THE DARLING DAHLIAS AND THE CUCUMBER TREE (Susan Wittig Albert)

It takes a little time to get into Albert's Darling Dahlias series, mainly because of the large number of characters, but the author includes a list at the beginning of the novel, which helps.  I enjoyed this book for several reasons beyond the entertaining mystery:
(1)  Set in 1930, the ambiance is refreshingly different from that of the many contemporary and Victorian mysteries popular today.
(2)  The characters are nicely developed and seem true to their era in temperment and interests.
(3)  There is a librarian in the book (although she is not particularly appealing)!

The Darling Dahlias are a garden club based in Darling, Alabama at the beginning of the great depression.  They have recently inherited a clubhouse from the estate of founding member Mrs. Dahlia Blackstone and plan to restore the beautiful gardens around the house.  The Cucumber Tree of the title is a type of magnolia and graces the Blackstone garden.  It also figures in a Civil War era mystery connected with the Blackstone family and more recent activities related to the family legacy. 

When beautiful, blonde Bunny Scott, who sells cosmetics at the local drugstore, is found dead in the wreck of a stolen car, the townspeople assume that she was the accomplice of a car thief, possibly a recently escaped convict from the local prison farm.  Club members Verna Tidwell (widow and secretary to the county probate clerk) and Lizzy Lacy (secretary to Mr. Moseley, a lawyer), who regularly lunched with Bunny, don't believe that she could have been involved in a car theft and launch their own investigation into their friend's death with the help of Myra Mosswell (owner of the local diner and telephone operator), eventually bringing to light the true details of Bunny's death.  This is one garden club that digs up more than dirt!  Check out this series as soon as you can.  You will love the ladies of the Darling Dahlias.

AT HOME WITH THE TEMPLETONS (Monica McInerny)

The Templeton family has sociopathic tendencies, but not in the quirky, humorous way you might expect in a popular novel.  There is neither edge-of-the-seat suspense nor unstoppable action in McInerny's latest.  Instead the reader is treated to a complexly woven tapestry of relationships, family secrets, deceit, betrayal, and denial.  If At Home with the Templetons were made into a movie it could go in many different directions depending on the whim of the director or screenwriters.

Templeton Hall is a family estate in Australia that has been turned into a living history museum by English heir Henry Templeton. Henry's four children serve as weekend docents, guiding tourists and treating them to stories about the family's checkered history and possessions.  Wife Eleanor homeschools the Templeton children, Charlotte, Audrey, Gracie, and Spencer and Aunt Hope, Eleanor's sister, spends most of her time belligerently drunk.  Nina Donovan, a widow, and her son Tom visit Templeton House during an open house for the locals and vow never to return after an altercation with Hope, but as time passes Tom and young Spenser become close friends, as do Nina and Gracie.  Eventually Nina moves into an apartment on the estate grounds and, when Henry and family are mysteriously called back to England, she remains as caretaker of the estate until an unexpected tragedy tears the familes apart.

The novel spans almost twenty years and is filled with unexpected twists and turns and shifting of relationships.  The children grow up and establish themselves in various careers, developing along the way personalities and attitudes that both grate and fascinate.  Everyone, in fact, evolves.  Most readers will enjoy the revelations and surprises as the story progresses through the years.  I know I did!

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (Elizabeth Noble)

I seem to be very dissatisfield lately with cover art and now titles, too!  Noble's The Girl Next Door is not about one girl and even after finishing it I am confused a bit about who Eve (presumably the title character) and her husband Ed's next door neighbor's actually are.  However, it was a very enjoyable novel with enough depth to hold your interest. 

Eve and Ed move from their idyllic English cottage to an apartment in New York City after Ed accepts a lucrative promotion at his bank.  Ed is thrilled with the fast pace of the city, but Eve misses her garden, her family, and England.  Noble introduces the reader to all of the apartment building's inhabitants by way of a character list at the beginning of the novel, and multiple chapters scattered throughout the book focus on each of the tenants and their interactions with one another.  The tenants include Violet Wallace, an elderly transplanted English woman; Charlotte, a shy, awkward single woman who lives more in fantasy than reality;  an aimless young man living on his trust fund; a male gay couple; a beautiful triathlete; a "perfect" couple with 3 children; a troubled couple with seemingly insurmountable problems in their marriage; and a predatory, sex-obsessed twenty-something woman, among others. 

Overall, I enjoyed the development of the relationships among the characters and the evolution of the tenants themselves.  Each of them changes, some positively, some negatively, as a result of their interactions with the others.  Running throughout the novel are the stories of Eve's pregnancy and Violet's life in America and the friendship that develops between the two women.  Highly recommended!

A NICE CLASS OF CORPSE (Simon Brett)

Where has Mrs. Pargeter been all my life?  I find it hard to believe that I have never before read this excellent series.  There are so many elements that make it appealing, not the least of which are the business dealings of the late, devoted Mr. Pargeter.  Was he a detective,  a jeweler, a burglar, a social worker, or an international spy?  Mr.  Pargeter left his widow well-equipped with enough money, weaponry, tools, jewelry, and business contacts to last for the rest of her life and she makes good use of these when she decides that amateur detective work might be a occupation to keep her mind sharp.  Soon after she moves into the Deveraux Hotel, a residential establishment in Littlehampton for the genteel elderly, Mrs. Pargeter is confronted with the "accidental" death of the quiet, gentle Mrs. Selsby.  Which of the hotel residents, who range from fading movie star to aristocrats fallen on hard times, or staff might have had a hand in Mrs. Selsby's fall down the stairs?  How many more accidents will occur before Miss Naismith, the proprietor, and the police begin to suspect foul play?

What I enjoyed most about Mrs. Pargeter was her level-headed elimination of suspects.  She is intelligent, worldly, and sassy yet demure at the same time.  She is also keenly observant and analytical and frequently calls to mind advice from the late, beloved Mr. Pargeter.  I didn't figure out who did it until the very end.  I can't wait to read the next book in his series!

SUMMER HOUSE (Nancy Thayer)

First of all, I wonder who created the cover art for this novel?  Here it is:
   If you haven't read a description of the novel, your assumption would be that this is pure chick lit, possibly about 2 young women who are friends or sisters spending a the summer at the beach, probably with at least one handsome romantic interest.  Needless to say, I don't like the cover.  I think it misrepresents the book.

In reality, Summer House is about family relationships.  Four generations of the wealthy Wheelwright family gather each summer at the family house on Nantucket, home to ninety-year-old Anne "Nona" Wheelwright.  Her son, Worth, works at the family-founded bank in Boston, as does her son-in-law Kellogg and grandsons-in-law Claus and Douglas.  The story is told from the points of view of three women: Nona, her sixty-year-old daughter-in law, Helen (could they be the leggy girls in the hammock?), and Helen and Worth's 30-year-old daughter, Charlotte.  Worth is disappointed that none of his 3 children have chosen a career in the family banking business.  Son Oliver is a successful architect living in San Fransisco in a committed relationship with his partner, Owen.  Charlotte, the oldest, tried working in the bank to please her father and is now an organic gardener, growing and selling produce on her grandmother's land, to the consternation of her cousins.  Youngest child, Teddy, is 22 and has a history of drug and alcohol problems and now has a wife and a child on the way.  Helen loves her family and is stunned to discover that handsome, successful husband Worth has been unfaithful. 

As the summer progresses and family relationships change and evolve, Helen ponders how to resolve her marriage problems, Charlotte focuses on the future, and Nona, in the twilight of her life, decides that the time has come to face past secrets. Thayer allows her readers to revisit significant events in Helen and Nona's past through dreams and reminiscences, which adds depth and insight to the story.  Is there any romance?  Some, but it is secondary to the overall story.  Is this chick lit? Definitely not, despite the cover.  If you are looking for an intersesting story about the twists and turns of family relationships, friendship, marriage, and parenthood, look no further.  Summer House is highly recommended!

A VILLAGE AFFAIR (Joanna Trollope)

When Alice Meadows meets Martin Jordan's family she falls hopelessly in love.  She and Martin marry and live a pleasant life with their 3 children until they purchase Grey House, a beautiful old village home in rural England.  Suffering from postpartum depression after the birth of her youngest child, Charlie, Alice believes that the move will be good for their marriage and family, that becoming immersed in the activities and eccentricities of village life will give her a new purpose and, perhaps, restore happiness to her increasing stressful relationships.  When exotic, unpredictable Clodagh Unwin returns to Pitcombe after a broken love affair in New York and befriends the Jordan family, life suddenly takes on a new luster and excitement.  Alice, the children, and Martin soon accept Clodagh as part of their family, causing speculation and questions among the villagers.  When details of Clodagh's relationship with Alice are revealed, Alice and Martin's lives are changed forever, their definitions of happiness are transformed, and their future is redefined.  As usual, Trollope delves into the heart and psyche of English life.  Published in 1989, this novel remains fresh and readable today.

SECRET OF JOY (Melissa Senate)

Rebecca Strand is shocked by her father's deathbed confession that he has another daughter.  When Rebecca was 2 years old, a brief affair in Maine resulted in the birth of child whom Daniel Strand has never met. After the death of Rebecca's mother, she and her father formed a close and unbreakable bond, and the realization that Daniel kept a secret so significant sends Rebecca reeling.  Did he love the woman?  Did her mother know?  Why did he fail to acknowledge and support his second daughter?  Rebecca, unfulfilled by her relationship with Michael (she actually loves his mother more than she loves him), decides to travel to Maine to seek out Joy, her sister and only remaining family.  She is desperate to make sense of her emotions and her new relationships, and in the process she finds answers to other dilemmas in her life as well.  This could have been a trite story about a confused young city woman finding happiness and love in small-town Maine, but Senate treats Rebecca's emotional quandaries with sensitivity, humor, and realism.  Senate's latest is enjoyable and a satisfying way to spend a weekend.

JOY FOR BEGINNERS (Erica Bauermeister)

Erica Bauermeister has again succeeded in producing a memorable novel, this one centering on a breast cancer survivor's challenges to her wonderful network of supportive friends to take the plunge and follow their individual dreams.  After a successful 18-month battle with cancer, Kate is encouraged by her daughter to take a white water rafting trip in the Grand Canyon.  After beating death, Kate isn't sure that risking death in the rapids is something that she really wants to do, so she can't quite make up her mind whether to face her terror and take the trip with her daughter or not.  Does she really need to prove something to herself at this point in her life?  With the encouragement of her seven good friends, most of whom helped her through the terrible months of chemo, Kate decides to accept her daughter's challenge, but with one condition.  Each of her friends must also complete a personal challenge decided by Kate.

