Tears of Pearl

Tears of Pearl
by Tasha Alexander
Recommended Ages: 13+

Lady Emily has just become Mrs. Colin Hargreaves, and for their honeymoon, they've traveled to Constantinople. Mysterious stuff starts happening before they even arrive, however. First a gentleman on their train barely survives an overdose of sleep medicine. Then, during a night at the opera in the Sultan's private theater, a concubine is strangled to death in a nearby courtyard and proves to be the aforementioned gentleman's daughter, kidnapped when she was a child. The old gent, who works at the British Embassy, is showing signs of slipping mentally, and his estranged son seems to be up to some kind of mischief, and as far as Emily can find out – I mean, obviously, she's going to investigate, right? – the young woman's murder is tied up in harem intrigue, and meanwhile another concubine imposes on Lady Emily's social conscience in an appeal for help to escape from the seraglio.

Working alongside her intelligence-agent husband, Emily penetrates the strange and exotic world of eunuchs and concubines. She bathes in the hammam. She stumbles socially in an unimaginably remote culture where women are all at once captives and yet more free than their English counterparts, slaves and yet powerful, and where jealousies, illicit affairs and treasonous plots fester despite the walls having countless eyes and ears. The scenery and architecture are gorgeous, the food is incredible, the clothing and jewelry are exquisite, and the leading concubines move with grace, all while an undercurrent of brutal savagery flows not too deep below the surface.

Meanwhile, as Emily struggles to piece clues together, she is hampered by her own frailties and fears – fear for her friend Ivy back home, whose pregnancy has become a matter of grave concern; fear that she herself may be with child, a thing she has dreaded since childhood when she heard the screams of an aunt dying in childbirth. And it certainly doesn't help that a high-ranking concubine, known for her gift of prophecy, has given Emily a dire omen of her future.

As Emily moves from one palace and harem to another, in and out of favor with the Sultan, learning something new with each visit, the circuit of luxurious settings grows increasingly, and paradoxically, claustrophobic. An oppressive sense of doom lowers over her like a storm cloud, doing justice to this book's designation as "a novel of suspense." Her rare (for a Westerner) peek into the unique, inner circles of the declining Ottoman Empire reveals both fabulous opulence and morbid rottenness. And when the solution clicks – you'll definitely feel it – Emily's genius, daring, foolishness and vulnerability combine to put her in breathtaking danger.

This is the fourth Lady Emily mystery. Coming next is Dangerous to Know, with subsequent titles including (but not limited to) Behind the Shattered Glass, Uneasy Lies the Crown and a soon-to-be-released 17th novel, A Cold Highland Wind.

Musings of a Minnesota Farm Boy

Musings of a Minnesota Farm Boy
by David Alton Johnson
Recommended Ages: 10+

Enclosed with my copy of this book is a cover letter from the author, under a Washington state return address, dated March of 2020 and addressed to the editor of the newspaper where I'm a reporter. Clearly, the book was handed to me – or maybe I saved it from being tossed out; I don't recall. Although the book comprises reminiscences of a "Leave It to Beaver"-like childhood on a Minnesota farm, and even mentions family names that vaguely ring a bell, it nowhere makes clear exactly how local to our coverage area its setting is, and for sure the author isn't local. So, it isn't the kind of thing that we would cover in our hyper-local, small-town weekly. Nevertheless, I've held onto it, and I finally read it today during a Labor Day book binge on my parents' deck.

The thing that comes across in this loosely connected, 58-page series of memoirs is the author's belief that his time and manner of growing up were golden. His nostalgia has a warmth that the reader can feel. However, and this is a big "however," there is no connected narrative here. A few brief stories, including accounts of some youthful, near-death experiences justifying Johnson's boyhood nickname of "cat" (nine lives, you know). Some snippets of scene dressing for a stage on which nothing much happens. The vignettes, sometimes less than a page long, leave one with a sense of wistfulness, not so much because one shares in the nostalgia, but because one wishes Johnson had taken them further, unpacked them a bit, mused on them more deeply. He frequently draws the same conclusions at the end of his snippets, like how kids got along just fine without screens and social media, and that gives the book as a whole a certain repetitiveness that it could have done without, given its low word count. Even a little fiction might have done a lot to impress this story – forgive me, this book – on one's long-term memory. I feel as if I've come into possession of a memoir that belongs in somebody's family album or scrapbook, to be brought out every decade or so for a family reunion, or used as a primary source for an author planning a well-researched, period novel.

For what it's worth, I don't know much else about David Alton Johnson, other than the return address on his cover letter and the date range of his first 10 years, before his family moved out west. I searched the internet and the most relevant result I got was an obituary for a much younger man by the same name, hopefully not someone whose passing brought grief to this book's author. If you're still out there, David, and this review finds its way to you, let me encourage you to open up a bit more and, perhaps, expand your storytelling beyond a few disconnected scenes.

