013 by Gallery Books. It was first released in 2010 by Harper Collins with a different cover. Book description: FLORENCE, 1914. A mysterious stranger known as The Wolf leaves an infant with the sisters of Santo Spirito. A tiny silver key hidden in her wrappings is the one clue to the child's identity. . . . FIFTEEN YEARS LATER, young Rosa must leave the nuns, her only family, and become governess to the daughter of an aristocrat and his strange, frightening wife. Their house is elegant but cursed, and Rosa, blessed with gifts beyond her considerable musical talents, is torn between her desire to know the truth and her fear of its repercussions. All the while, the hand of Fascism curls around beautiful Italy, and no citizen is safe. Rosa faces unimaginable hardship: her only weapons her intelligence, intuition, and determination . . . and her extraordinary capacity for love.

Also to be read:

The Pieces We Keep by Kristina McMorris: "Two years have done little to ease veterinarian Audra Hughes’s grief over her husband’s untimely death. Eager for a fresh start, Audra plans to leave Portland for a new job in Philadelphia. Her seven-year-old son, Jack, seems apprehensive about flying—but it’s just the beginning of an anxiety that grows to consume him.

As Jack’s fears continue to surface in recurring and violent nightmares, Audra hardly recognizes the introverted boy he has become. Desperate, she traces snippets of information unearthed in Jack’s dreams, leading her to Sean Malloy, a struggling US Army veteran wounded in Afghanistan. Together they unravel a mystery dating back to World War II, and uncover old family secrets that still have the strength to wound—and perhaps, at last, to heal."

What are you reading this week?

Book Review: CARTWHEEL by Jennifer DuBois

My comments: I was eager to see how this book would conform to the real life story of Amanda Knox, who was accused of complicity in the murder of her student roommate in Italy. The author acknowledges that Cartwheel is "loosely inspired" by the Knox case but states that none of the characters are real and that her book should not be seen as statements about the real life case.

In any event, the book's accused Lily Hayes is as shadowy and vague a figure as the real life character when it comes to blame or motive or guilt. Written with extraordinary depth, the novel probes into the minds of all the people involved in the murder investigation of exchange student Kathy Kellers - Lily the accused, her parents, the Buenos Aires investigator, and Lily's boyfriend. An excellent psychological novel of suspense whose players will keep you engrossed and guessing.

Title: Cartwheel: A Novel by Jennifer DuBois
Published September 24, 2013; Random House
Genre: psychological suspense
Objective rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis: "Cartwheel is a suspenseful and haunting novel of an American foreign exchange student arrested for murder, and a father trying to hold his family together.

 When Lily Hayes arrives in Buenos Aires for her semester abroad, she is enchanted by everything she encounters: the colorful buildings, the street food, the handsome, elusive man next door. Her studious roommate Katy is a bit of a bore, but Lily did not come to Argentina to hang out with other Americans. Five weeks later, Katy is found brutally murdered in their shared home, and Lily is a suspect.

As the case takes shape—revealing deceptions, secrets, and suspicious DNA—Lily appears alternately sinister and guileless through the eyes of those around her: the media, her family, the man who loves her and the man who seeks her conviction.

No two readers will agree who Lily is and what happened to her roommate. Cartwheel will keep you guessing until the final page, and its questions about how well we really know ourselves will linger well beyond." (publisher)

Jennifer duBois’s A Partial History of Lost Causes was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction, winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction and the Northern California Book Award for Fiction, and O: The Oprah Magazine chose it as one of the ten best books of the year. DuBois was also named one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 authors. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, duBois recently completed a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University. She lives in Texas. Visit her at jenniferdubois.com.

For more reviews of Cartwheel, visit the book tour schedule hosted by TLC Book Tours. Thanks to TLC and the publisher for providing a review ARC of this book. 

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