Blue Moon Mystery Saloon

Rhythm and Bluegrass

Rhythm and Bluegrass by Molly Harper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

     An ARC was provided by Pocket Star eBooks and Edelweiss for an honest review. 

RHYTHM AND BLUEGRASS is the second book in Molly Harper's BLUEGRASS SERIES. It's an enjoyable and humorous story about Bonnie Turkle, a Kentucky Tourism Commission employee, and Will McBride, mayor of the small, dying community of Mud Creek, KY. Bonnie plans to research and catalog whatever items remain in historic McBride's Music Hall, an important venue for burgeoning blues, bluegrass and country/western groups in the 1950s and 1960s and a place where both whites and blacks intermixed without prejudice. Will's family owns the hall, and though his mom and other residents of Mud Creek step up to help Bonnie with her project, Will is reluctant to encourage any long-term focus on the building. He's been courting the ComfyCheeks Underwear company to build a new plant on the same property and doesn't want anything to hurt what could become a big employer for the financially struggling people of the region.

Bonnie and Will's relationship has lots of ups and downs. They first meet when Bonnie's car burns up just as she reaches the welcome sign for Mud Creek. Will stops and helps her get some belongings out of her SUV before everything goes up in flames. She doesn't know what to think about Will, especially when he leaves to deal with a sewage problem in town, so she's surprised when he ends up being the town official she has an appointment with later in the day. Will has a unusual sense of humor, and he and Bonnie get along great until she decides to nominate the music hall for status as a national historic landmark without telling anyone in town. Will is furious when he finds out, because a landmark deseignation for McBride's Music Hall might kill the ComfyCheeks project. And without the influx of new jobs, many of Mud Creek's remaining residents would have to seek jobs elsewhere, putting another nail on the town's sinking coffin.

Bonnie jeopardizes all her good feelings and interactions with the townspeople because of the landmark nomination. She knows she's really in trouble after experiencing Will's unhappy reaction and reading the newspaper article slamming both Bonnie and the McBride Music Hall project. Will's angry open letter in the “Letters to the Editor” section states that Bonnie is preventing Mud Creek from getting a factory that would bring over 200 desperately needed jobs to the flailing region. Mud Creek's residents show community support by denying Bonnie services and goods. Now Bonnie has to come up with a solution--and fast--if she has any hope to save her position, the future employment potential of the town, and her relationship with Will.

As someone who's been involved in historic preservation, I like that both the benefits and downsides of protecting locally significant sites are woven through the story. I understand Bonnie's desire to preserve the music hall's important history and to share it with others. I also can sympathize with Will's anger and frustration at not being informed about the landmark nomination and his concern that a positive landmark ruling would wind up killing his struggling town.

The story is humorous from the first chapter to the last page. Bonnie's temporary living situation is far from the cute apartment she's envisioned, and Mud Creek residents are a good kind of quirky. There's Fred, who runs the fire department and wrecker service; Miss Earlene, the spunky 50-year employee of the Mud Creek Public Library and it's first black head librarian; Joe Bob, the bald, bearded teddy bear of a tow truck driver and builder of the out-of-spare-parts VW bug (“FrankenBug”) he loans to Bonnie; and, Sheriff Jenny Lee Felter, who turns on her cruiser's siren and pulls Bonnie over to just introduce herself. Mud Creek is full of the type of loyal and lively characters I'd want as friends and neighbors.

Overall, I loved RHYTHM AND BLUEGRASS. It spoke to me about loyalty and friendship, small town pride in spite of economic concerns, and acceptance no matter who you are. Bonnie and Will's fun relationship and all the Mud Creek residents' antics make this a perfect book for anyone wanting a light-hearted romance with a hearty helping of small town life thrown in. It's the right read for the beach, a welcome snow day, or just anytime at all.

If You Like This Book, You May Like --- MY BLUEGRASS BABY by Molly Harper, THE LUCKY HARBOR SERIES and THE ANIMAL MAGNETISM NOVELS by Jill Shavis, SERENDIPITY'S FINEST SERIES by Carly Phillips, THE KOWALSKIS SERIES by Shannon Stacey

 

Cut to the Bone

A Body Farm Mystery by Jefferson Bass, William Morrow, September 2013.

*An ARC was provided by Harper Collins/William Morrow and Edelweiss for an honest review.