By now you may be dismissing this as just another "women friends help each other straighten out their lives" novel (not that there are anything wrong with those!), but Bauermeister has created something unique here.  The challenges seem simple: for restless Daria, learn to bake bread; for Sara, wife and mother of three, take a trip by herself; for Marion, get a tattoo; for widow Hadley, build a garden; for Caroline, get rid of her husband's books; and for Ava, the only friend who was not there to help Kate during her illness, complete a 60 mile walk for breast cancer.  Like School of Essential Ingredients, Joy for Beginners is built as a series of related stories with individual chapters devoted to each woman's process of completing her challenge, stepping out of her comfort zone.  At the end I just wanted more and I think you will, too.

THE NANTUCKET DIET MURDERS (Virginia Rich)

Eugenia Potter lacks the abrasiveness of Agatha Raisin and the sass of Stephanie Plum, but she could probably give Miss Marple a run for her money!  You may know that this is the third in the Eugenia Potter series, published in 1985, and that after Virgina Rich's death Nancy Pickard continued the series with The 27 Ingredient Chile Con Carne Murders.  Widowed Arizona rancher Eugenia Potter arrives in Nantucket for a reunion with her old gang and is surprised to see that nearly all of them are newly svelte and decidedly more glamorous than the last time she saw them, thanks to a diet guru who has set up shop on the island.  When two "accidental" deaths occur, Eugenia becomes suspicious of the charismatic diet doctor, Tony, who is raising funds for a diet clinic and whom friend Gussie seems to be considering as a potential fourth husband.  Those who enjoy technology and lots of fast paced action might want to pass on this one, but if you enjoy a good old-fashioned mystery you should consider giving it a try.  The unraveling of clues near the end leads to a surprising, but very logical and well-thought out, ending.  It all made perfect sense and the Nantucket references will be especially relished by anyone who has spent time on the island.

HEAT WAVE (Nancy Thayer)

Verdict: Very enjoyable book, covers a whole range of emotional ups and downs very well, a little too much "romance," a few loose ends.  Nancy Thayer presents life on Nantucket beautifully.  I feel like I understand the seasonal ups and downs, the cultural climate, and the everyday challenges of living on an island.  The characters are well-drawn and, for the most part, likeable.  Even Maud, who steals her best friend's husband, elicits some sympathy, as would a real-life friend caught up in trying to fight an attraction to an inappropriate man.

Carley Winsted is widowed suddenly at the age of 32 when her husband, Gus, suffers a fatal heart attack.  Overcome by grief, she must support her two daughters, 12-year-old Cisco and 5-year-old Margaret, financially and emotionally.  Her equally grief-stricken in-laws, both members of Old Nantucket familes, offer to take in Carley and the girls, but she chooses instead to turn her home (mother-in-law Annabel's family home) into a Bed & Breakfast called the Seashell Inn.  Due to some very bad investments in recent years, Gus has left his family almost penniless.  Carley's 2 best friends, Maud (long divorced and with 2 sons) and Vanessa (married to pediatrician Todd but unable to conceive a child) offer psychological and emotional support until an unthinkable betrayal tears apart the 3 friends.  Carley also cautiously enjoys the attentions of Wyatt, a partner and friend of Gus and his father, worrying about how the girls, her in-laws, and the community might respond to a new man in her life (and her bed!).  Overall, I enjoyed this more than Beachcombers, finding the characters more appealing and more realistic.  Things might be a little bit too predictable here, but you will enjoy the ride so much that you won't care!

A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT (Jeanne Dams)

I just can't get enough of Jeanne Dams' Dorothy Martin.  This series put the "cozy" in "cozy mystery" and Dorothy is a charming and realistic sleuth.  Her relationship with second husband Allen (she was widowed when she moved to England) is comfortable and passionate but tempered by the aches and pains of late middle age.  She has the intelligence of Miss Marple and, like the author, just a little quirkiness related to hats.  In this novel Dorothy and Allen are invited to a beautiful country estate for a Guy Fawkes celebration, where the worst storm in years knocks down centuries-old trees, decimates the garden, and cuts off power and communication.  Of course, a body is discovered after the storm.  To any mystery lovers delight, the skeletal remains are found entwined in the roots of an uprooted tree, so the death is not recent. Who is the body and who buried it under the tree?  Who else will turn up dead?  Of course we know that Dorothy and Allen will figure it all out!  This is a traditional country estate mystery and you won't be able to put it down.  It was a joy from the first page to the last!

SUMMER RENTAL (Mary Kay Andrews)

Three lifelong friends, Ellis, Dorie, and Julia, rent a house on the outer banks of North Carolina for the month of August from the mysterious Mr. Culpepper, and a landlord who communicates solely through email.  In truth, "Mr. Culpepper" is Ty Bazemore, who is desperately trying to hang on to his family home (foreclosure is scheduled for September) and deal with the breakup of his marriage.  He also lives over the garage on the property.  Ellis, Dorie, and Julia have problems of their own (in addition to the dilapitated state of their rental home).  Ellis has been fired from her job, Dorie has been betrayed by her husband, and Julia is a successful model dealing with aging and avoiding commitment to her longtime love.  Add to the mix Maryn, a mysterious stranger on the run from her abusive, well-connected husband, who rents a room from the trio.  All five people are at a crossroads, looking at changes, good and bad, in their lives.  Sometimes a month by the sea is the best prescription!

THE WEDDING SHAWL (Sally Goldenbaum)

I think what appeals to me most about Goldenbaum's Seaside Knitters series is the strong element of friendship among the women - and men - in the novels.  I have to admit that I am getting a little confused about which knitting shop is in which town.  Maybe I need to take a little break from knitting mysteries and regain my sanity!

That being said, the wedding shawl of the title is a circle of love and friendship created by the Seaside Knitters for Izzy Chambers to wear during her wedding to Sam Perry.  Naturally, during the course of the wedding planning (which, along with the creation of the shawl, runs throughout the novel) a murder draws Nell, Cass, adorable Birdie, and Izzy into investigating.  Tiffany, an energetic young beautician, has promised to coordinate the hair and make-up needs of the wedding party, but a few weeks before the big day she is found  dead in her office, supposedly the victim of a robbery.  Tiffany's best friend, Harmony, had died 15 years earlier on the day of their high school graduation, drowned in a local quarry.  Coincidentally, both women had been involved with Fractured Phish musician Anndy Risso, who is now the prime suspect in both deaths.

Goldenbaum writes a decent mystery.  Her clues unfold logically and at the end you find yourself thinking, "Oh, yes.  Of course!"  But the draw here is the loving relationships among the recurring characters.  They are a little bit too perfect (except for the murderer, of course) and the food is a little too delicious and abundant.  No one seems to lack money or time to socialize and there is not an overweight person in sight.  But I say, "Who cares?"  I would love to be a part of this beautiful town and this welcoming, caring group of people.  They are pretty good at ferretting out murderers, too!

DRY GRASS OF AUGUST (Anna Jean Mayhew)

We all remember the simpler times of our childhood, when we trusted that summer days would be long and filled with fun and that those who loved us would be there forever.  In the summer of 1954, Jubie Watts sets out on a road trip with her mother, sisters, little brother, and Mary Luthor, the family's black maid.  Mr. Watts is conspicuously absent.  As the group drives further south on their trip from North Carolina to Florida, Jubie notes an increasing number of anti-integration messages along the way, and Mary is expected to use separate bathrooms (or outhouses) and to sleep in inferior quarters separate from the family.  Mary is acquiescent, subservient, and cooperative in society's desire that she remain as invisible as possible in the deep South.

Jubie is a curious, thoughtful 13-year-old, the hapless victim of her father's alcohol-fueled rages and her mother's self-involvement.  This trip is, in fact, a prelude to possible divorce as Paula, Jubie's mother, flees to her brother's home to consider her marriage and her future.  Paula's treatment of Mary along the journey is problematical.  On one hand, Paula adheres to the local racial segregation rules only loosely, but largely for her own convenience rather than out of indignation.  On the other, she fails to recognize the danger to which  she is exposing Mary to in this alien world of the Klan and intense racial divisions.  When tragedy strikes, Jubie is forced to look at her parents and her world in a different light, knowing that her summers will never again be the carefree summers of childhood.

Mayhew's first novel (at age 71!) is much less complex than "The Help" but examines of the same racial dilemma, the dehumanization of blacks in the south.  It's scary that these things were going on during my lifetime, and in many places still are.  I would heartily recommend Mayhew's wonderful coming-of-age novel.

THE NINE TAILORS (Dorothy L. Sayers)

I have to say that I, like most of the Christie Capers Book Club, could have done without the first 100 pages or so of this acclaimed Lord Peter Wimsey novel.  The level of detail concerning bell-ringing was just too much, but understandable considering Sayers' background as the daughter of the chaplain of Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford and headmaster of the Choir School there. 

That being said, Sayers novel of murder begins as Lord Peter and his man, Bunter, run off the road during a New Year's Eve storm in Fenchurch St. Paul.  Since one of the local church's bell-ringers is incapacitated with influenza, the absentminded Rev. Venables recruits Lord Peter, who, incredibly, has experience as a bell-ringer, to participate in the spectacular nine-hour nonstop bell ringing.  The title, Nine Tailors, efers to the ringing of nine peals when a man dies.  Stranded in Fenchurch St. Paul while his car is being repaired, Lord Peter learns of the death of Lady Thorpe, whose family has been haunted for the past 20 years by the theft of a valuable necklace.  When her husband, Sir Henry dies at Easter, Lady Thorpe's grave is opened for his burial and an additional, unidentified body is discovered buried in the grave.  Lord Peter is on hand to investigate, naturally.  During the course of the novel a year passes, other deaths occur, the mystery of the missing necklace is solved, and Wimsey acquires a ward.  Eventually the final mystery is solved and Lord Peter rides off into the sunset with his faithful man, Mervyn Bunter.  This is a quintessential English mystery from one of the great authors in this genre.  It's well worth it if you can get past the beginning!

