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. 

RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, by Zane Grey

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It seems odd now, having lived in and around Zane Grey’s old stomping grounds most of my life, that I have never read one of his books until now. I went to high school in Payson, Arizona. I’d visited the Zane Grey cabin a half a dozen times before it fell to ashes in the 1990 Dude fire. It was in the mid-to-late 1960’s, as a waitress at Kohl’s Ranch I’d hear the tourists say “Zane Grey” this, and “Zane Grey” that. His books were for sale in the gift shop there. Trite pulp fiction trash I thought.

Recently, a friend handed me a copy of RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE. I am so happy I read it.

The first couple of chapters were rough going until I was able to catch on to the what I’m going to call vintage verbiage, like on page 21 “lighted a fire on the morrow”, and especially the use of the word descried, used throughout all the pages. I had to look it up.

descry |dəˈskrī|

verb (descries, descrying, descried) [ with obj. ] literary

catch sight of: she descried two figures.

ORIGIN

Middle English: perhaps confused with obsolete descry‘describe,’ variant of obsolete descrive (via Old French from Latin describere ‘write down’), which also had the meaning ‘perceive.’

His description of the lay of the land is very detailed and impressive, and accurate to my recollections of that geographical area; the old stomping grounds of my youth.

The story is about Jane Whithersteen who inherited a substantial size ranch and wealth from her father, a Mormon and founder of the small community on the Utah border, a small settlement called Cottonwoods, set in the year 1871. Besides being wealthy Jane was young and beautiful. Her problem is that she loves both the Mormon’s and Gentiles. She tries to be faithful to her upbringing, to the state and legacy bestowed on her by her father. In the end her inner moral compass just couldn’t succumb to the conquer and acquiesce by any means possible, the ends justify the means type of attitude her Mormon clan adopted and subjected her to. Lucky for her, and most appropriate back in the wild west, a “stranger” rode in off the range, named Lassiter, a gunslinger by reputation. He stands by Jane, and when the Mormon’s had stripped her of all she loved and owned, he helped her escape with her life. The ending is a figurative and literal cliffhanger. Now I have to read the sequel, RAINBOW TRAIL, because this is really two love stories wrapped into one. The plot took many twists and developed in multiple threads of stories. Before Lassiter showed up another cowboy gunslinger type had been standing by Jane, a Bern Venters, who rode the range to care for Jane’s livestock. To track and fight rustlers, too. Venters shot the mysterious masked rider that rode with the rustlers only to find out it was a woman. Venters kept her, Bess in a hidden valley paradise wilderness valley and nursed her back to health, ultimately falling in love with her. Jane and Lassiter arrive at the hidden valley paradise on the only two remaining magnificently strong and fast horses Jane had, safe in their escape, Jane gives Venters and Bess these horses for their escape out of the hidden valley that they might survive the horrifying last ride across the purple sage, out run the evil rustlers and reach his home in Illinois where they can get married.

Will Venters and Bess live happily ever after? How long can Jane and Lassiter remain hidden and safe in Surprise Valley, the hidden valley paradise? All I have to say is kudos to Zane Grey! I discounted him all these years. At least this time a friend handed me one of his books I read it, and am so happy I did. Can’t wait to get my copy of RAINBOW TRAIL in the mail.

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.

Stay, by Allie Larkin

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This well written, humorous story in the first person point of view of Savannah “Van” Leone, is not a favorite storyline of mine. The characters are well developed, especially Van, but Van finds herself drunk and whining and crying way too much for my liking. Kinda stuck in the muck and wallow phase. Absolutely love Joe the dog, and that he’s from Slovakia, thus he only understands commands spoken in his native tongue, Slovakian. So funny! Of course, Van was drunk when she bought the awesome german shepherd dog on the internet. I got excited on page 131, which seemed like a pivotal moment for Van from victim to freedom and control of her life. Then BAM! Peter, the love of her life who just married her best friend, Janie, calls from JFK airport, “Van, I need you”, and here we go again with the whining and drinking and crying. The author, Allie Larkin, pulls it all together in the end, plunging beneath the surface characters, into their hearts, and was able to illustrate deep-seated human experiences that are riveting, and relatable. Exquisite writing really. The story line just didn’t ring my chimes.

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!