CUT TO THE BONE  is a suspenseful, entertaining prequel to the successful BODY FARM MYSTERY SERIES written by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Bass is the real-life forensic anthropologist, Anthropology Department chairman, and Body Farm director upon whom the book's protagonist, Dr. Bill Brockton, is based. CUT TO THE BONE tells a fictional story of the vision and development of the real Body Farm at the University of Tennessee (UT) and parallels a suspenseful serial murder mystery. Though the story is told in several points of views, chapter and segment headings make the story easy to follow and assists in building suspense.

The mystery involves a serial murderer to whom the reader is introduced early in the story. Reading in the killer's point of view gives the reader insight into why he kills, how he picks his murder weapons, and who he chooses as his victims, and the FBI profiler characters help Brockton understand what kind of killer he's facing.

If learning a little about forensic anthropology is a draw, loads of body identification techniques and scene forensics are explained in the story. Brockton describes to local authorities how studying a body's bones can uncover the skeleton's gender, age and possible trauma suffered before death and what to look for in time-of-death and post-death trauma. The story also describes the specific and sometimes boring research needed to build a strong, fact-based database which can be accessed by medical and law officials to help solve crimes.

Humor, a common emotional release for forensic anthropologists and anyone else mired in the business of death, is scattered throughout the book. The bantering and conversations between Brockton and his grad assistant are totally believable, and several of their interactions with local rural county officials are funny and pretty authentic. I particularly enjoy Brockton's phone calls with his new, already beleaguered secretary and with the chatty dispatcher at the Morgan County sheriff's office.

I also like that the settings' details pull the reader right into the scenes and that the authors made sure to include other senses (touch, sound, smell and taste) to enhance the visual descriptions. I have a slight advantage in imagining where the story takes place, as I grew up in Knoxville. I also spent a lot of time in the Anthropology Department as an undergrad and for a short time as a grad student during Bass's tenure as department chair. I remember the room layout in Neyland Stadium and the unpleasant odors that bombarded me when opening the door to the department's hallway. But CUT TO THE BONE 's detailed descriptions also bring up memories of good times in the labs and classrooms there.

All in all, I would recommend CUT TO THE BONE to anyone who enjoys suspenseful murder mysteries, forensic science, anthropology and archaeology, or just good, entertaining storytelling. The book is fine as a stand-alone, but if this is your first time reading a Body Farm Mystery, then CUT TO THE BONE is definitely a good place to start if you want to continue this interesting series. Just make sure to take a big chunk of time to read. If you're like me, you'll want to read this story at one sitting.

If You Like This, You May Also Like ---   Other BODY FARM MYSTERIES by Jefferson Bass,  DEATH'S ACRE and BEYOND THE BODY FARM (both nonfiction, related to the real Body Farm) by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson, TEMPERANCE BRENNAN MYSTERIES by Kathy Reichs, SCARPETTA MYSTERIES by Patricia Cornwell, DIANE FALLON FORENSIC MYSTERIES by Beverly Connor

Mrs. Poe

A novel by Lynn Cullen, Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books, October 2013. 

* An ARC was provided by Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books and Edelweiss for an honest review.

 MRS. POE  by Lynn Cullen is a fictional account of the rumored adulterous relationship between Frances (Fanny) Sargent Osgood and Edgar Allan Poe. The story begins in February 1845 in New York City. Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" has just been published to much public interest and acclaim, and Fanny is trying to eke out a living as a poet and writer of children's stories.

While Fanny's husband is away having an affair, she and her two girls live with her good friend, Eliza Bartlett, and her husband, bookseller Russell Bartlett. It is through them that Fanny receives an invitation to hear Mr. Poe speak at a literary evening hosted by Anne Lynch. A large cast of famous characters intermingle at these soirees, including Walt Whitman, Mathew Brady, John Audubon, and Horace Greeley, and it is here where Fanny and Poe first meet.

Fanny is offered a large advance for a sensationalized story about Mr. Poe and his wife. Poe only agrees to an article about his work and then uses the interview as a way to see Fanny. Poe further seeks out Fanny to extend invitations from Mrs. Poe to join them at home, at the theatre, or for other outings. The story highlights their infrequent encounters, and the book ends after their last conversation in Winter 1847.

It is obvious the author did extensive research to interweave historical events and people throughout the story in order to create a believable background for the Osgood/Poe affair. So I would definitely suggest MRS.POE to readers who want to know more about New York City in the late 1840's. But I felt the presentation of the Osgood/Poe relationship was weak and somewhat dull and the overall story fairly flat.

Would I mention the book to Edgar Allan Poe fans? Probably. Would I read it again? Probably not.