THE LOVE GODDESS' COOKING SCHOOL (Melissa Senate)

Anyone who has lost a beloved grandparent or other friend will relate to Holly Maguire's determination to carry on the traditions established by her grandmother, Camilla, the "love goddess" of Blue Crab Island, Maine.  Camilla passes away just 2 weeks after Holly returns to Blue Crab Cove after the sad end of a romantic relationship, and Holly inherits Camilla's house and business, Camilla's Cucinatta.  Despite her grief over her grandmother's death, Holly decides to learn to cook Camilla's famous recipes and keep the business and cooking classes going (minus the "love goddess" psychic predictions).  A childhood nemesis provides some competition, but Holly perseveres, testing recipes and bringing in new business while carrying on with her grandmother's cooking classes, forming unexpected and enduring new relationships in the process.  As one would expect, Holly does finally find a recipe for her own happiness during the course of her adventures with cooking.  This delightful novel would be a perfect way to relax on vacation or a day at the beach.

BEACHCOMBERS (Nancy Thayer)

Three sisters seems to be the theme of my reading lately!  Thayer's "Beachcombers" is set on Nantucket, as expected, where widower Jim Fox has rented his daughters' former playhouse to the recently divorced Marina Warren. The youngest daughter, Lily, lives at home and works for a local publication as a society reporter.  She yearns for a more jet-setting life and enjoys the round of parties and social events that her job requires her to attend.  When middle sister Emma shows up devastated over the loss of her job, her savings, and a bitter break-up with her fiance, Lily is concerned and contacts oldest sister, Abbie, who has been working as an au pair in the UK.  Abbie helped her father to raise her younger sisters after the suicide of their mother when Abbie was 15 years old.

Abbie and Emma, desperately in need of income and concerned about their father's finances, start a company called Nantucket Mermaids, eventually including Lily as well.  During the course of the novel their various assignments, including baby-sitting, reading to the elderly, and gardening, provide an interesting glimpse into Nantucket summer life.  The sisters themselves lack maturity and direction and at times the sibling rivalry becomes almost annoying, but Thayer has a talent for developing a sense of place so strong that the reader can overlook the sisters' whining and their attitude toward their father and his social life.  The ending is just a bit too neat for my taste, but overall this is a great book to take to the beach or read on the porch on a summer evening.

SILVER SCREAM (Mary Daheim)

Seattle bed & breakfast owner Judith Flynn has agreed to accomodate famous Hollywood producer Bruno Zepf and the cast and crew of his latest movie, which will premiere in Seattle on Halloween.  Zepf believes that it is good luck to stay in a B&B the night before a premiere, but several of the Hollywood elite who accompany him disagree.  Unfortunately, Zepf ends up face down in Judith's half-full kitchen sink, the victim of very bad luck indeed.  Judith enlists her cousin Renie to help investigate Bruno's death, hoping to avert a lawsuit or negative repercussions for her business. 

This is the 18th in Daheim's Bed & Breakfast series, but it is the first that I have read.  Judith's mother, Gertrude, who lives in a converted garage and suffers from slight dementia, adds a particularly humorous element to this series, which sort of goes beyond "coziness."  I enjoyed the relationship between Judith and Renie and the eccentricities of the various friends and family members that surround them.  I wonder how many of the murders in this series have actually happened at Judith's Hillside Manor?  Now THAT might have an adverse effect on reservations!  Check out this series if you are looking for something a little bit different.

THE UNCOUPLING (Meg Wolitzer)

In Aristophanes' play, Lysistrata, the women of Greece refuse to engage in relations with their husbands and boyfriends until they agree to end the Peloponnesian War.  As New Jersey drama teacher Fran Heller announces her decision to present Lysistrata as the annual play at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, a spell slowly weaves its way through the homes of students and teachers alike until all of the women of Stellar Plains lose interest in sex.  Even popular English teachers Rob and Dory Lang, who have enjoyed what they consider to be a robust sex life throughout their marriage, suddenly find themselves at odds over intimacy.  Boyfriends are frustrated by their girlfriends sudden lack of interest and even beautiful school psychologist Leanne Bannerjee, who prefers to play the field, finds herself breaking off with all of her boyfriends.

I am a fan of Wolitzer and I enjoyed The Ten Year Nap immensely, but I found The Uncoupling to be a little bit unsatisfying.  I would have liked to see Wolitzer's characters explore the non-sexual aspects of their relationships more instead of settling in to what seemed like resigned, sterile versions of their previous lives.  The characters were interesting, especially Fran Heller, the drama teacher, whose husband, through some mutually satisfactory agreement, lives in the midwest while Fran travels from one teacxhing job to another, always presenting Lysistrata with her students.  I'm not a lover of "spells" and when I finished the novel I didn't feel that I had a good understanding of the "why" of the story.  I would not NOT recommend it, but I noticed that there are some completely opposing reviews out there, so I am not the only one who is confused or conflicted over this book.

THE WEIRD SISTERS (Eleanor Brown)

The Weird Sisters are Rosalind, Bianca, and Cordelia Andreas, ages 33, 30, and 27 respectively. All of them have returned home, purportedly to help their parents cope with their mother's breast cancer treatments.  In reality, Rose suffers from inertia, finding herself so attached to hearth, home, and family that she is unable to leave Barnwell, the college town where she grew up, to follow her much-loved fiance to England when he is offered a temporary position at Oxford.  Bianca (aka Bean), unbeknownst to her family, returns home in disgrace, having been fired from her job after the payroll "adjustments" she made in order to afford her increasingly demanding lifestyle are discovered.  Cordy, after years of wandering the country and in and out of the beds of almost any man  she fancies, finds herself pregnant and uninterested in finding the baby's father, an itinerant artist with whom she shared a meaningless fling.  The three sisters, daughters of a Shakespeare-quoting college professor (too funny, even if you are not a fan of the bard), are named for Shakespearean characters and grew up reading constantly, deprived of television and other normal childhood.  Even now, books are scattered throughout the house and the family seems to just pick them up at random and continue reading wherever the last reader left off.

Brown focuses on the Andreas' skewed family dynamics in this, her debut novel, and it's all about the sisters.  Rose is a martyr, the family organizer, the practical one.  Bean is the needy attention-grabber, the pretty, ambitious one whose need to maintain her standard of living engulfs everything else in her live.  Cordy is the free spirit, the baby of the family who never quite needed to grow up until now.  Individually, they are interesting, but together they are hilarious with a touch of desperation.  Anyone with sisters will appreciate this novel, and anyone who has ever had to return to their childhood home for comfort and a safe haven will sympathize with the Weird Sisters.  The title, by the way, harkens back to the three witches in Macbeth.

DEATH BY CASHMERE (Sally Goldenbaum)

Sally Goldenbaum's Seaside Knitters mysteries will charm any and all cozy fans, especially those who also love yarn and knitting.  This is the first in the series that features Izzy Chambers, former lawyer and owner of the Seaside Knitting Studio, and her impossibly perfect Aunt Nell and Uncle Ben, who somehow manage to stay fit, cook divinely, entertain weekly, and enjoy a wonderful love life, all despite being in their 60's. 

In this "episode," Angelina Archer is found floating in Sea Harbor, the victim of an apparent homicide.  Angie had a wild reputation as a teen and has recently returned to town in the guise of respectable researcher, renting the apartment above Izzy's shop.  Who would want her dead?  Could there be any connection between her murder and her relationship with lobsterman Pete, or with recent thefts from Cass's lobster traps, or could it have something to do with her past or her research?  The Seaside Knitters are anxious to discover the answers.

Goldenbaum does a wonderful job of allowing the reader to unravel the clues as her knitters discuss patterns,  yarns, and knitting projects, a perfect combination, as far as I am concerned.  Don't be fooled into thinking that "cozies" are not "real" mysteries.  They may lack the blood and gore of some of the grittier mysteries, but they make up for it in sense of place and characters that make you want to know them better.

THE IMPERFECTIONISTS (Tom Rachman)

A "perfectionist" is one who demands perfection in all aspects of life and in all people that they encounter.  Nothing less will do.  An "imperfectionist," then, must be one who not only tolerates, but embraces, lack of perfection, in this case with dark humor and all too human shortcomings.  Rachman's novel is a compendium of the stories of employees of a Rome-based English-language international newspaper who almost seem to delight in being flawed.  The newspaper is the common thread running through the novel, which spans decades and generations.  The players range from the newpaper's founder, Cyrus Ott, who furnishes a mansion with art to please his lover, to aspiring Cairo correspondent Winston Cheung, who fails miserably in his quest to find a story worth reporting.  Each chapter features an outrageous headline (how DO they connect to the characters?) and treats the reader to insights into one character's dreams, tragedies, and disillusions.  Rachman has succeeded in creating a literary work worth reading, laced with humor and a gritty, realistic ambience.

SWEPT OFF HER FEET (Hester Browne)

You know, there is a time in one's life for every sort of reading.  As a child I read my way through the children's room of the Westfield Atheneum, always several grade levels ahead of where I was supposed to be.  I read all of Noel Streatfield's shoe books, Johanna Sperie, and all of Louisa Mae Alcott's works.  One of my all time favorites was a book called "Loretta Mason Potts" by Mary Chase, the story of a little girl who went off to play at the Potts egg farm one day and then refused to leave, necessitating her adoption by the Potts family.  I read that one 5 times!  When I was a  teenager I enjoyed horror and vampire stories, then as a young adult I gobbled up the classics, philosophy, and all of the angst-ridden memoirs born of the women's movement.  Through it all I managed to fit in all sorts of mysteries, Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, selected nonfiction, and thrillers - medical, political, and legal.  As an older adult I find that women's fiction, cozy mysteries, and good, more mature chick-lit are the most appealing genres to me at this stage in my life.  I refuse to apologize for not currently reading more "meaningful" or educational books.  I already have two master's degrees, two children in or starting graduate school, a 26 year old marriage, and a full time career.  I watch the news every day, read political editorials, and worry about struggling family and friends.  I read for enjoyment and relaxation!

