Author Archive
Claire Noble feels that finally it is her turn to live the life that until now she had only dreamed of. Long the responsible one: raising her only daughter without any help from her irresponsible ex- husband, staying close to home in order to help her aging parents, being a sounding board for her friend with the alcoholic husband and special needs child. But now she will be shortly married to Rick, leaving her job of teaching history at the local high school, and moving to Arizona where he can pursue golf and she her interest in photography. In addition Claire has received an invitation to attend a prestigious photography workshop held in Cape Cod run by one of the most noted photographers in the country. Instead everything comes crashing down with the reappearance of her estranged, and pregnant daughter, and her father’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s.
Maryann McFadden in So Happy Together has written a fast reading, engrossing novel about family, love, personal choice, and dreams. For it is not only Claire, but other members of the family, who wonder if time and love has passed them by.
March 25th, 2010
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
I know that Charlaine Harris’s series featuring Sookie Stackhouse is garnering a lot of attention, helped along by the HBO series True Blood. And don’t get me wrong, I also enjoy that series. But the series I most enjoy by Harris is the one featuring Harper Connelly. So far there are four books in the series, with the latest being Grave Secret. Not such high camp, they offer a more serious look at the dark side of family secrets and relationships as well as a dramatic step into the paranormal.
Harper Connelly was struck by lightning at the age of fourteen. She survived but beyond the bodily scarring and the weakness in one leg, it has left her another legacy—the ability to, in a sense, communicate with the dead. Not wholly, but she can determine or sense the cause of their death. Harper and her half brother Tolliver are using this ability to build a business connecting the lost dead to their grieving families. Of course not all die a natural death, and typically murderers are not too happy having their secrets revealed. In Grave secret Harper and Tolliver head back to Texas. The head of a wealthy family wants to find out more about the death of her father but sets it up so that it is also a test of Harper’s ability and truthfulness. This sets off a deadly train of events when Harper reveals not one but two suspicious deaths. Mix in a back story of a seriously dysfunctional family and a missing, presumed dead sister, and you have an engrossing series that keeps getting better and better.
February 9th, 2010
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
I admit to having a love/hate relationship with country music. This dates back to my parents playing 24/7 what was then known as country/western music and there is a limit to how much I can listen to he/she/it has done me wrong and I am going to cry/get my revenge/move on. However, I have to admit to liking some members of the fraternity, determined by vocals and an their ability to either write or interpret good songs or at least find someone who can—for example, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson, Emmylou Harris.
To these you can add Rosanne Cash whose most recent album is The List. I admit to having a hard time taking this off the player as every time I listen I get something else out of a song. Even more compelling is listening again after reading sections of a companion book entitled Always Been There: Rosanne Cash, The List, and the Spirit of Southern Music. This book follows the genesis of the album, based on recommendations to Rosanne by her father, and the year spent in the recording studio and what she and her producer/husband were trying to convey with each song.
This is just a fascinating look behind the scenes of the music business along with a look into the personal life of a singer who has spent the majority of her career fighting against being identified only as Johnny Cash’s daughter.
January 29th, 2010
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
National Book Award finalist The Underneath by Kathi Appelt tells the story of a pregnant cat who is abandoned by her family in a wild wooded area of the bayou. Not knowing which way to turn but knowing she has to find shelter, she follows the sound of a hound’s baying to a rough clearing and an even rougher house. Against the odds, the hound welcomes her but warns her about the occupier of the house who is a very cruel and mean man. Always she must stay, if she wishes to be safe, underneath the house where the hound is chained. And so mostly she does, rearing her two kittens; leaving only to hunt when the man is gone. But kittens are bound to explore despite warnings and with drastic results.
Intertwined with this story is that of Grandmother, an extremely large and ancient cottonmouth moccasin snake. Grandmother is not merely a snake, she is also a magical creature who at one time assumed human form and loved a man. Betrayed, she returned to snake form from whence she nurses her anger and longs for revenge. The two stories make this, in some ways, a very dark book, dealing as it does so much with betrayal and death. But it is also filled with the power of friendship, hope, promises, and love all beautifully illustrated by David Small.
