A SURREY STATE OF AFFAIRS (Ceri Radford)

I am SO far behind with writing this blog that I feel I will never catch up!  I'd better write this while the book is fresh in my mind.

If you are looking for a light, funny read, look no further.  A Surrey State of Affairs is written as a series of blog entries.  The author is a technologically challenged, 53-year-old wife and mother whose main concerns in life are proper etiquette, cleanliness, maintaining a beautiful home for her lawyer husband, Jeffrey, the well-being of her children, Rupert and Sophie, her parrot, Darcy, and her hobby, bell-ringing.  Her blog is more of a personal diary, not meant for the public, and it usually doesn't occur to her until AFTER she has posted that maybe she ought not to be letting all of her private thoughts and feelings out into the blogosphere.

Connie is what most of us would think of as clueless.  She is exasperated by her ineffective Eastern European housekeeper, Natalia, who keeps leaving her underwear, presumably to dry on the radiator, in Jeffrey's office.  Her son Rupert resists her constant efforts to find him a nice girl to marry, finally spreading a rumor that he has leprosy in a desperate attempt to fend off one of his mother's more ardent fix-ups.  Daughter Sophie surreptitiously auditions for and wins a part on a tawdry TV reality show while pretending to be spending her gap-year summer on an ecology project.  Still, Connie manages to maintain her her dignity and decorum, always wearing a crisp linen blouse and maintaining her hair and home to exacting standards until, one by one, the people and traditions that she holds dear begin to crumble around her and she is forced to make difficult choices about what is really important.

I know that you are probably thinking that Connie doesn't sound like too appealing a character.  Who wants to read the musings of an uptight, middle-aged woman who seems oblivious to the realities of life around her?  What keeps Connie from being a caricature and makes her so endearing as a character, in my opinion, is her great love for those around her.  She would do anything, give anything, to see her family and friends happy and fulfilled, even if it is on HER terms, but she comes through every crisis and revelation with flying colors because of her love.  It's a treat to be inside her head.

HISS AND HERS (M.C. Beaton)

Is it my imagination, or is Agatha, a 50 something retired PR executive who has retired to a charming Cotswolds village, beginning to mellow?  In this, Beaton's  23rd Agatha Raisin mystery, Agatha is again in love, this time with handsome (but one -legged!) gardener George Marston.  George is a notorious ladies' man and Agatha can't quite seem to catch a break in her pursuit of this popular local Lothario.  Suspects abound after Agatha, searching for George when he fails to show up as promised for a local charity ball, discovers his body buried in compost, his head encased in a plastic garbage bag.  It soon becomes apparent that there are MANY suspects among George's former, current, aspiring, and rejected lovers and Agatha is determined to solve the crime.

Beaton's wonderful cast of characters, including Mrs. Bloxby, James, Sir Charles Fraith, Roy, and Agatha's usual investigators, all appear in Hiss and Hers, and even the enigmatic and frustrating James seems to be a bit more amiable and appealing than usual.  Maybe I'm just getting older!  In any case, if you have been following Agatha's adventures, or even if you haven't, you will enjoy this latest one.

UNDER THE DOG STAR (Sandra Parshall)

A large number of missing pet dogs, a mysterious feral pack of canines attacking livestock during the night, and one prominent physician with his throat ripped open wouldn’t ordinarily add up to a compelling, can’t-put-it-down reading experience for me, but this time they did!  I am generally more of a cozy, crafty mystery reader.  Give me an amateur sleuth with an English accent or someone who bakes or knits in a sweet small town and solves crimes on the side and I’m good to go.  Sandra Parshall, however, is a genre unto herself, and she knows how to write a mystery!  From the Appalachian setting, to the developing relationship between Sheriff’s investigator Tom Bridger and veterinarian Rachel Goddard, to the intricately laid out web of clues, suspects, and sub-plots, Parshall’s Rachel Goddard series is wonderful and, I think, worthy of notice from the most discerning mystery fans.  This is the fourth Rachel Goddard mystery and number 5 is waiting for me in my living room.  I usually need to take a break between different novels in a series and this time is no exception, but I have a feeling that I won’t be able to resist reading her next, Bleeding Through, for long.  If you haven’t discovered Sandra Parshall yet you have a treat in store!  Start with Heat of the Moon.  You won't be sorry!

STILL LIFE (Louise Penny)

I think I am in love with Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and I can't wait to read the rest of Penny's award-winning series!  Gamache is a unique literary sleuth in his intense humanness, but he does remind me in some ways of Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti: he devotes his mind and his body to his work, but his heart and soul belong to his wife and family.  In Still Life we are introduced to the community of Three Pines, where the much-loved but unfortunate  Jane Neal, a retired teacher and aspiring artist, has been found dead in the woods, killed by an arrow through her heart. Gamache and his team, including devoted second-in-command Beauvoir and the irritating rookie agent Nicole, set up shop in Three Pines to investigate the unusual death.  Was it a hunting accident, as many believe, or a deliberate killing?  Why would anyone want to rid Three Pines of the the beloved schoolteacher who meant so much to so many?  Could her untimely death have anything to do with the recent acceptance of her painting, Fair Day, in the local art show?  Why has no one ever seen Jane's living room and what is her niece and supposed heir, Yvonne, up to?

Two of the best things about Still Life are the incredible sense of place and the wonderfully drawn and developed characters.  I felt as if I could smell the autumn air and hear the dried leaves underfoot.  Penny draws the reader into the life of Three Pines as surely as if we were sitting at the Thanksgiving table with her  characters.  We feel agent Nicole's awkwardness and Beauvoir's frustration and his concern for Gamache as a partner and friend. We understand Gamache.  He is a dedicated, upstanding man who is also human and compassionate.  He cares, so we care.  I understand from talking to others who have read some of Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series that a surprise twist at the end is one of her signature touches.  It works well, and so does this series.  I can understand why she keeps winning Agatha awards year after year!