That being said (aren't you glad you asked?), I heartily recommend Hester Browne.  I have written about her novels before and they have never failed to put a smile on my face.  In this, her latest, Evie Nicholson is a single antiques finder and appraiser who is invited, at her sister Alice's suggestion, to Kettlesheer Castle in Scotland to evaluate the family possessions.  The family in question, the McAndrews, including son Robert, are the unexpected heirs to the castle and its land and are having a hard time maintaining the estate in the style to which the community has become accustomed, including hosting an annual ball.  Evie's sister, Alice, is in love with Frasier Graham, whose family estate is a neighbor to Kettlesheer, and she is scheduled to attend the ball..  When Alice mysteriously backs out of the committment, Evie, who has a secret crush on Frasier, is asked to take Alice's place dancing in 8 reels, a difficult proposition for a 30-year-old with 2 left feet.  In the meantime, Evie thinks she is making headway in her quest to find some antiques worth selling at Kettlesheer, or is she?  Is there some romance? Of course.  Are there tradtional Scottish customs and quirks?  Yes!  Do I wish that I could learn to dance reels and spend some time in an old Scottish castle brimming with history and antiques?  I certainly do.  Would I recommend this book?  Absolutely.  I also laughed out loud at times and thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in the modern problems of maintaining a crumbling castle in Scotland.  Enjoy it with a nice cup of tea and some authentic shortbread.  You deserve a break!

DANCING LESSONS (Cheryl Burke)

Cheryl Burke, as any "Dancing With the Stars" fan knows, is  professional ballroom dancer and two-time winner of the coveted mirror ball trophy on that show.  I picked up this biography because I am a die-hard "Dancing" fan and there has been some controversy in the press over Ms. Burke in the past few years:  Does she have a drinking problem?  Was she abused as a child?  How does she feel about the nasty comments that crop up from time to time about her "weight problem?"  Is this biography heavy reading?  Of course not.  Cheryl Burke is an intelligent, hard-working young woman who knows when the time is right to capitalize on her fame.  She is an astute business woman who has opened several dance studios on the west coast and a sensitive, loving sister, daughter, and friend who values family  and relationships.

If you are looking for dirt and scandal, skip this book.  Burke is refreshingly candid about her own vulnerabilities and mistakes, but when it comes to lovers, friends, and dancing partners, she is respectful, positive, and delightfully appreciative of the relationships she has formed and the distinctive personalities and talents of everyone in her life.  This is a pleasant alternative to the typical "tell-all" biographies that are published today.  Despite living in a world hungry for drama and scandal, Ms. Burke has taken the high road.  She does talk about being sexually abused as a child and how this fact colored her subsequent relationships with men, but she relates the facts in a subtle, honest manner without sensationalism or embellishment,  She is a class act and an excellent role model for young women.  An extra added appeal is that she relates each chapter of the book and her life to specific ballroom and Latin dances, describing for the reader the background and basic details of each dance in a very simple and understanable way.  Every fan of "Dancing with the Stars" should consider reading this.  If you are looking for positive roles models who have overcome adversity with grace and intelligence, give a copy to your daughter or niece, especially if they are interested in dance.

DEATH OF A CHIMNEY SWEEP (M.C. Beaton)

I believe that this is the 26th Hamish Macbeth mystery.  I have to say that I didn't enjoy Hamish's adventures this time around as much as I usually do.  First of all, the title bothers me.  There was, indeed, a dead chimney sweep, but his murder was secondary to that of retired Captain Henry Davenport, who bullies his timid wife Milly and is found stuffed up his own chimney with his skull bashed in.  All of the ensuing drama revolves around Davenport's murder and its aftermath.  Why not call it "Death of a Captain" or "Death of a Bully" instead?  Also, I found Hamish less likable than usual in this novel.  For one thing, his illegal activies extended beyond his usual fish poaching, and his integrity is one of the things that I find most attractive about him.  The story also took place over such a long time span (18 months or so?) that you wondered what you were missing in between plot highlights.  Another thing is that there were so many characters outside of the usual villagers that I found it hard to keep track of who and where they were.  I must also admit that I am getting tired of Hamish's obsession with Priscilla.  In the BBC TV series Hamish ends up married to Isabel, the onscreen version of Elspeth, the reporter who almost captured Hamish's heart in previous novels. I thi nk I would like to see Hamish settle down a bit.  If you are a Macbeth fan, by all means read Beaton's latest.  Angela Brody has some interesting developments going on in her life that, naturally, cause trouble for good friend Hamish.  Even though it wasn't my favorite ("Death of a Gentle Lady" will forever hold THAT spot!), I'm glad I read it.

I THINK I LOVE YOU (Alison Pearson)

The first thing that I can think of to say about Allison Pearson's novel, her first in 10 years, is that it was well worth the wait.  I started reading "I Think I Love You" during a trip to Philadelphia and couldn't wait to get home and find the time to finish it.  What a wonderful trip down memory lane for anyone, but especially for those of us who were females growing up in the 60's and 70's!  Song lyrics from Cassidy, Simon and Garfunkel, and other popular groups of the era are strewn subtly throughout the text of the novel, and I could swear that I detected some Wordsworth as well, but maybe that was my imagination.  Pearson has captured EXACTLY the experience of  being a 13-year-old girl during those simpler times, when love meant a wall covered with posters and heartfelt daydreams of meeting the object of our affection, who would instantaneously recognize the depth of our love and would fall in love in return!

Pearson's book focuses on two eras: the early 70's, when the "Partridge Family" was the show to watch and David Cassidy's androgenous appeal was at it's height, and 1998.  Petra Williams, now aged 37 (in 1998), lives in South Wales and is the recently divorced mother of 13-year-old Molly.  After the death of her distant, perfectionist German mother, Greta, Petra discovers an envelope addressed to her in her mother's closet.  The envelope contains an announcement that Petra and her friend Sharon have won the grand prize in a 1974 pop magazine contest, a trip to California to visit the set of the "Partridge Family" and meet their idol, David Cassidy.  Soon after, Petra, a little worse for drink, calls the publisher of the magazine that sponsored the contest and demands her prize.  Pearson switches back and forth from 1974 to 1998, from young Petra to adult Petra, interweaving the story of Bill, the young writer who, in 1974, creates the fantasy of David Cassidy for The Essential David Cassidy" magazine, the bible of the singer / actor's young Welsh fans.  Bill is now the "boss" at Nightengale Publications,", the sponsor of the long-ago contest.

You have to read this novel.  I can't describe the feeling that Pearson conjours up as she weaves fact and fantasy to tell the story of a young girl's love for a teen idol and the hopes, dreams, and disillusionment that define growing up.

MURDER IS BINDING (Lorna Barrett)

New Hampshire, quaint themed book stores, quirky neighbors, a victim who just happens to have an identical twin, and a cat named Miss Marple...what more could a mystery reader ask?  Trish Miles, owner of  a mystery book shop, "Haven't Got a Clue," is horrified to discover a smoldering fire and fellow bookseller Doris Gleason with a knife in her back on the floor of "The Cookery," the shop next door.  Trish is immediately pegged by the local police as the prime suspect in the crime, so she and her contentious visiting sister, Angelica, set out to clear Tricia's name.  Attempting to track down the origins of a rare cookbook stolen from Doris' store, the sudden appearance of Deirdre, Doris' identical twin, and dealing with the collapse of Angela's 5th marriage make Trish wonder why she ever thought that moving to Stoneham, NH after her divorce was a good idea.  This is the first in Lorna Barrett's new Booktown Mystery series.  It's a first rate cozy and will appeal to almost anyone who loves the genre.

WAKING UP IN DIXIE (Haywood Smith)

Elizabeth Whittington's marriage to Howe, scion of their small Georgia town's most prominent family, staled long ago.  Concerned about appearances and about maintaining an intact family for their children, Elizabeth ignores her husband's philandering and emotional distance.  After meeting an old high school friend who makes it clear that he would like to be "more than friends," Elizabeths considers her future and tries to decide if maintaining appearances is worth the sacrifices she has made.  Then Howe suffers a massive stroke, remaining comatose for months.  When he awakes he is a changed man, suddenly concerned with righting past wrongs and repairing his broken marriage.  Can Elizabeth find it in her heart to trust Howe again, to believe that he has really changed?  Over the years Elizabeth has taken second place to Howe's mistresses and his domineering mother, Augusta, even to the point of being unable to  redecorate their home, which displays Augusta's taste in every room.  Spoiled daughter Patricia treats Elizabeth like a second class citizen while adoring her doting father.  Son Garrett is more sensible and sympathetic to Elizabeth's situation.

When Howe offers Elizabeth the chance to move to a place of her own to think through their marriage and her future, she jumps at the opportunity. Thenshe discovers the story behind her  new cottage is once again beset with doubts about Howe and his sincerity about mending fences and re-establishing old  relationships with new ground rules.

Haywood Smith's novels are always entertaining and laced with humor.  Waking Up in Dixie is a novel that deals with serious issues.  The comedic elements are there, but they blend seamlessly into the more serious theme of whether or not people and marriages CAN change and, if they do, whether it is better to salvage the relationship or to shed the baggage and move on.  My only regret in reading this book is that it ended too soon.

A STITCH BEFORE DYING (Anne Canadeo)

Author Jayne Ann Krentz says about Ann Canadeo's latest Black Sheep knitting mystery, "Friendship, knitting, murder...create the perfect  pattern.  Great fun."  I couldn't agree more!  The Black Sheep Knitting mysteries feature a group of close friends, all knitters, rather than a single amateur detective, and it is their relationship that makes the series so enjoyable. 

Maggie Messina, the owner of the Black Sheep Knitting Shop, is asked by her old friend Nadine Gould to run several knitting workshops at a spa resort in the Berkshires.  She has negotiated a cottage on the spa grounds so that the entire group, Phoebe, Suzanne, Dana, and Lucy, can join her for a luxurious, relaxing weekend of knitting and rejuvenation.  The spa is run by charismatic physician-turned- new age guru and best selling author, Dr. Max Fleming.  Lucy and Dana decide to participate in a moonlight meditation retreat, an overnight camp-out atop nearby Mount Wheaton, but when morning comes they awaken in the middle of a police investigation after the body of Curtis Hill, supposedly a travel guide writer, is discovered dead in one of the cabins.  When it is discovered that Hill's death was caused by a malfunctioning heater that had been deliberately adjusted to fill the cabin with carbon monoxide, the conclusion is MURDER. But who was the intended victim?  Suspicion centers on Dr. Fleming's former partner's son, Brian, a caretaker at the spa, and when a second murder is committed the investigation ramps up.

