THERE GOES THE BRIDE (M.C. Beaton)

Agatha Raisin is one of my favorite sleuths, but in this 20th entry in the series (yes, I HAVE read them all), she seems a little bit tiresome and scattered.  Agatha is a 50-something tough-as-nails retired PR executive and entrepreneur who now runs her own detective agancy in Carsley, a small village in the Cotswolds.  When Agatha's ex-husband (#11, Agatha Raisin and the Love From Hell), James Lacey, becomes engaged to a much-younger woman, Agatha is invited to the festivities.  The beautiful young bride is murdered on her wedding day and Agatha becomes a prime suspect because she is thought to have been stalking James and his fiance in Istanbul.  When the bride's mother hires Agatha to find her daughter's killer she learns that neither the bride nor her parents are what they appear to be and that James was having second thoughts about his pending nuptials.

Beaton includes all of our favorite characters in this novel, including the wealthy and amoral Charles Fraith, Mrs. Bloxby, who always provides a steadying influence and voice of reason for Agatha, Toni, Agatha's young associate, and James, the infuriating ex-love.  Beaton has created a wonderful world full of quirky characters, but I think the time has come for Agatha to find true love.  I envision her continuing to worry about her waistline and aging skin, and perhaps even skulking around behind her lover's back, but she really needs someone to love her unconditionally and to provide an anchor for her life.  Agatha will always be Agatha, but she could use a little break in the love department!

LADIES OF THE LAKE (Haywood Smith)

When the free-spirited grandmother of sisters Dahlia, Iris, Violet, and Rose dies, she leaves them her dilapidated home on Lake Clare, with the stipulation that they spend 3 months living together at the house.  All of the sisters accept the challenge, deciding to rehabilitate the property to sell at the end of the summer.  The sisters are all in their fifties.  Dahlia is a ballerina turned dance teacher, the favorite of her grandmother, Cissie, and is now divorced and desperate to hang on to her house and reunite with her 18-year-old son, who has moved to the South Pacific with his father.  She and Iris, the only non-blonde sister, have always clashed over anything and everything, and this summer is no exception.  The sisters gradually learn to overcome rivalries and find the value in each other in this comic novel.  Among the more memorable incidents in the book are the discovery and disposal of 2 mummified corpses in their grandmother's cellar, the evening that sisters decide to skinny-dip in the lake. and the discovery that Ernest Hemingway might possibly be their grandfather.

Despite being a comedy, Ladies of the Lake is a richly textured study of sibling rivalry, generational angst, class consciousness, love, and community.  Haywood Smith's novels are always entertaining, but this one is exceptionally thought-provoking as well.  I recommend it!

INTERVENTION (Robin Cook)

This book is a departure for Robin Cook, starting as a medical thriller and gradually evolving into something similar in theme to the DaVinci code. Dr. Jack Stapleton and his wife, Dr. Laurie Montgomery, both NYC Medical Examiners, are the parents of a 4 month old boy with neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nerve tissue. While waiting for additional treatments to begin, Jack and Laurie consider the possibility of alternative medicine, but when Jack autopsies a healthy woman in her 20's and discovers that her death was the result of chiropractic manipulation of her neck he begins to investigate alternative therapies and their consequences. He discovers in the course of his inquiries that many people choose chiropractic or other remedies in lieu of a general practicioner/physician because these alternative practitioners are able to provide personal, unhurried care, something that is now lacking in the medical profession.

At this point in the novel I was ready for an interesting thriller about the dangers of alternative medicine used inappropriately, but this did not come to fruition (note to Robin Cook: this would make a great theme for a future novel!). Instead, Jack becomes involved with 2 old college friends, a high-ranking cardinal, James, and an anthropologist, Shawn. While attending a conference in Egypt Shawn comes across evidence that the bones of the Virgin Mary are buried in an ossuary that has been placed near the tomb of Saint Peter in the Vatican. Shawn believes that he and his wife (conveniently an expert in DNA analysis) can retrieve the ossuary and prove that the bones belong to Mary, the mother of God, who was, according to Catholic doctrine and under the cloak of Papal infallibility, assumed bodily into Heaven after her death. Cardinal James, on the other hand, fears that this venture could destroy both his career and Catholic acceptance of Papal infallibility, the notion that the Pope is free from the possibility of error in matters of Church dogma..

