REVIEWS FROM MAUREEN BOUFFARD
DEADER HOMES AND GARDENS
A Claire Malloy Mystery
JOAN HESS
Minotaur Books February, 2012
Claire Malloy fans will love DEADER HOMES AND GARDENS. Written in the first person, this book has lots of laughs and a great story.
Claire is just back from her honeymoon as the story opens and is learning the harsh realities of living with her new husband, Police Chief Peter Rosen, and her teenage daughter Caron in a tiny two bedroom apartment. Author Joan Hess must have lived some of this problem because she knocks it out of the park with her humorous situations and stresses the need for new living quarters - and fast.
Claire finds a perfect place in an area called Hollow Valley. The house and surrounding land seem like an ideal location for the trio. However, real estate agent Angela Delmond disappears while showing the house and cannot finish the leasing arrangements. Surprising denizens of the Hollow Valley compound are both outlandish and interesting and I found myself laughing aloud as author Hess has fun with each character in the Hollow family. Pandora Butterfly Saraswati and her children, Rainbow and Weevil, lead the list of "over the top" residents of Hollow Valley.
Former owner Winston has mysteriously drowned while fishing and his partner, Terry Kennedy, is now the legal owner of the house that Claire must have in order to save her marriage and her sanity. In order to get her dream house, Claire must solve multiple disappearances and murders.
I have never read a real estate based mystery before and found it captivating. There is a touch of wit in nearly every paragraph. DEADER HOMES AND GARDENS is a gem! If you are looking for a delightful and clever mystery [funny too] be sure to read Joan Hess' latest book in the Claire Malloy Mystery Series.
PS: I read this in hard cover, but have discovered that it is available for Kindle and Audio CD as well.
PPS: There are more than a dozen other Claire Malloy Mysteries! Get reading!
THE GODS OF GOTHAM
Timothy Wilde #1
LYNDSAY FAYE
Amy Einhorn Books / G. P. Putnam's Sons March, 2012
The time is 1845.
The great potato famine hits Ireland.
New York City forms its first police force.
These seemingly disparate events will change New York City forever.
Two orphaned brothers are thrown into the immigrant-filled chaos of New York City in 1845.
Thousands of unemployed new-comers flood the mean streets and disorder is extensive.
This historical novel is one of the best I have read. Faye gives readers an in-depth picture of the horrors of the time.
Barkeeper and story narrator Timothy Wilde loses everything when a terrible fire in downtown New York takes away his home, his savings, his job and burns his face so he is scarred forever.
His older, drug addicted brother, Valentine Wilde, gets him a job in the first police force of New York City. Timothy is given a copper star and becomes one of the original police force. He is assigned to the Sixth Ward of the city of New York... an unwelcome surprise to Timothy.
Author Faye weaves several very complicated threads into the plot of GODS OF GOTHAM. There is racial and religious prejudice, political dishonesty and adult and child prostitution, in addition to the usual gangs and crime in the territory.
GODS OF GOTHAM begins with a five page detailed dictionary of "flash terminology". This is the secret language of crime of the day. Thank goodness few of these terms are used in today's jargon.
Each of the twenty-seven chapters in GODS OF GOTHAM is introduced by a paragraph taken from an actual newspaper or pamphlet of the time. Shocking publications to say the least!
Lyndsay Faye's writing is superb, her characters believable and her plot engrossing. What more could a reader need?
It is hard to believe that the first police force in New York has developed into the "Blue Bloods" of today's culture. Watch for more of the writing of Lyndsay Faye and expect to hear more about the adventures of Timothy Wilde. This book begs for a sequel!
HUSH NOW, DON'T YOU CRY
RHYS BOWEN
Minotaur Books March, 2012
Perhaps because of my Irish heritage, I have been a follower of Molly Murphy from her first adventures in turn of the century New York.
Interesting title! Taken from the old Irish lullaby.
Now Molly Murphy is Molly Sullivan, Mrs. Daniel Sullivan. The newlyweds have been invited to spend their honeymoon on the Newport, Rhode Island, estate of New York City Alderman Brian Hannan. When their host is found dead at the bottom of a cliff on his estate, Molly and Daniel are called into action. Unfortunately, Daniel is stricken with a life threatening case of pneumonia. Molly is kept busy throughout this adventure taking care of Daniel and solving the mystery of who pushed the Alderman off the cliff. Or did he drink too much and fall because of his drunkenness?
Spunky Molly comes up with several suspects and learns many of the Hannan family secrets in doing so. Who is the little child in the tower window? What have the nosy neighbors seen? Who else has been pushed off the cliff?
Great story again Rhys Bowen! I am an enthusiastic devotee of Molly Murphy-Sullivan and look forward to her next escapade.