Canadeo has done a wonderful job creating appealing, humorous characters with very definite real-life qualities.  Knitters and non-knitters alike will love this series!

NOW YOU SEE HER (Joy Fielding)

In yet another edge-of-your-seat suspense novel, Fielding keeps the reader guessing until the very last pages.  Marcy Taggart is the grieving mother of Devon, who disappeared in Georgian Bay two years before, and the daughter of a manic-depressive who took her own life when Marcy was fifteen.  When her marriage to uptight orthodontist Peter (who appears as a character only in Marcy's mind and on the telephone) falls apart, Marcy decides to travel to Ireland, their second honeymoon destination, on her own.  While enjoying a cup of tea in a busy pub in Cork with Vic Sorvino, a fellow traveler, Marcy glimpses a girl who looks like Devon on the street outside, and thus begins a series of heart-wrenching gut twisting adventures as Maggie follows lead after lead trying to find Devon, whom she now believes is alive.

There are a lot of questions in this novel:  Is Maggie even sane, or is she losing her grip as her husband and sister believe?  Who in her life can actually be trusted?  Can she trust her own eyes or her feelings for Vic and Liam?  Will she find Devon alive or is she deluding herself completely?

There were times during this novel where I doubted Maggie's grip on reality.  Her overwhelming guilt over her mother's suicide and her perception of her own inadequate parenting drive her life and most of her actions.  In fact, a great deal of the dialog in the book takes place in Maggie's head as she replays old conversations and conflicts, lending credence to the idea that this "psychological" thriller might include more than a touch of "psycho."  Some of Maggie's conclusions and actions seem a little far-fetched to me, but as a mother perhaps on the brink of a breakdown she is amazingly rational and perceptive at times.  This is a real page turner.  I couldn't put it down once I started it.  It was definitely more intriguing than the Oscars broadcast!

THE OUTER BANKS HOUSE (Diann Ducharme)

Ducharme's first novel will appeal to fans of historical fiction and to young adults.  Its powerful sense of place and unusual perspective on post-Civil War life and attitudes in the South make it difficult to put down.

During the summer of 1868, Abigail Sinclair is the 17-year-old daughter of a North Carolina plantation owner nearly ruined by the Civil War.  Despite his financial difficulties, Abby's father builds a cottage on the beach at Nag's Head with the intention that his family will summer their, benefiting from the sea air.  After hiring illiterate "banker" Benjamin Whimble as his fishing guide he enlists his older daughter, Abby, to teach Ben to read and to write.  In return for the lessons and for helping Ben to procure a job at Cape Hatteras, which will enable Ben and his father to give up the hard life as fishermen, Mr. Sinclair asks Ben to find a freed slave, Elijah Africa, rumored to be a preacher on Roanoke Island, now a colony of former slaves.  Elijah is accused of murdering his former owners and needs to be brought to justice, according to Mr. Sinclair.  He can be identified by the letter "B" branded on his shoulder.

The story is told from the perspective of Abigail and Ben in alternating clusters of chapters.  Abigial is mesmerized by the sea and the sand and, eventually, by Ben.  She is sympathetic to the bankers (natives of the Outer Banks) and to the freed slaves who crave education.  One of the most memorable and telling moments in the novel is when Abby and her former wet nurse, now family maid, Winnie, are being introduced to members of the Roanoke colony.  Winnie corrects Abby's belief that "Winnie" is her given name and reveals that she is actually "Asha."  Winnifred is the name given to her by Abby's mother when she was purchased as a slave to work in the plantation house and Abby is shocked to realize that she had never given a thought to where Winnie came from or what she was called.  This was a true "coming of age" moment for Abby, a young woman of intelligence and compassion who finds her true self on the Outer Banks.

We have all read stories about the Civil War and its aftermath.  Ducharme creates what feels like a fresh, first-hand perspective on the attitudes of former slave owners, their families, and freed slaves.  I think that this is one of the shining attributes of "young adult" novels, meaning novels with main characters in their teens.  Youth is more open to new ideas and new persepctives and I like what is presented here.

AND FURTHERMORE (Judi Dench)

"The whole idea of a group of people coming together and working to one end somehow is very appealing to me.  It is the thing I have always wanted to do, and I am lucky enough to be doing it."
Judi Dench's memoir accentuates the positive (to borrow from Johnny Mercer), focusing on her obvious love of family and acting rather than highlighting the tragedies and setbacks in her life.  There is no whitewashing here, merely a recognition that with joy comes sorrow, and, with success, disappointment.  Not that Dench's life has been marked by any out-of-the ordinary tragedies.  In fact, she enjoyed a happy childhood and a successful 30-year marriage to fellow actor Michael Williams, she has a beautiful daughter and beloved grandson, and she has obviously achieved great success in her chosen field.  This memoir is not a celebration of Judi Dench's awards and achievements; it is the story of how she evolved into the person and actress she is today as told in her own words to John Miller.  Full of anectdotes about fellow actors and directors, Dench's story exudes humor, joy, and courage.  There are no scandals, no nasty revelations, no invasions of anyone's privacy.  This book is by Judi and about Judi, but without the ego you might expect from a beloved Oscar-winning actress.  I would recommend this memoir to any fan of Judi Dench and to anyone who is interested in life in the theater.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!

DEATH AT LA FENICE (Donna Leon)

Commissario Guido Brunetti is an Italian treasure with intelligence and insight worthy of Hercule Poirot and the sweetness of a happily married family man.  I read that author Donna Fenice came up with the idea for this wonderful series while actually in a conductor's dressing room at La Fenice (pronouned "La Fayneechay") Opera House in Venice.  She obviously knows Venice, having lived there for years, and there could be no other setting possible for Brunetti's adventures. 

Famed conductor Helmut Wellauer is found dead from apparent cyanide poisoning in his dressing room between acts at La Fenice Opera House in Venice.  Was he murdered by the soprano whom he was blackmailing over her same-sex love affair, threatening the loss of her children to her nasty Spanish ex-husband?  Or was it his much youger wife of 2 years with whom he shared a supposedly idyllic relationship?  Could the perpetrator have been someone from his past who objected to his reported Nazi sympathies or his blatant homophobia?  Commisario Guido Brunetti, with the "help" of his inefficient assistants and his egotistical superior, investigates the crime in this first of a very successful series.  Leon is a superb writer and Brunetti is one of the most appealing fictional detectives to hit the mystery scene.  The twists and turns of this investigation are logical but unexpected.  I can't wait to read more of the Brunetti series.

SEPARATE BEDS (Elizabeth Buchan)

To me, the title Separate Beds screams ROMANCE or CHICK-LIT, but this novel is neither.  It is the sometimes heartbreaking story of a married couple, Tom and Annie Nicholson, who have made mistakes as spouses and parents, grown apart, and are now driven to the breaking point when Tom loses his job with the BBC.  Five years earlier eldest daughter Mia, twin to son Jake, left the family in anger and disgust, vowing never to see them again.  She left in her wake sadness, stress, and a perpetual sense of longing.  Tom's unexpected job loss brings the family to the brink of financial disaster and exacerbates the feeling of failure and uncertainty that permeate the family.  Without the supplementary financing provided by Tom's salary, his mother is forced to leave her retirement home and move in with the family.When Jake's marriage to the elegant and selfish Jocasta breaks up, he also moves back home along with his year-old daughter, Maisie, and finally accepts that his fine woodworking business is not lucrative enough to support himself and Maisie.  Youger sibling Emily, an aspiring writer, has been enjoying the financial support of her parents and is now forced to get a "real" job.  At the heart of this novel is Annie, the wife and mother whose best efforts have always seems to have fallen short in the eyes of her family.  Forced to again share a room and a bed with Tom, Annie is confronted with memories of happier times and an unexpected sense of desire for her husband and the life that they seem to have lost in the great effort of living.

Elizabeth Buchan is always delightful, a sort of combination of Joanna Trollope and Marcia Willett.  If you haven't read any of her novels, I'd recommend that you do.

LOVE LETTERS (Katie Fforde)

I am laughing as I write this because as I was reading Fforde's latest I was thinking, "Rupert and Fenella!  I love British novels with characters named Rupert and Fenella!"  Then I had a sense of déja vu and remembered that I had made the same observation while writing about Fforde's previous novel, Wedding Season.  At least I am consistent!  In fact,  Love Letters features a few of the same characters, Rupert, Fenella, and Hugo. 

What is most appealing about Fforde is that, instead of the typical "single career girl looking for love and success" chick-lit fare, she offers her readers an entertaining cultural experience and a charming glimpse into British life and attitudes.  Yes, there is always a single woman as the main character and yes, she does usually have career issues, but Fforde rarely ventures into the world of Jimmy Choos and shopping sprees.  Instead, her female characters are usually innovative entrepreneurs who happen to stumble upon true love during the process of building a business or a career while immersed in pure Britishness.

Laura Horsely is a shy 27-year-old bibliophile who is about to lose her job in a small bookshop because Henry, the owner and a good friend, is retiring.  When she is offered the opportunity to organize a literary festival at a stately country manor (owned by Rupert and Fenella!) she reluctantly agrees, concerned about her ability to attract prominent authors like Dermot Flynn, her literary idol, to the event.  She and her friend Monica travel to Ireland in an attempt to convince the reclusive and incredibly attractive Flynn, who has not written a new novel in years, to participate in the festival.  You can certainly guess what happens next, but you need to read the novel to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of Ireland, the literary festival, British academics, life in a financially struggling English manor household, and true, strong friendships formed out of common interests and real affection.  You will finish this novel with a smile on your face.

THE OTHER FAMILY (Joanna Trollope)

This is an interesting novel, written in Trollope's usual insightful, British style.  That is one thing that always strikes me about Trollope: the incredible English-ness of her characters and settings.  There are many decent novelists whose stories are transferable to places other than those in which they are set.  They could just as easily take place in Texas or Canada with a few tweaks to place and language, but not Trollope's.  Her characters and setting are SO British that the reader becomes immersed in the every day life and surroundings to the point that it is almost surprising to look up and realize that you are in the United States.

