The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady by Susan Wittig Albert

 I love mystery novels with a gardening theme or setting. Would you get into this one?

The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady by Susan Wittig Albert, published September 1, 2015; Berkley
Genre: Southern historical mystery
 ...the summer of 1934 in the small Southern town of Darling, Alabama—the ladies of the Darling Dahlias’ garden club love to solve mysteries… The eleven o’clock lady has always been one of garden club president Liz Lacy’s favorite spring wildflowers. The plant is so named because the white blossoms don’t open until the sun shines directly on them and wakes them up.

But another Eleven O’Clock Lady is never going to wake up again. Rona Jean Hancock—a telephone switchboard operator who earned her nickname because her shift ended at eleven, when her nightlife was just beginning.... (book description)

Book beginning, first paragraph:

In less than an hour, Violet Sims' well-ordered life was going to change. But right now, she was enjoying what in her opinion was the very best hour of a summer's day -- the earliest hour. That was the time when she went out to work in the vegetable garden behind the Darling Diner, which she owned and managed with her friend, Myra May Mosswell. And this hour, on this Saturday, seemed especially perfect. It had been hot and sultry all week, and the day ahead was likely to be another hot one, with the prospect of a storm in the afternoon. But the morning air was still cool and fresh, the dew was a silvery sheen on the ripe and flawless tomatoes, and the sun had just begun to peer over the rooftops of the little town of Darling to see if something of interest might be happening there on this very last day of June 1934. 

Page 56:

"Sarah's birthday?" Lizzy asked. "I've lost track. How old is she?"

The Friday 56: *Grab a 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, visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

Book Review: Season of Salt and Honey by Hannah Tunnicliffe

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesdays meme hosted by Jenn

Season of Salt and Honey by Hannah Tunnicliffe, published September 1, 2015; Touchstone
Genre: contemporary fiction; women's fiction
Objective rating: 4/5 stars

My comments: Francesca "Frankie" Caputo hides out in her former fiance's family cabin in the Washington State woods, unable to face friends or family after his death in a surfing accident. Her fiance, Alex, used to take her to this cabin, which she finds a refuge after his funeral.

However, Alex's parents want her out of the cabin and charge her with trespassing. She remains anyway, bolstered by friendships with new neighbors and one small child who shows her the forests and the foods one can forage there. Things come to a head when both her boisterous Italian family and Alex's parents come to the cabin, and Frankie finds out the truth about herself and her relationship with her now deceased fiance. 

An excellent novel of loss and family ties, truth and its consequences. A lovely novel revealing family and love relationships and their sometimes complex qualities. 

First chapter, first paragraph:

Aunty Connie's cucumber sandwiches, stripped free of plastic wrap, are lined up on a rectangular plate on Mrs. Gardner's table, pointed tips dried and turning stale, like rows of teeth. Four rows, the jaw of a great white shark. I stare at them too long and feel my father's gaze turn towards me. I force myself to blink. He watches me from across that room filled with people wearing black and charcoal. It isn't the weather for these colors; it's unseasonably hot and the musty smell of clothes pulled from the backs of drawers mingles pungently with spring sweat. 

Teaser, ch. 11:

"...You'd think your mom would be pleased - rapt - that she could offer Frankie a place to get away to think. To be away from it all." 

Based on the first paragraph and excerpts only, would you continue reading?
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. 

Sunday Salon: Summer's Over

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. 

Seems summer is over, at least till it warms up again next week. I am wearing sweats and sleeping under a blanket till then.

Finished reading:
The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz, fourth in the Stieg Larssen thriller series. This one is controversial because of the new writer, but I gave it five stars.

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn, the first in a new Victorian era mystery series.

The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen by Thomas Caplan, a political thriller.

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, a beautiful book crafted as a mystery novel. A five star read.

Won in a Library Thing giveaway:

A Cup of Water Under My Bed by Daisy Hernandez, published September 9th 2014 by Beacon Press.  In this coming-of-age memoir, Daisy Hernández chronicles what the women in her Cuban-Colombian family taught her about love, money, and race. 

New books on the shelf:

Death on the High Lonesome by Frank Hayes, October 2015; Berkley.
In the Southwestern town of Haywood, the onset of winter ushers in a new mystery for Sheriff Virgil Dalton…

Ghost to the Rescue by Carolyn Hart, October 2015; Berkley
Carolyn Hart’s ghostly gumshoe Bailey Ruth Raeburn is dispatched to her old hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma, to help a single mother and struggling writer.

Parchment and Old Lace: A Scrapbooking Mystery #13 by Laura Childs, October 2015; Berkley
(In) the Big Easy and the historic Garden District, scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand discovers a bride-to-be murdered in the legendary Lafayette Cemetery…

The Ghost and Mrs. Fletcher by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain, October 2015; NAL
Jessica Fletcher cleans house to catch a killer.

What books are tempting you this week? 

