Meanderings from the mind of the Cerebral Rat

I’m back from vacation and, yes, I had a good time (I was in Florida, enjoying the sunshine, but that’s another blog). As I was packing I decided that I needed something to read in between visits to Disney World and the hot tub. I wanted something intriguing, not too light, but nothing to really keep me awake at night. I settled on the first of the China Bayles mysteries by Susan Wittig Albert. I’ve read a couple from the middle of the series (taking the advice of my reading mentor, JoAnn Viceral, the Head Rat, who thinks it’s a good idea to test the waters and then decide if you want to invest time in the whole series), but I’d never read the first one. I have a particular fondness for the title, Thyme of Death, because it’s the first fiction title I succeeded in finding using a keyword search (I know, I know–too much information, but the librarians in the crowd will understand).  I happened to find it on the library sale shelf (you should check it out), bought it, and I was set.

China Bayles is an ex-lawyer who got out of the rat race when she found herself turning into one of the rats.  She sold her yuppy condo in Houston and moved to the small town of Pecan Springs, Texas where she invested her savings in an old stone building which housed her business, the Thyme and Seasons Herb Company; the Crystal Cave, her friend Ruby’s New Age shop, and her own home.  In this first installment, her friend Jo is in need of cheering up.  She is losing her fight with cancer and China has bought her a birthday gift to make her laugh.  Unfortunately, Jo never receives it–her daughter Meredith finds her dead along with a note and a bottle of pills, an apparent suicide.  Ruby flat-out refuses to believe that Jo would have killed herself and Meredith agrees after thinking about some of the discrepancies surrounding her death (she had no pain pills in the house, she never drank much, Meredith smelled perfume in the house when she came in, indicating that someone had been there before her).

China talks things over with her boyfriend, McQuaid, ex-cop and PhD candidate, and his money is on the investigative skills of Bubba, the local chief of police.  China is not so sure–she’s used to having an adversarial relationship with the police and Bubba is no exception.  As China investigates, trying to keep Ruby from being sued for slander for defaming one of the city fathers who is her favorite suspect, she uncovers some startling and, in some cases, grisly information about the pasts of various of the folks who have gathered for Jo’s funeral.  The ending came as a surprise–I didn’t see it coming and I’ve read enough mysteries that I’m a pretty good guesser.

I had forgotten how much I liked the characters and enjoyed seeing them grow.  I think I’ll continue reading to find out how China and McQuaid do and what happens with Ruby.  All in all, this is a nice series with enough in the mystery department to keep me interested, new facts about herbs and their uses to keep me coming back for more information, and characters to keep me enteratained.

As I was ambling through the new paperback section a time ago I came across a book with a beautiful cover called Death of a Squire  by Maureen Ash.  The label said it was “A Templar Knight Mystery” next to a picture of said Templar sitting, writing, obviously in deep thought. The illustrations looked like they were taken from a medieval manuscript and put directly on the cover. I picked it up, looked through and found it was set in England in 1200 AD and that the setting, characters and contents are based on authentic characters and facts.  I was hooked.  I took it home, started to read it, discovered it was the second in a series and put a request in for the first–The Alehouse Murders–so that I could read it immediately that I finished the one I had.  I was not disappointed.

These titles are about Templar Bascot de Marins who, after eight years of captivity in the Holy Land, has arrived back in England to find that his entire family has perished in the time that he was being held prisoner.  He has been severely injured during his imprisonment and the things he has seen and the fate of his family have sorely tested his faith.   Because of his state of mind and his physical incapacity (his leg has been injured so he has trouble walking and he has lost an eye) he and Gianni, a mute orphan who he rescued from the streets, have been sent by his Templar Master to Lincoln Castle in Lincolnshire to recover physically and spiritually.  They are the guests of Nicolaa de la Haye, hereditary castellan of Lincoln Castle, and her husband Gerard Camville, the sheriff.  

The Alehouse Murders takes place in midsummer.  The midsummer fair is about to begin and merchants and revellers have started to flock to Lincoln for the festivities when four corpses are found in the town alehouse.  The sheriff and his men must investigate and, on a whim, Lady Nicolaa asks de Marins to assist and report to her and her husband.  He discovers that what at first appeared to be the end of a drunken brawl is in fact a cunning crime.  As the body count rises, de Marins tracks the killer in a desperate attempt to protect the populace (and reputation) of Lincolnshire.

Death of a Squire moves into the late autumn of 1200 A.D.  Lady Nicolaa and her retinue are preparing to host the first meeting betweeen King William of Scotland and King John of England when the body of a squire is found hanging from a tree deep in the forest.  The situation is politically charged on several levels and Nicolaa entrusts the task of finding the cause of death (with all due speed) to de Marins.  He has to discern whether the death was a suicide or murder and, if it is a murder, find the killer.   During his investigation, Gianni is kidnapped by outlaws and, surprised by his feelings of affection for the boy, de Marins puts aside everything to ensure his safe return.  In the process of tracking down the murderer and uncovering greedy wrongdoing on the part of seemingly law abiding citizens, de Marins comes to a cris de conscience where he must make some very difficult choices about his future. 

These are delightful, well-written mysteries.  Reading them is like being transported back to medieval England.  The language rings true, with just enough ‘of the time’ terminology used to create the proper atmosphere.   You can almost smell the wood smoke and the sweat as the men practice their fighting skills while the food is being cooked for the evening meal.  It is quite clear that Ms. Ash has done her research.  She is dead on when it comes to the legal system, the language, the food, the dress and the emotions and reactions of her characters.  I enjoy learning something new while I’m reading for pleasure and I trust Ms. Ash to be instructive as well as entertaining.  Long may this series continue.

We RATS have been reading historical fiction lately and I decided that I should wrench myself out of medieval England and read something different. I came across The Women of Magdalene by Rosemary Poole-Carter set in post Civil War Lousiana. Certainly something different. It involves a young doctor, estranged from his family, who is walking to Magdalene, an asylum for women, to take a position as the house doctor. He has been given the job as a favor from one of his father’s former colleagues. On the way he finds the body of a woman in a creek. She is one of the inmates and he arrives carrying her body and thus begins his career at Magdalene. Sounds odd–and depressing, but what a beautifully written book it turned out to be. The prose is very evocative and has a melancholy, almost sepia quality like a worn, antique photograph. It reminded me of a short film I saw long ago called An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, based on a short story by Ambrose Bierce of the same name. It has almost the same rhythm, but the ending is less of a jerk and more of a slide to the inevitable. Though racism and the paternalistic almost mysogynistic attitude toward women are themes, they take their place within the context of the whole–touching, moving without being strident. I hope Ms. Poole-Carter will write more. This is only her second book and the first is out of print. I’m waiting for my interloaned copy to come in so I can spend more time in the places she creates.

        I’m the kind of person who always has to have something to read.  It’s like an addiction.  I always have at least two books on hand that I haven’t started (one as a back up in case I’m not in the mood for the other) and I’m usually in the middle of two or three books (the mood thing again).  Usually I’ll start reading one book exclusively as I get toward the end–or not.  Sometimes I can’t bear to finish because I know what’s coming and I don’t want it to happen (it took me ten years from starting it to finish Nigel Nicholson’s biography of Virginia Woolf because I knew how it ended and I couldn’t bear to see her die in print).   

       My reading tastes are also not exclusive.  I’ll read nearly anything (except maybe romance–more about that later).  If I am so unfortunate as to be caught without a book or magazine in hand, I read posters or menues or cereal boxes or mustard labels.  You get the idea.  I read to alter my mood, balance my mood or just to escape.  I can’t imagine life without books and the wonderful worlds they open to anyone who wanders in.