Chrissie Rossiter and her 3 young-adult daughters (Tamsin, Dilly, and Amy) are grief-stricken at the sudden death of Richie Rossiter, famed composer and pianist, father, and husband.  What comes to light in the aftermath of Richie's death is that he and Chrissie never married and that he was, in fact, still married to his first and only wife, Margaret, with whom he had a son, Scott, now 37.   Despite Chrissie's encoragement, Richie would never divorce Margaret to marry her, but over the years they lived as a married couple but neglected to tell youngest daughter Amy about their true circumstances. Richie's will reveals shockingly that he has left his beloved piano and the rights to the music written before he abandoned her to estranged wife Margaret, while Chrissie and the girls face financial uncertainty.  Chrissie was not just Richie's lover and mother to his 3 girls, but also his manager.  She now has to cope with life without him, but also without any means of support, since he was her only client.  Margaret and Scott, still living in Newcastle, attend the funeral and are met with expected cold shoulders from Richie's second family.  Margaret has a successful business as a talent scout and agent, living a comfortable and satisfying life, while Scott is a lawyer who is very curious about the life his father led after leaving them when Scott was 14 years old.  The big question here is whether or not the animosity betwen the new and old families will ever be resolved as they work through their grief.

I have to say that I did not particularly like Chrissie, Tamsin, and Dilly.  They strike me not as women wronged, deceived, or victimized by circumstances, but as self-absorbed and stubborn.  Margaret, Scott, and Amy are delightful characters with a blossoming sense of self-awareness and an excitement about life and the future.  At times this novel is slow-moving, but it is well worth reading.

TO HAVE AND TO KILL (Mary Jane Clark)

This is the first in Mary Jane Clark's new wedding cake Mystery series.  Piper Donovan, the heroine, is a struggling New York actress who decides to move back to her parents' home in New Jersey when her soap opera character is killed off and acting gigs seem to be fewer and farther between than ever.   Piper helps out in mother's bakery (her name is derived from "piping" cake decorations) between acting jobs and getting involved in murders, in this case the poisoning by arsenic of one of the soap's major hearthrobs at a charity auction.  Piper's mother suffers from macular degeneraton and her father, Vin, is a former law-enforcement officer who has obsessively schooled his daughter in self defense and self preservation.  Piper also has a close friend, Jack, who is an FBI agent and promises to become a major romantic interest as the series progresses.  The mystery was interesting, with a large number of logical supects and a great resolution.  This promises to be a fun and entertaining cozy series. If you like Cake Boss and love mysteries, read it!

COVER HER FACE (P.D. James)

P.D. James is, of course, one of the best known authors of the English mystery genre.  It has been a long time since I read an Adam Dalgliesh mystery and I wasn't disappointed.  There is nothing like a slightly crumbling British estate, a disfunctional family, and servants who flaut the system by forming unsuitable emotional attachments to their "betters" to serve as the setting to a traditional locked room mystery.  Dalgliesh is amazingly subtle and cerebral, almost a background character as he works to solve the crime, the murder of maid Sally Jupp, who had received and announced a proposal of marriage from Stephen, the son of the house, just prior to her demise. Dalgliesh is quite a contrast to the romantic action heroes of many popular mysteries.  If you like your detectives quiet and thoughtful, try P.D. James.

THE NEIGHBORS ARE WATCHING (Debra Ginsberg)

I am honestly not sure whether I would recommend this novel or not.  Ginsberg is unique.  Each novel that she writes is completely different from the one before.  The story here has all of the elements of a thriller:  a long-lost daughter, an enticing "working girl" living across the street, a mysterious Asian family whom nobody seems to know at all, the couple who are pillars of the community yet seem to harbor dark secrets.  This is not a thriller;  there are no desperate chase scenes, no psychological manipulation, no sudden terror.  When wildfires strike the San Diego area, Joe Montana's teenage daughter, with whom he ha recently become acquainted, disappears, leaving her newborn baby and a lot of questions behind.  Joe takes several days to report the disappearance to the police, which I found to be a little unrealistic no matter what problems existed in their relationship. Joe lacks moral fiber, which is unusual in a man in his role.  He should be worried and proactive, but instead he seems emotionally cut off from his own life.

I guess what this novel lacks is two things: likable characters and excitement.  The characters are all flawed and and they tend to deal with problems very slowly and very ineffectively. They could actually live next door to any of us, though, but I don't think they would make for a very interesting neighborhood.  Ginsberg is an excellent writer, though, so don't let me discourage you completely.  This might just be a novel that deserves a second look and a little more in-depth analysis.

CAST INTO DOUBT (Patricia MacDonald)

If you are looking for a terrific thriller, place a hold on this one right now!  Patricia MacDonald never disappoints, providing nail-biting psychological suspense that makes this one a real page-turner.  Shelby Sloan is a 42-year-old grandmother and career woman who surprises her happily married daughter, Chloe, and son-in-law, Rob, with a relaxing Caribbean cruise and an offer to babysit for Jeremy, her 4 year old grandson, at their home while they are gone.  When a distraught Rob calls to inform Shelby that Chloe has disappeared from the cruise ship, Shelby flies to St. Thomas and invests her life savings in continuing the search for her daughter.  When all hope is lost for her daughter's survival, Shelby begins investigating her daughter's disappearance on her own with the help of her company's security chief, meeting many roadblocks along the way as she gathers information about Chloe's last hours on the cruise.  I won't say any more because I don't want to ruin the story.  Read it!  You'll love it!

MINI SHOPAHOLIC (Sophie Kinsella)

Those of you who have been following the adventures of Becky Bloomwood Brandon will enjoy "Mini Shopaholic."  Hard as it may be to believe (haha!), Becky's 2-year-old daughter Minnie is out of control and apparently following in her mother's footsteps where retail is concerned. 

Becky and Luke are living with Becky's parents after several real estate deals fall through, leaving them perpetually homeless.  Luke, who has, as usual, been working too hard, is still mourning the death of his beloved stepmother and is estranged from Elinor, his emotionally cold birth mother. Becky decides that a surprise party would be a great way to cheer Luke up, so she secretly enlists the help of his secretary, Bonnie, to help her with the guest list.  She also decides that in the spirit of economy (she has maxed out all of her credit cards and promised Luke that she will not buy any new clothes until she has worn the ones she already owns 3 times) she will barter for services and purchase decorations for the party at a discount shop.  Luke, perplexed by Becky's strange behavior (how hard it is to keep such a major secret!) and worried about Minnie's tantrums, hires the trendy Nanny Sue to evaluate their parenting skills and Minnie's attitudes, convincing Becky that her child is about to be torn from her arms and sent to a baby boot camp in Arizona.

Kinsella has once again created a enjoyable glimpse into the chaotic and slightly off-kilter world of Becky Bloomwood.  This is a wonderful light read, perfect for a lazy weekend when you just want to relax, put your feet up, and give your mind a little rest.  Keeping up with Becky's activities might not be so relaxing, though!

OPEN SEASON (Archer Mayor)

No wonder the Joe Gunther series is so successful!  This is Mayor's first foray into mystery writing and if you live in New England like I do you will thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere that this author creates.  Read the whole series if you enjoy a slightly gritty police procedural with a tremendous sense of place.  The wonderful details pay tribute to Mayor's own background as a Vermont police officer and forensic investigator.

THE TEA HOUSE ON MULBERRY STREET (Sharon Owens)

Penny Stanley and her husband, Daniel, run Muldoon's Tea House in Belfast.  While she longs for beauty and a family, he saves every penny and refuses to redecorate or consider having a child.  An assortment of characters, including a young woman obsessed with Nicholas Cage, a magazine editor searching for her lost sweetheart, and a lonely married bookshop owner whose wife is preoccupied with money and status, frequent the shop despite its dreary, outdated decor and somber atmnosphere.  This book didn't "wow" me, but I always enjoy the concept of disparate characters coming together on common ground to work through life's problems.

DEATH AT THE ALMA MATER (G.M. Malliet)

There is something so appealing about a lovely British college, castle, or village as the setting for murder!  G.M. Malliet writes in the tradition of Agatha Christie and this 3rd in the Arthur St. Just series is just as good as the first two.  Here, wealthy alumni are invited for a weekend reunion at financially troubled St. Michael's College in Cambridge in hopes of raising some much needed cash.  Any mystery fan knows that gathering a diverse group of  people with  past connections for the weekend will not end in anything good.  Here the murder victim is the beautiful Lexy Laurent, ex-wife of Sir James Bassett and renowned for her beauty and fashion sense.  When she is strangled in the college's boathouse, suspects abound, including her ex-husband, his stepson, his current wife, and almost everyone else at the reunion.  This mystery is great fun with clever and unexpected twist that helps to solve the murder.  Recommended!

VICTIM IN VICTORIA STATION (Jeanne Dams)

I know, I know.  I just can't stop reading about the adventures of Dorothy Martin!  This story is a bit unusual in that Dorothy is working independently, i.e. without police involvement, to solve a murder that only she and the murderers know actually happened.  After enjoying the comapany of young American businessman Bill Monaghan on the train to London, Dorothy is dismayed to learn that her new acquaintance has succumbed to an apparent heart attack.  A doctor who happens by assures her that he will take care of arrangements, so she heads to her orthopedist's appointment and scours the papers the next day looking for information about the unusual death.  She finally calls the police and is told that they have had no reports of a death in Victoria Station.  Since her husband, retired policeman Alan Nesbitt, is in Zimbabwe, Dorothy enlists the help of Tom and Lynn Alexander, her London-based American friends, and young Nigel, a computer expert, to find out who Bill Monaghan was and why he disappeared.  Dorothy arranges, with Tom's help, to work at the London office of Multilinks, Monaghan's software company, in an effort to gather information.  The combination of familiar, entertaining characters, a sub-plot of technolgical intrigue, and Dorothy's own down-to-earth investigative skills make this another appealing mystery by Jeanne Dams.

FEED ME (Edited by Harriet Brown)

Subtitled Writers Dish About Food, Eating, Weight, and Body Image, this book of essays is a must-read for any woman, of any age, who has ever felt inadequate about herself. 

Each of the contributors writes from personal experience on subjects ranging from cultural customs, eating disorders, family pressure, shopping for clothes, feminism, grief, health food, and cooking as an expression of love.  One size 14 author recounts her experience shopping with a thin friend in trendy stores where the "plus sizes" (bigger than 6!) are stored in the back room, presumably to avoid shocking the more desirable thin shoppers.  Another describes her Jordanian family, where eating without utensils is the norm and feeding children huge, choking portions of food by hand is considered an expression of love.