Book Beginning: Two Dogs and a Parrot by Joan Chittister

The Friday 56: *Grab a 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, visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

Two Dogs and a Parrot by Joan Chittister, to be released October 13, 2015 by BlueBridge
Genre: nonfiction, stories and reflections
(Book quotes from an uncorrected proof; final copy may differ)

Book beginning, first chapter:

Danny was an unexpected birthday gift from a friend. The small convent, in the small town in which we were teaching at the time, was also "not the kind of place that dogs belonged," I suppose.But the difference was that this time, we were all agreed to give the situation a try. 

And that's where Danny came in.
Danny was a big red Irish setter. To those who know, the very name, Irish setter, rings of action and excitement and an unbounded, and unboundaried, love of life and of people. The problem was that I was not one of the people who knew that... 

Page 57
The woman had been coming to the monastery to see me for several months now. She was a fragile but valiant personality. Nothing much ever changed in her life, but she went on functioning regardless.

Book description:
Joan Chittister, one of our leading inspirational writers, invites us to embrace and celebrate the deep bond between humans and animals. 

Book Tour: Broken Homes and Gardens by Rebecca Kelley

Broken Homes and Gardens by Rebecca Kelley, paperback: 268 pages. Publisher: Blank Slate Press (April 28, 2015)

A girl, a guy, a broken-down house. Malcolm and Joanna are in-again, out-again: in love, out of each other’s arms, in an awkward co-living arrangement, out of the country. Their unconventional relationship is the only way, Joanna says, to protect herself from the specter of commitment, which inevitably leads to heartbreak. Set in the damp and drizzly neighborhoods of Portland, Oregon, Broken Homes and Gardens is an ode to friendship, lust, and the unrelenting pull of love. (publisher)

Comments: 
The novelty  of teaching in Prague has worn off for Joanna. She suddenly arrives back in Portland and calls her unsuspecting sister to put her up. Laura tries to persuade Joanna to go back to her former boyfriend Nate, but Joanna meets Malcolm and they begin an unusual living arrangement.

A modern romance, for the Millennial generation.

from Ch. 12:

"You and Malcolm. He's moving in with you?" Joanna nodded. "Yep. That's right."

"Are you sure this is a wise idea?""He said he'd help me fix the place up...." 

Rebecca Kelley grew up in Carson City, Nevada, and teaches writing at Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland. She is the co-author of The Eco-nomical Baby Guide. Broken Homes and Gardens is her first novel.

For other reviews, visit the tour schedule sponsored by TLC Book Tours, which provided a copy of the book for review. 

Book Review: A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

A Curious Beginning, first in the Virginia Speedwell Mystery series by Deanna Raybourn, published September 1, 2015 by NAL/Penguin
Genre; historical mystery series, set in Victorian England

London, 1887. As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell, after burying her spinster aunt, is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry,  hunting butterflies. Veronica wields her butterfly net and a sharpened hatpin with equal aplomb, and she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.

But fate has other plans, as Veronica discovers when she thwarts her own abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron with ties to her mysterious past. The baron offers her temporary sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker—a reclusive natural historian as intriguing as he is bad-tempered. But before the baron can deliver on his vow to reveal the secrets he has concealed for decades, he is found murdered. Suddenly Veronica and Stoker are forced to go on the run from an elusive assailant, wary partners in search of the villainous truth. (publisher)

My comments: There is suspense when unknown persons try to kidnap Veronica, who knows nothing of her background except that she is an orphan raised by two elderly women, both now deceased. Veronica is helped by Stoker, a reluctant ally in her flight from the unknown persons who are so intent on detaining her.

An interesting introduction to a new mystery heroine who has an intriguing family background, unknown to her and the reader till the very end of the book. An enjoyable read featuring an independent and headstrong heroine - a mystery novel with  a hint of romance and Victorian history mixed in.

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book.

First Chapter: Carrying Albert Home by Homer Hickam

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesdays meme hosted by Jenn

Carrying Albert Home: The Somewhat True Story of a Man, His Wife, and Her Alligator, a novel by Homer Hickam, to be released October 13, 2015 by William Morrow

...the funny, sweet, and sometimes tragic tale of a young couple and a special alligator on a crazy 1000-mile adventure, the couple taking the alligator Albert from West Virginia to his original home in Orlando, Fla.  (publisher)

First chapter, first paragraph

When Elsie came outside into the backyard to see why her husband was shouting her name, she saw Albert lying on his back in the grass, his little legs splayed apart and his head thrust backward. She was sure something awful had happened to him but when her alligator raised his head and smiled at her, she knew he was all right. The relief she felt was palpable and nearly overwhelming. After all, she loved Albert more than just about anything in the whole world. She knelt and scratched his belly while he waved his paws in delight and grinned his most toothsome grin. (from an ARE; the final copy may differ)

 Carrying an alligator from W. Va. to Florida? This I gotta read!