The whole idea that the mother of Jesus could have had other children (as evidenced by the bones) and that her bones could actually exist somewhere is an intriguing concept. I think that overall the book is well written and adequately researched. I think that the plot concerning aleternative medicine should have been developed more fully and brought to some sort of conclusion, and I believe that the ending of the drama concerning the ossuary was a little contrived. I almost felt as if Cook had gotten tired of the whole thing and wanted to finish up and move on. Overall, though, it was worth reading. Anytime I keep thinking about a book after I am done I know that it was worth my time!

DEATH OF A DUNWOODY MATRON (Patricia Sprinkle)

This was my first Patricia Sprinkle mystery and I expect that I will be reading more of them, though probably not for a while considering the pile of "to-be-read" books sitting next to my sewing machine!

Amateur sleuth Sheila Travis unexpectedly meets dear old high school friend Walt Delacourt at a party in the upscale Dunwoody neighborhood of Atlanta. Walt is besotted with his bride, Yvonne, a beautiful young woman with a brittle edge and a young son named Forbes. When Yvonne is found murdered in the upstairs bedroom and Walt is targeted as the main suspect, Sheila goes to work investigating to prove her old friend's innocence. A plethora of neighbors with secrets to keep and images to maintain make finding the murderer an onerous task, but Sheila enlists the help of her nephew, her aunt, an aspiring reporter, and Walt's father to solve the case. In the process she discovers a series of dead husband's (Yvonne's), a couple of secret lives, and the identity of the mysterious "Crispin". The solution to this mystery is a complete surprise, but makes sense. Wit and wisdom concerning the "matrons" of Dunwoody adds a nice touch to the beginning of each chapter. Highly recommended!

THE SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET (Debbie Macomber)

I have to admit that, despite her popularity, I never expected to read, much less enjoy, a Debbie Macomber novel. The romance paperback section in our library is filled with Debbie Macomber's books about Navy wives and streets with sweet romantic names. I enjoy a little romance in my reading as much as the next person, but the strong, handsome, mysterious stranger whose eyes meet mine, igniting unquenchable passions, has never been a theme that I found particularly appealing or even palatable.

I picked this novel because (1) I had heard a lot of good things about it, (2) it is about a group of women who knit, and (3) I thought it was time for me to expand my horizons. I didn't expect to enjoy it so much! What a wonderful surprise this novel was. If you have read any of my previous reviews, you know that I am a sucker for stories about knitting (despite the fact that I crochet). I also love novels about groups of disparate women who come together and form unlikely friendships. The Shop on Blossom Street reminded me quite a bit of Beth Patillo's The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society, which included both of these. I enjoyed it very much. If you are looking for a gentle, positive read that you can sink your teeth into, try this one!

DEATH OF A COZY WRITER (G.M. Malliett)

This is actually the first in the Arthur St. Just series and I have to reiterate my opinion that Malliett is the new Agatha Christie! She excels in creating a traditional English mystery where the suspects are confined to a mansion or castle and there is no possibility of outside influences when the crime is committed.

Millionaire mystery author Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk invites his 4 grown children to his English mansion for an important announcement, and the group comes armed with objections to his upcoming marriage. Adrian announces that the deed has already been done in Scotland and introduces his new wife, Violet, who is NOT the expected young floozy but, rather, an age-appropriate widow who has never been able to shake off suspicion that she murdered her first husband. When two murders are committed, all eyes naturally turn first to Violet. As clues and red herrings accumulate the reader is treated to a truely entertaining mystery in the tradition of Christie. St. Just is a more true to life version of Poirot. If you love Agatha Christie you will love Malliett's St. Just series!

JUST TAKE MY HEART (Mary Higgins Clark)

The quality of Mary Higgins Clark's novels has been somewhat inconsistent. She went through a period a few years ago where her thrillers were less than thrilling, but since then I have enjoyed her books. Just Take My Heart is intriguing in many ways. The main character, Emily Wallace, is a sympathetically drawn attorney who is assigned to prosecute Gregg Aldrich, a successful agent who is accused of murdering his estranged wife, actress Natalie Raines. Emily is a widow (her husband was killed in Iraq) and a survivor of major surgery. Aldrich maintains his innocence throughout his trial despite the testimony of Jimmy Easton, a small-time crook who has made a deal in exchange for testifying against him. There are some interesting twists in this story, some predictable, others, not so much. Overall, you won't be disappointed with this novel if you are looking for decent, clean (i.e. not drenched in blood, foul language, or sexual situations) suspense. The sub-plot involving Emily's neighbor adds another layer of intrigue that will leave you taking extra notice of any strange neighbors on your block!