Librarian D.O.A. Booknotes

I’m at the bottom of the pile of books that have been waiting by my pc since January! for notes about them to be written up.   I’m putting them upstairs on my shelves after finally getting them noted here.  I have a pile upstairs of course that I didn’t bring down because this is my craft room after all and there isn’t room for much more than my crafts.

 

Two Gardeners: a friendship in letters:  Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence

I first read Katherine S. White’s book Onward and Upward in the Garden and became fascinated with her friendship through correspondence over many years with southern garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence. 

This alternates letters between the two and I honestly wish the editor had just let the letters stand on their own.  I really wanted to read them all, they were that pleasant and full of gardening information.

 

The personalities of the two women comes out so well.  I really was charmed by Elizabeth, and her generous personality and beautiful writing.  Her knowledge of plants and their growth habits all over the country was astonishing.  She gained this knowledge through yet  more correspondence with farmers and housewives via market bulletins.  She would see plants offered by common local names and write to ask about them to see if she could identify them.

 

Hide and Seek:  Ian Rankin

In the second Inspector Rebus novel  the detective finds a junkie dead in a hovel with what looks like signs of satanic worship.  Something nags at Rebus about the scene, and the way some of his fellow detectives handle the body and crime scene. He should let it go but of course he can’t. 

 

Rebus makes an overture to his estranged brother who is well off and seemingly everything he is not. 

The ever lonely Rebus compare his life to his sibling’s throughout, and wonders if he could have been something different.

 

 

Heirs of the Body Carola Dunn    

Daisy Dalrymple  helps sift through claimants to be the heir to Fairacres, the family estate.  I read this a while ago before I started watching Downton Abbey and it all looks different to me now.  I see a bit better how English law determined who could inherit and who could not.  When I read it I thought Daisy should just get the estate, it was more than unfair to dig these people up to keep her from what should be hers.

 

The heirs apparent must prove that they are actual relations.  Since they are scattered far and wide geographically and in their life situations, and their ties seem quite tenuous, it isn’t an easy thing to sort out.

Daisy is very good at reading people and judging their motives so she can be invaluable. 

Having all of the heirs who have been located come to Fairacres seems like a good idea until accidents begin to occur.
 

Her detective husband Alec, who has been reluctant to enter into any family feud situations proves invaluable in sorting things out.