Librarian D.O.A. Booknotes

The Black Tower P.D. James

This was a selection of our Mystery Book Group (which I haven’t attended all summer, guilt guilt).  I had read P. D. James before and didn’t care for her book for some reason.

I enjoyed this one enough so I will as time go back and read her other books, particularly the ones in this series.

This is part of a series featuring Commander Adam Dalgliesh.  Dalgliesh is recuperating from an illness and responds to a request for help from an old friend who is a  priest at a remotely located nursing home for people with profoundly disabling diseases called Toynton Grange.

 

The theme of disability and how it affects the individual and those who care for them runs throughout the novel.  Since there are deaths, some of the severely disabled individuals die helplessly, and some are suspects in the murders.  It just puts such an odd twist on things.  Our hero is also very weak, often helpless to do what he wishes he could do to solve the murders.

Staying at his friends cottage at the Grange, Dalgliesh begins to suspect that his old friend was murdered.

There are many suspects, motivations abound.  The real reason behind the murders comes as a vast surprise, and is cleverly laid out throughout the novel.

 

Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin

The third John Rebus mystery has detective Rebus working to solve the case of The Edinburgh Strangler.  The killer targets little girls.  He is able to separate them quickly from their increasingly vigilant parents, and disposes of them in different parts of the city.

Police know there must be something they all have in common but they can’t see what it could be.

 

 

Rebus is undone by the case even before his own daughter is targeted and abducted.  Racing against time and plagued as always by memories from his time spent in the Army, fragile Rebus works to find his little girl and stop the killer.

 

A Death in Lionel’s Woods by Christine Husom

 

A Death in Lionel’s Woods is part of  the Winnebago County Mysteries featuring Sergeant Corky Alekson.  These are set in what is a fictional representation of Wright County Minnesota.  I can see the landscapes and the people in these novels so vividly because they are so well known to me.

The Corky character is just the sort of police officer you would want to come and help you.  Smart, caring, brave, absolutely determined to solve the crime.

 A woman’s is found in an isolated spot in a woods wearing a long dress, thin, emaciated.  Under her body they find Baggies full of money and a photograph of what may be the woman in healthier days with two small children.

The landowner who called in the report of the dead woman’s body knows nothing about her or how she may have gotten in his woods.   He is hiding something though, that is evident to Corky right away, but she can’t imagine what it might be.

Corky, who may have made a few enemies over time has someone stalking her at her home out in the country where she lives alone.

Oddly tied to the main crime of the novel is a neighbor’s sighting of a young boy who is seen cleaning dishes and a kitchen in the middle of the night each night, in a household that only has a little girl, no boys.

Lots of plot threads and twists, the most suspenseful novel in the series so far.
 

Book Launch A Death in Lionel's Woods at Buffalo Books and Coffee

I first met Christine Husom at a library event I hosted in 2011.  She drew a nice crowd and they loved her and she loved them, so it seemed. She definitely had that gift of back and forth with the audience.  A former policewoman, she seemed exactly like her heroine Corinne Aleckson to me though she said no, she didn't see that she was her character.

I hadn't seen her since then but wanted to be at the launch of this next book in the Winnebago County mysteries: A Death in Lionel's Woods.  Off I went on a rainy November day to Buffalo Minnesota.  What a nice little town, full of fun shops. 

The bookstore was hopping, Christine was right up front beaming away and signing books.  I think I looked familiar to her but she couldn't place me until I asked her to sign the book to Librariandoa, then she recognized me.  :)    The bookstore was too busy to really chat, but it was nice to see her and I boldly asked if I could have my picture with her.

A Death in Lionel's Woods starts with a woman's body being found in a woods by a hunter.  She is wearing an unusual homespun dress and beneath her body is a garden trowel which looks to have been used to bury stacks of money before the woman died.  (I am assuming!)  The Winnebago County Mysteries used to be based somewhat on real life cases, as I recall, and I wonder if this one is as well.

Visit Christine Husom's web site for more information and the other titles in this series.

BookNotes: An Altar by the River by Christine Husom

When I began this book, I had two things that Christine said about it in mind: that is a chilling tale and that she knows where the altar is, she has seen it. She said that her books except for the upcoming 4th volume were based on true crimes.

When the story opened with a man fearing his brother was heading to Winnebago County to an undisclosed location for a Satanic Ritual in which he planned to sacrifice himself, I thought hmmm, this is sort of far fetched. Looking at old news reports though, there was a case in Minnesota in 1983 (about the time I came back to live in Minnesota from years in the eastern wilds). Unfortunately, based on real information indeed.

It became disturbingly believable that an age old cult would have members hidden among ordinary folk in society. They could have members in useful professions such as medicine, funeral services and police forces who would help keep their activities secret and successful.

One of the most appealing things about this mystery series are Sergeant Aleckson's family and friends and co-workers. Over the course of the three novels these people have become familiar and a wonderful solid support system for Corrine.

An Altar by the River puts a doubt in the reader's mind as to who can be trusted and who might be completely evil. The weaving of familiarity and safety written into the three novels is shattered as the investigations go on and it is clear someone very close cannot be trusted.

I highly recommend the series, and you should read them in sequence since each picks up right where the last left off. Characters including the villains do not go away but they have resounding effects on the lives of their victims and the police officers who put their lives on the line to make life safer for all of us.

BookNotes: Buried in Wolf Lake by Christine Husom

I always drag my hooves writing "reviews" because I want them to be done just so. So I never write them. Clever! Let me try doing a BookNote (short thoughts on the book)on my fine reading and see if I can overcome my internal editor.

Buried in Wolf Lake is the second book in Husom's Winnebago County series featuring Sergeant Corrine "Corky" Aleckson.

The books tend to feature a big scary crime and the resolution of that crime involves classic detective work and police procedure. There is something about the way Christine writes that makes you feel like you're riding along in Corky's car to the crime scene. It is so easy to picture everything.

Buried in Wolf Lake features a golden retriever bringing his mistress a human leg. The police arrive and have the grisly task of methodically securing the scene and attempting to dredge a shallow muddy lake for the other pieces. I'll always have this image of a perfect solo leg being shaded by it's own little jury-rigged tent to protect it from the sun while the search goes on.

Based on an actual crime that has never been resolved, Buried in Wolf Lake brings the reader into the mind of a person who would commit such a crime.

She also does a fantastic job of showing the impact of dealing with such grim crime on the police who must try to find the killer.

Christine on the web.

Murder in Winnebago County by Christine Husom

I'm pretty excited to meet the author of Murder in Winnebago County tonight!

Winnebago County is a fictional Minnesota County. I appreciate Minnesota authors and the vivid local settings the more I read them. Christine's story could be set just down the street, if I lived in a more rural area.

Murder in Winnebago County is a tale of revenge, madness and the sort of ugly secrets so many people apparently carry just beneath the surface of their busy lives.

Anyone who likes police procedurals will enjoy the book, you feel like you're right there with officer Corrine. Though not a detective she has the instincts, logic and an incredibly keen eye for human nature and character. As the series progresses, if she makes investigator, look out bad guys.

I loved the backstory for the main character, she is so well fleshed out, and her family and friends are not stock characters, but they sound as if she is lovingly describing people she knows.

The next two books in the series are Buried in Wolf Lake and An Altar by the River. I hoping to snap up copies of those tonight.

A romance note: pick Smoke, dump slimy Nick.