One woman, whose father grew up starving in Eastern Europe during WWII, learned to eat with lightening speed in order to avoid having her father finish off her food after gobbling up his own.   After several choking episodes she finally learns as an adult to slow down  and chew.  Another writes about her arrival at college, where the astounding excesses of food in the dining hall seem like miracle to her after years of living with a mother whose cooking repertoire consisted of 4 inedible meals and who never gave a second thought to keeping enough food in the house to satisfy her hungry children. 

The most memorable essay is the story of a woman overcome by grief after her fiancé dies unexpectedly just 2 weeks before their wedding.  After consulting psychics, therapists, and medical doctors in an effort to assuage her grief, she meets a man and moves in with him after only 3 weeks.  As their relationship develops he begins to undermine her self-esteem by controlling her eating and criticizing her whenever she eats high calorie treats, but she stays with him because she is afraid to be alone.  One day she shares a dessert with a friend, taking a very small sliver of cake under her boyfriend's disapproving gaze, and he responds by asking her how she can do that to herself, be so uncaring about her weight and her looks (despite the fact that everyone else who cares has told her that she is gaunt and too thin).  Eventually she meets a man who loves her normal-sized self as she is and suggest sharing TWO desserts so they can each try both.

Feed Me is more than a book about food.  It is a book about learning to nurture body and soul, to be healthy and happy and fulfilled as a woman and a person, to accept that real beauty comes from within no matter what size you are on the outside.  I've described just a few of these often poignant, always insightful essays. I hated finishing the last one.  These are not "fat" stories or a collection of essays by people who have overcome various eating disorders, although some of them have.  They are thoughtful vignettes from the lives of real women who are not afraid to admit that they are not perfect.

CAKE BOSS; STORIES AND RECIPES FROM MIA FAMIGLIA (Buddy Valastro)

If you like TLC's Cake Boss, or even if you have never seen the show but share Buddy's Italian heritage, you will enjoy this memoir.  This is not a book designed to promote a television show.  It is a heartfelt tribute to Buddy's parents and grandmothers, an appreciation of the hard work that went into building a life in America while maintaining family ties to Italy.  It is also the story of a brash teenager who disliked schoolwork, loved hanging out with his pals, and wasn't above accepting privileges born of his teachers' concern that his family might be connected with the Mafia (it isn't).  Buddy describes his growing love of and affinity for baking and his joy in discovering that he has his father's hands, hands that could pipe frosting with precision and work various doughs to perfection.  At the age of 54 Buddy Valastro, Sr. died of lung cancer, leaving 17-year-old Buddy to drop out of high school and become a full-time baker in the family business, working alongside his mother, 4 older sisters, and various other family members.

Buddy Valastro has a talent for dealing with people that has served him well in the family business.  He is hard-working, creative, and dedicated, motivated solely by his love of family and tradition.  His love for his wife and children and for the family he grew up in shines through in this enjoyable book.  I would recommend it!

A HIGHLAND CHRISTMAS (M.C. Beaton)

Unlike most of Hamish MacBeth's adventures, this one does not include a murder.  Instead, Hamish is called to investigate a set of stolen Christmas lights in a town where celebration of the holiday is frowned upon.  As usual, Hamish is brilliant and Blair is a stupid jerk, just the way we like it!  This will get you in the mood for the holidays!

MALICE IN MINIATURE (Jeanne Dams)

Yes, I know, I can't seem to stop reading the adventures of the delightful Dorothy Martin.  She and Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt are now newlyweds and living in Dorthy's almost- restored cottage in Sherebury.  Ada Finch interrupts their tea time with the news that her often inebriated son, Bob, has been arrested for stealing a miniature tea set from Brocklesby Hall, where he is employed as a gardener.  The charges are dropped, but Dorothy becomes  intrigued by the monstrous Brocklesby Hall and the Museum of Miniatures housed there.  Sir Mordred Brocklesby, the museum's owner, is a strange little man who is obsessed with miniatures and surrounded by even stranger characters, so when his formidable housekeeper is found poisoned there are a plethora of suspects to be ruled out.  Since Alan is away, Dorothy investigates (with his blessing) and manages to uncover another murder in the process. This cozy includes some very interesting twists and turns, a few red herrings, and an adorable late-in-life marriage that warms the heart.  I can't waitr for dorothy's next adventure.

THE TALE OF HALCYON CRANE (Wendy Webb)

Back in the day, when my hair was still brown and I could climb stairs without a handrail, I couldn't get enough of the likes of H.P. Lovecraft and Bram Stoker.  Frank Langella (remember him in "Dracula"?) was sexy and "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dark Shadows" were a required viewing for anyone who appreciated campy, quality horror.  Since then my tastes have run the gamut of classic literature, suspense, medical thrillers, chick-lit, women's fiction, and cozies, but I 've been interested in very few ghost stories, until now.

Today's young adults thrill to sexy vampires and shape changers, so this story might not interest them.  The Tale of Halcyon Crane is a good, old-fashioned ghost story with just the right combination of terror and practicality, enough to make it almost believable.  Webb unfolds her story with precise timing and just the right amount of suspense. The reader leaps to one conclusion, then to another, only to be lulled back to reality before being confronted again with the possibility that maybe they really are out there, watching and waiting.

Thirty-something Hallie James was raised by her father Thomas in Bellingham, WA after the tragic death of her mother in a house fire 30 years before.  As her father is dying of Alzheimer's she receives an envelope in the mail from Will Archer, an attorney on Great Manitou Island, Minnesota.  Inside the envelope are a letter from Archer informing her of the death of Madlyn Crane along with a letter to Hallie from Madlyn Crane, written just before her recent sudden death from a heat attack.  In the letter Madlyn tells Hallie that she is her mother and that she has believed for 30 years that her daughter and husband died in a tragic boating accident.  A chance picture of Hallie and her father in a newspaper article led Madlyn back to her daughter.  When Hallie arrives on Great Manitou after the death of her father, she meets with suspicion and apparent dislike on the part of many of the island's inhabitants.  She soon discovers why: her father was the main suspect in the death of Hallie's childhood friend, Julie, disappearing along with Hallie before he could be arrested for the crime.  Hallie decides to stay on the island for a few days to live in the house she inherited from her mother, the house that she lived in as a child, but of which she has no memory.  She soon starts hearing voices and experiencing disappearing jewelry, touches from unknown hands, and TV and lights turned inexplicably on and off.  She also discovers that she has inherited a very old housekeeper, Iris, who smells vaguely of dirt and rose petals and claims to have know her family for almost 100 years!

I won't tell you any more about the plot, but suffice it to say, I couldn't put this book down until I finished it.  It's perfect reading for a rainy November day.  It might be even better during a blizzard.  If you are looking for gore and guts, skip it, but if you like a gripping psychological thriller complete with graveyards, mediums, and ghosts, try this one.

THIRD WORLD AMERICA (Arianna Huffington)

In a third world country, the government works for the benefit of special interests and the rich rather than for the good of the majority.  Huffington does a brilliant job of analyzing the long downward spiral of the middle class lifestyle, a spiral precipitated not by reckless spending and irresponsibility of average Americans, but by years of legislation  riddled with loopholes that favor the monied top tier of our economic hierarchy.  Did you know that Washington lobbyists outnumber legislators by almost 26 to one?  Did you know that on average $6.5 million in contributions goes to each of our legislators from these lobbyists?  Did you know that many of the bills designed to help middle class citizens actually hurt them?  Did you know that many of the top government financial regulators used to work on Wall Street and still have strong connections there, that the teachers union has more clout in Washington than several of our largest compnaies combined, and that the top 1% of our citizens own 35% of the wealth?  The middle class is disappearing, but there is hope. 

Huffington's book is scary and depressing.  With each of the first 4 chapters I found myself feeling that our country was, indeed, heading toward destruction, that our days as the place where anyone can achieve success with hard work and a just little luck are truly behind us.  In the final chapter, however, Huffington introduces a glimmer of hope, with anectdotes about Americans who have used their bad luck to become better people, who refuse to accept that unemployment or even losing their home is the end of their dreams.  She talks about philanthropy and America's spirit of giving.  She and her colleagues take action themselves, transferring their money from the "big banks" and depositing it instead in local banks and credit unions, where it benefits communities instead of big business.  When I finshed reading, I was disgusted with politicians of both parties, but infused with new hope for our country and our economy.  This book is about politics, but it is most definitely NOT a political book.  Read it!

HOLY TERROR IN THE HEBRIDES (Jeanne Dams)

When Dorothy Martin agrees to accompany her friends on vacation to the Hebrides while her policeman beau Alan Nesbitt attends a conference in Brussels, she never imagines that she will end up stranded and incommunicado with strangers on an island immobilized by a massive storm.  She heads to the island alone when her firends are delayed due to a health scare, and finds herself staying at an inn with a group of disgruntled religious tourists after she realizes that she forgot to bring the key to her rental cottage.  After one of the religious group dies myteriously, Dorothy suspects foul play.  Is one of the less than travelers a murderer?  Are Dorothy and her fellow travelers, stranded with a murderer who might strike again?

Holy Terror in the Hebrides is a fun cozy and Dorothy, despite her age-related aches and pains, is in fine form as she dodges danger and discovers clues.  Look for a couple of unexpected surprises at the end!

BUSY BODY: AN AGATHA RAISIN MYSTERY (M.C. Beaton)

Unpopular Health and Safety Inspector John Sunday is not mourned by many when he is stabbed to death outside of a Cotswolds ladies society meeting.  Suspects abound, and Agatha Raisin is hired by millionaire incomer and prime suspect Miriam Courtny to clear her name.  When Miriam is also murdered, complications abound.  Agatha, true to form, enjoys some short-lived romantic fantasies about Miriam's handsome son, but soon finds herself grappling with the police and the uncooperative citizens of Oddley Cruesis, where Sunday had put the kibosh on many beloved Chritmas traditions.  If you are a fan of Agatha's friend Charles Fraith, you will like this one.  I miss him when he doesn't show up to mooch off of Agatha!