August 28th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
The Spies of Warsaw covers those brief years in the 1930’s between the beginnings of the Nazi government in Germany and the start of the war in 1939. Alan Furst’s novel is a portrayal of unsettling times but is still filled with the hope of evading war even as politicians and governments maneuver to take advantage or control.
Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, a decorated soldier of the Great War, is sent to Warsaw as a military attaché at the French embassy. There he circulates at the many parties and events, carefully listening for any interesting tidbits. Much to his distaste he is assigned to the running of a spy. Once he starts it becomes clear that almost everyone, within the ever intersecting circles of people he meets, is in the business of spying. Mercier must walk a careful line, even as he is drawn further into a world of espionage that crosses many a personal and political line.
Furst has been writing espionage novels for twenty years and to quote Salon magazine from an article that names him as the successor to John Le Carre, “Furst’s characters feel the exhilaration and the burden of the realization that the history of humanity depends on them.” A fitting description of the very subtle power that defines Alan Furst’s novels.
August 10th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
Imagine a world where you have a pretty good life. You’re moderately successful in the art world, becoming known for large sculptures made with scrap material. You’re living in a small New England community where pretty much everyone knows everyone, and you can still play your weekly game of hockey with friends. You’re in a relationship even though you can’t quite let go of the wife who died 15 years ago in a terrible accident. What if all those memories and that life you lived together is a lie? In Nerve Damage Peter Abrahams imagines just such a scenario to very scary effect.
Roy Valois isn’t sure where to go with his life. He has just finished maybe what is his best piece of work, a sculpture he has named after his deceased wife Delia, and has hopes that maybe now he can move past and forward. Almost on a dare, Roy, with the help of a young friend, hacks into the morgue of the New York Times, interested in his obituary. It doesn’t mention that major hockey goal he made, and it has wrong information about his wife and where she worked. When Roy contacts the reporter responsible for the obit, he sets off a chain of events that has him fighting for his life on two fronts: an unforseen medical condition and a powerful and secret political organization. All of which makes for an involved thriller impossible to put down.
July 21st, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
In Peter Robinson’s latest All the Colors of Darkness, a group of schoolboys find the body of a man hanging from an oak tree in a forest glade. Shortly thereafter police discover that his partner was murdered. For Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot and her partner Detective Sergeant Winsome Jackson it looks like a case with an easy solution, murder/suicide due to jealousy. The seeming slam dunk means they can return to a knifing case with ties to gangs and drugs in a local housing area. The problem with this plan is that the murder victim was found in a expensive suburb area. And the superintendent wants Chief Inspector Allan Banks called back from his vacation in London to make sure all the angles are covered.
Once on the case Banks tends to agree with the investigating officers, but there is something bothering him and he continues to ask questions, widening the pool of people involved. Suddenly the Superintendent tells him to drop it, that the case is closed and he can return to his aborted vacation. Banks cannot let it lie and continues to investigate, only to find himself mired in an unfamiliar world of espionage and terrorism, not knowing who he can trust and endangering not only himself but anyone close to him.
Robinson’s Banks continues to be an interesting character to read about, not perfect by any means, and struggling with some of the same issues that face everyone: love and loss, grief, aging, second guessing one’s career choice, and just what to do next in a quickly changing world. Combine that with a compelling mystery and you have another winner to read.
June 23rd, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
If you are looking for a fast paced thriller built around the mystery of William Shakespeare, try Interred with Their Bones.
Kate Stanley, once a rising star in Shakespearian academic circles, looks now to the theatre world with a new staging of Hamlet at London’s Globe Theatre. In the midst of the theater chaos Rosalind Howard, Kate’s former mentor in the academic world, makes a sudden appearance at a rehearsal. Rosalind needs Kate’s help in finding something that will astound the world. Before Kate can find out more, Roz is found murdered backstage and the method used is similar to the death of Hamlet’s father.
Aided by three very different men, all of whom seem to have their own reasons for helping, Kate must figure out who to trust. More deaths follow, all with links to Shakespeare’s plays, as Kate races from London to Spain to the United States following clues to a possible lost play, and even more shattering, evidence as to who really wrote the plays.
