SKELETON PICNIC, by Michael Norman

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Chapter One of “SKELETON PICNIC” sets the scene, graphically depicting the evening Rolly and Abby Rogers, respected and established members of the small community of Kanab, Utah, are confronted right after setting up camp and proceeding to the nearby Indian ruins in search of ancient antiquities, illegal booty, a common and accepted practice in their small Mormon community. They are third generation pot hunters who collected anything they could wherever they could find it, and that included human bones, which is why his grandfather referred to these family outings as “skeleton picnics.” What had descended on them? Angry Indian ghost spirits, or evil greedy mortals? Were they killed, or do they live?

Enters J.D. Books, a BLM Law Enforcement Ranger, called upon by the Kane County Sheriff, Charley Sutter, when the Roger’s daughter files a missing person's report on her parents who went camping Friday afternoon, then missed church Sunday morning. Then the plot thickens when Officer Books goes to the Roger’s home to find it burglarized, and their unequaled personal collection of antiquities were gone; stolen. The potential pool of suspects are many since Rolly Roger’s was a history teacher in the small town of Kanab, and had been for years, and gave tours of his collection in his home on school field trips. Officer Books remembers one such field trip he had when he was a young boy and student of Mr. Rogers history class. As Officer Books begins to unravel the mystery he finds suspects spanning from the poorest most unfortunate of Kanab residents to the highest most privileged of the community, and unfortunately, one within his own family.

I love how this mystery was set up nice and neat in the first chapter, and the answers, at least to Rolly and Abby Roger’s mortality, aren’t answered until the last chapter. And, as in all good mystery’s, the twists and turns in between kept me on the edge of my seat. I also like that this is the second book in the J.D. Books Mysteries, and it didn’t matter a hill-of-beans that I hadn’t read the first book titled “ON DEADLY GROUND”.

As is the custom now-w days I checked out his author website at http://michaelnormanauthor.com/. He is not a has been. “SKELETON PICNIC” was published in 2012. He acquired a Master’s degree from Northern Illinois University in 1969. I attribute his ability to so competently describe my part of the country, the southwest United States, to his being a retired journalism professor. If you’re a lover of mysteries you’ll love Michael Norman’s books. 

EDISTO JINX, by C.Hope Clark

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This, the second book in An Edisto Island Mysteries, went beyond my expectations. What I loved most is how C. Hope Clark moved her protagonist, Callie Morgan, through all the trauma and hardships she had endured, to rise up and conquer it all, not only to survive but to thrive and succeed. Of course, all the murder and mystery made for a very exciting read. My eyes were big, my heart was racing, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. But, the growth of the character, the moving forward to resolution gave me great satisfaction. Made for a very exciting and satisfying read.

I have read every book C. Hope Clark has written. Every time I think how is she going to top that?! Then she does. Great story. Great writing. A must read.

The Hound Of The Sanibel Sunset Detective, By Ron Base

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Ron Base is a dog lover. This book is dedicated to “The Real Clinton”, his now deceased loved companion, with him again through writing about him. I like that.

This is a rip-roaring fun read. Tree Callister has decided to retire from being a private investigator. He just couldn’t convince his attorney, Edith Goldman, of that. She goaded him into that “one last job”. So, as a favor to his attorney who had come to his rescue many times throughout his PI career he reluctantly headed for Miami in his Volkswagen Beetle convertible. He was just suppose to talk to Vic Trinchera (a Canadian businessman [ha, ha]). Vic didn’t do much talking before he was fleeing for his life, but not before he had saddled Tree with the dog. A French hound with big hound dog eyes named Clinton. Tree soon finds out a lot of unsavory people want to get their hands on Clinton, but he was determined to protect this lovable hound. And so the rip-roaring fun begins! Dead bodies to the left! Dead bodies to the right! Like his wife said, “Consider this, Tree. Maybe your life is one of those pulp thrillers you used to read as a kid.” And I say this is an over the top best action packed humorous thriller I’ve ever read!

DEATH OF AN ARTIST, By Kate Wilhelm

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This mystery is more about how justice will be served than it is about who-done-it. It is clear early on that Stef, the hyper-sensitive, restless, yet very successful artist is killed by her greedy sleaze of a husband, Dan Oliver, soon to be ex-husband if he hadn’t killed her first. Marnie Markov knew things about her artist daughter, as only a mother can know, and she knew Dan Oliver had killed her daughter. Van, Stef’s daughter, is about to graduate medical school, so she knew the medical examiner’s diagnoses of accidental death wasn’t consistent with the physical evidence. So I, the reader, knew too and wanted to kill him myself along with the Marnie and Van, rather than see him get away with it. But, that kind of justice has unjust consequences that would destroy these sweet women’s lives beyond their already traumatized lives by the death of their loved daughter/mother.

The server of justice is Tony, formally Anthony Mauricio, a NYC Policeman now retired, who had recently moved to the small community of Silver Bay, Oregon, to find peace; to heal from the wounds he had acquired while serving as a peace officer in the big city. He’s introduced on page one and becomes part of the family. He knows Dan Oliver killed Stef and having seen how justice has a way of being buried in the legal system after risking his life to apprehend thieves and murderers, and how this sleaze was still a threat to Marnie and Van, he too wanted to kill Dan Oliver. It was no secret to him how they felt, and he had to beat them to it to protect them.

The out of nowhere, sweetest of sweet justice served up at the end of the story was so very satisfying. No spoilers here. You’ll just have to read the book. Any reader will find this story well worth their time. Sweet, sweet justice - you’ll love it!

BOOK REVIEW - Blessed Is the Busybody, by Emilie Richards

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I was hooked into this delightfully tangled “cozy mystery” from the first sentence on. Teddy, the youngest daughter of the minister and his wife, is going to bury the cat again. Hooked! From there Emilie Richards nailed all the mystery writing prerequisites of a centered plot coupled with compelling characters, and small town setting that is all so relatable. I like that the murders aren’t gruesome detailed descriptions of gore. That the suspense is bundled up in levity. I really, really enjoyed this book. I was lucky enough to be given a copy of the first in the series MINISTRY IS MURDER and am relishing the thought of four more books to go.

In Emilie Richards’ website bio, interestingly enough, I found that she is the wife of a retired minister, although that little coincidence (she says) doesn’t influence her writer’s creative imagination or brilliant cozy mystery works. However she does it I vote yes! and she gets five stars and a fan for life from me.

Murder on Edisto by C. Hope Clark
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While reading MURDER ON EDISTO it struck me how seamless this story flowed from the first page to the last. C. Hope Clark has become a master of the murder mystery genre, and just a damn good (great!) writer.