THE GODWULF MANUSCRIPT (Robert B. Parker)

This novel, written in 1973 and the first of the popular Spenser series, was like a visit back to an era where people had to interact face-to-face and information was something you really had to dig for instead of paying an Internet service or calling a cell phone.  Spenser, as most everyone knows, is a charming Boston-based private eye with an eye for the ladies and a brash, unapologetic style.  He is also a great cook and a satisfying lover with a very 70's outlook on sex and romance.  One of the things I found most enjoyable in this novel were the descriptions, seeing the world through Spenser's eyes.  The reader is treated to Spenser's uncensored opinions on clothing, weather, neighborhoods, people, driving conditions, and food, as well as anything else that comes his way.  As for the crime-solving aspect of this mystery, Spenser works hard to investigate every clue and follow every lead, taking on dangerous opponents, beaing beaten and shot, and recuing damsels in distress.  The heroes of most of today's slick high-tech thrillers can't compare with Spenser's nitty-gritty hands-on style of crime-solving.  Spenser is a real PI, the kind we will always love to read about.

HEART OF THE MATTER (Emily Giffin)

The most interesting thing about Giffin's latest is the characters.  The premise is not new:  seemingly happliy married man meets vulnerable yet capable woman and finds himself falling in love.  In this case the married man is plastic surgeon Nick Russo.  The story is told alternately between Nick's wife, Tessa, who questions her decision to leave her professorship to become a full-time mom, and Valerie, an attorney and single mother whose son, Charlie, is burned in an accident.  I am not sure why Nick would allow himself to cross the line between friendship and love when there are no obvious problems in his marriage.  I don't think that Tessa questioning her abilities as a mother would be enough to drive her husband into the arms of another women.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Nick and Valerie and Nick and Charlie, Valerie's son.  The alternating points of view are done well.  This may not be Giffin's best, but I liked it.

PROMISES TO KEEP (Jane Green)

I seem to be on a sad track lately as far as my reading is concerned.  That being said, everyone knows someone who struggles with cancer, MS, heart disease, lupus, or another life-threatening condition.  Here we are introduced to Callie Perry, a talented photographer, loving wife, mother, sister, daughter, and four-year breast cancer survivor.  Apparently 5% of the victims of a certain type of breast cancer eventually develop a secondary cancer that is virtually untreatable.  When Callie starts experiencing excruciating headaches, weight loss, and blackouts, her sister, Steffi, and long estraged parents, Warren and Honor, come together to support Callie and her husband, Reece, while they await a diagnosis.  This is a very emotional story and Callie is a little too perfect to exist on this earth, but overall, I enjoyed it and I think you will, too.

PERFECT READER (Maggie Pouncey)

When former Darwin College President and renowned scholar Lewis Dempsey dies, he leaves behind a twenty-something daughter, Flora, a collection of personal poetry, a house, and Cynthia, his lover and muse.  Flora leaves her job as a magazine editor in the city and returns to Darwin, scene of her childhood triumphs and traumas, to settle her father's affairs.  As his literary executor, it is Flora's task to manage the fate of his prose and poetry.  One problem is that she has never actually read her father's work, not his revered publication, "Reader as Understander," or the poems that he had entrusted to her care.  Cynthia, an art historian who shared Lewis' bed and intellectual passions, wants to buld a relationship with the reluctant Flora that includes a common goal of publishing Lewis' poetry.  Flora is overwhelmed with her return to Darwin and all of the complicated relationships, new and old, associated with the college town.  Her close childhood friend, Georgia, whose long-ago fall from a fire escape was blamed on Flora (who became somewhat of a pariah as a result), is now living in a Mongolian yurt. Georgia's parents, however, remain in Darwin and embrace Flora as a prodigal daughter.  Esther, the wild child turned born-again Christian, has a young daughter and is firmly grounded in the town.  Paul, Lewis' lawyer, becomes Flora's lover and confidante, but Flora has doubts that she has evolved enough to sustain a serious relationship for long.

Pouncey's first novel is a bit slow-paced, but offers a very insider's look at the politics and inbreeding of a college town and its cult of intellect.  Flora is not a heroine; she is a confused young woman coming to terms with who she is and where she stands on the people and issues closest to her heart.  The book has many things to offer to the patient reader and is well worth the time to read it.  At the end, although some issues were resolved and there were many aspects of Flora's life that remain a work in progress.  I guess we will never know how they turned out, but isn't that what real life is all about?

NEXT OF KIN (Joanna Trollope)

Death and all of its accoutrements are the stars of this novel, which reminded me of a rainy day with occasional breaks of sunshine.  Not everyone dislikes gray, damp days, though, as long as they don't go on forever.  The funeral of Caro Meredith, American wife of Robin and mother of Judy, sets the tone for the mood of "Next of Kin."  Caro was an American, married to dairy farmer Robin for more than a quarter of a century when a brain tumor claimed her life.  Atypically, this event doesn't inspire a series of flashbacks leading to the inevitable end of Caro's life, but rather propels the characters, the next of kin of the title, into a future without a woman who left an indelible mark on each of their lives.  Robin seems both bewildered and accepting, the stoic, hard working man of the earth whose intimate relationship with his inscrutable wife had ended years before.  Adopted daughter Judy is angry at her father, blaming him for Caro's apparent unhappiness and her own lack of direction.  Robin's brother Joe, supposedly happily married to Lindsay, seems bereft at the loss of Caroline. 

Judy brings her rommate, Zoe, a spiky, maroon-haired waif, along to Tideswell Farm for the weekend.  This quirky young woman falls in love with farm life and becomes an unexpected catalyst for change and self-examination for the Meredith family.  As in her other novels, Trollope is a master at developing real, flawed characters.  Here she also does an admirable job of potraying the gritty hardships of farm life in the English midlands.  Trollope specializes in immersion.  Coming out of this book I felt like I had lived through it rather than just reading it.  Depressing?  Yes, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

THE MOON SPINNERS ( Sally Goldenbaum)

This third in the Seaside Knitters series continues the adventures of sixty-something Nell, Ben, and Nell's niece Izzy Cahmbers, owner of the Seaside Knitting Studio.  Two things stand out in this cozy mystery:  the friendships and the food! This time the murder victim is Sylvia Santos, the beautiful, controversial wife of millionaire Angelo Santos.  When her red Ferrari careens off a cliff, the initial assumption is that she was the victim of an unfortunate accident.  Then it is discovered that the brake line hs been cut.  Complicating the investigation are Sylvia's unpopular decision to cut off beach access to the community, circumstantial evidence against Angelo's unstable sister Julianne, and an unexpected pregnancy.  As usual, Izzy, octogenarian Birdie, Nell, and the others knit their way to a surprising solution.  There is actually not too much knitting in this installment, but there is enough mention of yarn and knitting patterns to satisfy yarn enthusiasts.  I have to admit that I was surprised when I found out who the perpetrator of the crimes was.  Goldenbaum did a decent job on this one!

CARDINGTON CRESCENT (Anne Perry)

I didn't realize how much I missed Anne Perry's astounding ability to immerse her readers in the everyday life of Victorian England.  From the squalor of London's slums to the unabashed hypocrisy of the privileged classes, Perry makes us feel as if we are there.  When Charlotte's brother-in-law, George, is found poisoned at his cousin's family home, Bow Street detective Thomas Pitt, her husband, is called in to investigate.  With today's plethora of television shows and novels about forensics and police procedures it is fascinating to see how far we have come from Victorian times!  The family stands in the way of Thomas's investigation, insisting (with no evidence whatsoever) that widow Emily must be guilty, primarily because of her lower social standing!  A simultaneous investigation involving the murder and dismemberment of a young woman is rather too neatly tied into this upper-class murder, but the investigations of both are intriguing from start to finish, as are the various related sub-plots that round out the novel, enriching the Victorian experience.  Thomas and Charlotte are an intelligent, practical, and very loving couple. They will charm and entertain you through every page.  Read this series, or re-read it!

TROUBLE IN THE TOWN HALL (Jeanne Dams)

This is the second in Dams' charming Dorothy Martin series.   American ex-pat Dorothy, now a widow of one year, has grown increasing closer to Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt while establishing a new life in the shadow of England's fictional Sherebury Cathedral.  While out walking (she still has trouble adapting to England's driving habits) one day, Dorothy happens to notice movement in the town's deserted old town hall, prompting her to enter and to meet charwoman Ada Finch, leading (of course) to the discovery of a dead body in a closet.  Since the ancient town hall is the subject of a tug of war between developers and preservationists, suspects and possible motives abound.  Naturally, Dorothy is drawn into investigating the death.

Dams (who does NOT live in the UK!) has a way of interweaving so many details of small-town English life into her novels that you would swear you were actually in Sherebury.  Readers are almost able to feel the rain relentlessly dripping down their necks or pounding on the roof or to taste the chocolate biscuits and piping hot tea.  Dams creates an almost flawless sense of place in her mysteries.  As for characters, Dorothy is level-headed, age appropriate in her behavior and dress, and emotionally realistic while Alan is gentlemanly and  intelligent.  There are few "Perils of Pauline" type adventures here and the realism adds immeasurably to the appeal of this series. I can't wait to order some more!

FLY AWAY HOME (Jennifer Weiner)

When I started reading the description of this novel, my first thought was, "Older woman deals with marital problems by moving to vacation home in CT, eventually joined by adult daughters with problems of their own?....The Three Weissmanns of Westport!"  I imagine that Jennifer Weiner must have been dismayed when Catherine Schine's novel was first publicized, because the similarities in plot seem striking.  Closer reading reveals a completely different feel to Weiner's novel, though.  Her heroine, Sylvie Serfer Woodruff, is strong and resilient, living firmly in the real world and facing her husband's infidelity by withdrawing to her family's country ocean-side vacation retreat to heal and to think about her choices for the future.  Daughters Lizzie, a recovering drug addict, and Diana, a high achieving, staunchly correct physician who has herself been unfaithful to her boring husband, also face life-changing dilemmas that result in their joining their mother in Connecticut to think through their options, or perhaps to hide. 

Weiner has an interesting way of taking current events like the ubiquitous trend toward cheating married politicians and turning them into a thoughful, entertaining novel.  Her treatment of Sylvie's approach to dealing with her husband's infidelity is right on the mark.  I think I might behave the same way, assuming that I am an itelligent, thoughtful woman, in a similar situation.  Lizzie's happy ending and Diana's marriage are a little too trite and predictable, but perhaps Weiner preferred to produce an uplifting, life-affirming novel rather than a contender for an eventual Oprah pick.  If you are a fan of Jennifer Weiner, or even if you are not, this novel is well worth taking a look at!