A Fatal Winter and My Bookstore

This is the Ides of March, which was originally celebrated as the start of the Roman new year with all sorts of revelries, but later got a bad reputation - Beware! - when Julius Caesar was assassinated on this date.

It turns out to be an auspicious day for me as two of the books I had on reserve at the library have become available. Just in time too, as the books I checked out last Friday are ready to be returned - one read, one abandoned.

A Fatal Winter by G.M. Malliet - This is the second in the series with Max Tudor, the dreamy vicar and former MI-5 agent. In this book, Max investigates two murders in his English village of Nether Monkslip.  I enjoyed the first in the series, Wicked Autumn, and look forward to seeing what Max is up to now. I also enjoy Malliet's Inspector St. Just mysteries.

My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop - I recently bought this book and then had to return it as the gutter (inside margin) was so tight I couldn't read the pages without breaking the spine. I am in hopes that this won't be the case with the volume from the library. There are essays by Rick Bragg, Fanny Flagg, Wendell Berry, Simon Winchester and others. 

I am set for the weekend. What are you reading?

Malice Domestic: The Agatha Award Nominees

Malice Domestic: Agatha Awards

Over at Death in the Stacks, I came across the nominees for the 2012 Agatha Awards. The awards, named for Agatha Christie, honor the 'traditional mystery' and the books nominated contain no explicit sex or excessive gore.

Well, that is a relief. 

The conference - it is celebrating its 25th year - is put on by Malice Domestic the first weekend in May in Bethesda, Maryland. The attendees vote for the winners. 

The guest of honor this year will be Laurie R. King who writes the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes historical mysteries. The international guest of honor will be Peter Robinson who pens the Inspector Banks mysteries which take place in Yorkshire. 

I am happy to see that one of the books nominated in the Best First Novel category is Iced Chiffon by Duffy Brown. I met Ms. Brown at the Kentucky Book Fair in November 2012. The action of her mystery takes place in Savannah, Georgia - a city whose beauty is not in the least marred by murder - and I found it to be a fun read. 

The main character in Iced Chiffon is Reagan Summerside, owner of the consignment shop The Prissy Fox, and her attempts to solve the murder of her ex-husband's girlfriend.

Another nominee, in the Best Novel category, is G.M. Malliet's The Fatal Winter. I have read everything by Ms. Malliet except this last one but I do have it on reserve at the library.

The Fatal Winter is the second in her series concerning Max Tudor, the handsome, haunted vicar of St. Edwold's in Nether Monkslip. Max was introduced in the book Wicked Autumn (here and here) which I quite enjoyed.

Malliet's other series stars Detective Chief Inspector St. Just. There are three books in that series and they are all quite amusing.

I really must try out some of the past and present books nominated over the past twenty-five years. And who knows, maybe I will just make plans to attend this year's conference. 

If you are interested in reading more about the nominees and the conference, this is the link to the web site: Malice Domestic.

Wicked Autumn

I liked Wicked Autumn by G.M Malliet. A British village mystery with Vicar Max Tudor as the helpmate to DCI Cotton. The town's bossiest woman gets killed in the Village Hall on Harvest Fayre day. Her day to shine as she pretty much arranged for the festival herself - rounding up volunteers, making assignments, and generally ticking off the entire village with her drill sergeant ways.

I liked the growing friendship between the Vicar and Awena, the owner of Goddesspell, the witchy shop in the village with its herbs and crystals and natural wreaths. There was a respect between them for the Vicar's Church of England views and the less dogmatic ideas held by Awena.

I liked that when the denouement arrived, I was quite taken by surprise. It all came together well. I am not sure how much Max's MI-5 background has to do with things. I guess just to give him heightened observation and puzzle-solving skills.

The village of Nether Monkslip is populated with enough characters as to give Max many days and nights of providing spiritual guidance and solving murders.

The author has another series of mysteries with Detective Chief Inspector St. Just. The first in that series, Death of a Cozy Writer, won the 2008 Best First Novel Agatha Award. Wicked Autumn  has been nominated for the 2011 Agatha Award which honors the traditional mystery at the Malice Domestic convention that will be held in Bethesda, Maryland this April 27-29. Too bad I will be on my Great Southern Literary Tour at that time or I might have made my way to Maryland for the fun.

Wicked Autumn

Having partially recovered from my disgust and disappointment in the police world of Paris that I wrote about yesterday, I am across the English Channel and settling quite nicely into the world of Nether Monkslip, home to handsome Max Tudor, the vicar, and the ladies of the Women's Institute.

Here is the leader of the WI preparing to address her audience:

Calling on her knowledge of public speaking, newly refreshed by a rereading of the 1983 classic Grabbing Your Audience by the Throat: Tips and Tricks for the Successful Orator, Wanda paused, her unblinking gaze panning the crowd, gathering eyeballs like so many marbles into her rhetorical basket.

So far all is quiet. The village folks are preparing for the Harvest Fayre (the reason for the WI meeting) and the vicar has been asked to judge the Largest Vegetable contest. (One woman comments that her husband should win. Not one of his vegetables, just him!)

So this mystery, Wicked Autumn by G.M. Malliet looks promising. I can't wait to see what trouble is afoot. I do love an English village brimming with crime.

Sunday in the Stacks

Sunday afternoon used to be the day I would head off to the library to see what treasures there awaited. Then horror of horrors, due to budgets (of course), it cancelled Sunday hours. I was appalled, but got used to going on another day.

Then, hurrah of hurrahs, the library restored Sunday hours about a year ago. I was thrilled and returned to my habit of visiting then. There are 17 branches in the public library system including the Main which is where I like to go. On Sundays now, seven of those branches are open.

Which is a long way to getting to the books I scored today. All mysteries. All new authors to me. One can only hope that one of the four will be a gem. I am very picky about my mysteries.

If anyone has any remarks or recommendations as to my choices, chime in.

The Grave Gourmet by Alexander Campion
Main characters: Parisian policewoman Capucine Le Tellier and her food critic husband Alexandre.

Murder on the Riviera by Mary-Jane Deeb
Main characters: Marie-Chrisine "Chrissy" de Medici, heiress and new owner of a small newspaper in Grasse and her Grandmere.

The Black Widow Agency by Felicia Donovan
Main characters: Ex-cop and agency owner Kate Mahoney; cybergoddess Alexandria ; number cruncher Jane; and, office manager and gourmet cook, Margot.

Wicked Autumn by G.M. Malliet
Main character: Max Tudor, vicar of St. Edwold's in the village of Nether Monkslip and former MI5 agent. (Now there is a combination for you.)

They all four look promising and my first dilemma is which book to start with.