I really liked the heroine, who while smart and attractive, also has her own insecurities but didn’t let them stop her. Jennifer Lee Carrell’s book is a page turner with a number of surprises at the end.
April 24th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
In Marcia Muller’s last book, The Ever-Running Man, private investigator Sharon McCone nearly lost everything to a bomb. Traumatized by this recent history and exhausted after 30 plus years working in the investigative field, McCone is wondering if it is time to do something else. In Burn Out she leaves her agency in the capable hands of her associates and flees to the ranch in California’s high desert. She hopes to figure out a way to cope with the deep, enervating depression she is experiencing and to make some decisions about her direction in life. Then a young Native American woman is found murdered at a nearby trailer camp followed by the disappearance of her younger sister and McCone, despite her attempts to disengage, is drawn deeper and deeper into the history and current danger of this dysfunctional family.
This is the 26th book written by Marcia Muller following the career and personal ups and downs of Sharon McCone. I always look forward eagerly to a new adventure and am seldom disappointed in the quality of the writing and the story. While you can certainly read most of them and enjoy them on their own, what makes the series special in my mind is the growth, intellectually and emotionally, that takes place in McCone’s life as she is affected by the cases she takes and the decisions she makes along the way. If you want to start from the beginning, the first book is Edwin of the Iron Shoes.
April 6th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
…one won’t want to miss this new offering from Jones Books, published right here in Madison. Readers of Jane Austen’s novels are familiar with her various characters’ fascination or interest in gardens and the outdoors, ranging from the familiar kitchen garden found in many homes to the stately designed gardens of grander estates. That this reflected Jane Austen’s own interest as well is evident.
Kim Wilson’s delightful book In the Garden with Jane Austen is the perfect companion to anyone enthralled by the worlds of Austen’s books or the various films that have been made from them. Here you will find information such as: which plant would be found in which type of garden, what is the difference between a shrubbery and a wilderness, that pineapples grown in conservancies or greenhouses could be worth a guinea (50 pounds or more) and thus a matter of pride and status to have them available.
This book is beautifully illustrated with pictures of plants and flowers. But that’s not all. The buildings and places important to both Austen herself and the characters in her books are included. Also included are quotes from Austen’s letters, diagrams and lists of plants from recreated 18th century style gardens, and site information for these gardens and other places of interest to the fan. With spring just around the corner now is the perfect time to explore with Jane.
*Said Lady Bertram in Mansfield Park.
March 19th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
As an investigative reporter for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor, Judith Matloff spent a considerable amount of time in her career in various troubled spots around the world, including Rwanda and Chechnya. In her forties she and her husband decide to settle in one place and start a family. She and her husband pick New York City.
Even with a hefty savings, it is a hard locale to find anything affordable and desirable unless you are willing to be flexible about locale. West Harlem has the cultural diversity and strong community ties that she and her Dutch husband are looking for. And in Home Girl: Building a Dream House on a Lawless Block they make the move to their new home. The problem is that along with the diversity and community feeling comes a thriving drug trade - the house they have purchased was a crack den - and heavily armed members of the police force are regular visitors to the area.
Home girl is an entertaining, often humorous tale of house hunting and renovation in an area most people would find undesirable if not frightening.
March 4th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
Susanne Alleyn has written two books so far in her series set in post-revolutionary France featuring police agent and investigator Aristide Ravel. In a world turned upside down with “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” gone bad and with Madame Guillotine waiting around the corner, trust and confidence in one’s fellow citizens is hard to come by.
In A Game of Patience the investigation into a double murder is complicated by uncertainty as to who the intended victim was and by Ravel’s internal doubts and worries about having sent innocents to their deaths via the guillotine. In the sequel A Treasury of Regrets, a servant girl is accused of poisoning the master of the house by adding arsenic to his food. Ravel doesn’t believe that the simple peasant girl was capable of the murder. The victim, a money lender, was not short of people who did not like him, including in his own family. Intricate and detailed historical mysteries with an interesting, even compelling detective can be hard to come by but these certainly qualify.
January 5th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
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