Poached

Poached
by Stuart Gibbs
Recommended Ages: 11+

Teddy Fitzroy lives at a wildlife theme park in Texas with his parents, who work there. Known for pulling pranks, he's often in trouble at FunJungle, even while he's mercilessly bullied at school. Being friends with the daughter of the park's richie-rich owner doesn't save him from big trouble when his two worlds cross, and his personal bully comes to the park and forces him to commit a truly tasteless prank. Nor does his track record of solving the murder of a hippo keep him from becoming Suspect No. 1 when a koala on loan from Australia goes missing.

The embarrassing thing, for the park, is that the koala-napping wasn't even detected until the next day, thanks to a stuffed toy koala that the thief left in its enclosure. But as funny as that is, Teddy isn't laughing. The park's chief of security hates his guts and is convinced she's got her guy, without bothering to look any further. Meanwhile, Kazoo (that's the koala's name) doesn't have a lot of time. For starters, there isn't much of a local supply of the type of eucalyptus leaves that forms the cuddly creature's entire diet. And who knows how its captors are treating it!

For a little kid who has been cowed by bullies his whole life, Teddy shows a lot of spunk and hustle while trying to elude capture and, at the same time, solving the case. He has more suspects than he knows what to do with, but tangling with them could be dangerous – as he finds out when a sketchy guy in shades and a Houston Astros ball cap punches him on his nose. Luckily, he's wearing a Kazoo costume at the time, because otherwise that could have hurt. The next time ball cap guy makes a move, Teddy and others find themselves in real danger. Like, "what happens when you're in a glass tunnel under a shark aquarium and a bomb goes off"-type danger. It's a nonstop theme-park ride of chases, snooping, hiding, and sleuthing in an environment full of exotic (and sometimes dangerous) animals and a cast of comical yet complex characters. It's fun, and it's also low-key educational about the lifestyles of zoo animals and the people who work around them.

This is the second book in the FunJungle series, which started with Belly Up and, to date, features eight titles including Big Game, Panda-monium, Lion Down, Tyrannosaurus Wrecks, Bear Bottom and Whale Done. Stuart Gibbs is also the author of the Last Musketeer and Moon Base Alpha trilogies, 11 Spy School novels, and soon to be four books each in the Charlie Thorne and Once Upon a Tim series. I've enjoyed lots of his books, and I think kids from middle school or so up will, too.

A Fatal Waltz

A Fatal Waltz
by Tasha Alexander
Recommended Ages: 13+

Lady Emily Ashton, a beautiful young widow whose interest in classical scholarship and ability to solve murder mysteries strain the boundaries of Victorian society, has finally accepted a marriage proposal from the dashing Colin Hargreaves, her late husband's best friend and one of the country's most valuable secret agents. You'd think it would be smooth sailing from there on, but almost immediately trouble looms. First, she attends a quail hunting party at the country home of a nasty politician, who directly threatens her (with blackmail, I mean) if she doesn't throw Colin over in favor of her lifelong friend, Jeremy – an idle, bachelor playboy who, unfortunately, has chosen this moment to fall in love with her. Then she is faced with the previous woman in Colin's life, an Austrian countess who makes Emily feel like a lightweight. But things get serious when Lord Fortescue, their host, is murdered and suspicion falls on Robert, the husband of Emily's best friend, Ivy.

That's a lot of names to drop in just one paragraph, but there are plenty more characters in this book. Despite Robert being a conservative type and disapproving of Lady Emily's tendency to flout Victorian gender roles, when he sees the evidence stacked against him, he begs her to prove him innocent. Emily promises to do all that she can, and she bravely sticks to that promise despite a non-stop crescendo of danger, discouragement and increasingly unveiled warnings to back off. She finds herself in Vienna, surrounded by artists, poets, and intellectuals. She even meets the empress, Maria Theresa, in person. But it isn't all lounging in cafes and dancing at balls. Emily also sees the gritty underside of the city – the harsh poverty, the frequent suicides, the political discontent, the fragile balance of international peace that could be tipped by one nefarious plot. She is menaced from one side by a British government agent who leaves bullets for to find everywhere, as reminders of how easily he could get to her. On the other side, she has to deal with the leader of a ring of anarchists, who has admittedly killed people and who has a motive to see Robert hang. And let's not forget the Countess Katarina, whose significance is disturbing to the fiancee of the man they both love, not least as Emily becomes increasingly aware of how widespread marital infidelity has become at every level of society. It's almost as bad as suicide.

Speaking of suicide, the closer Emily gets to the truth, the more danger she believes Colin's life to be in. Almost she is forced to choose between his life and Robert's, or between either of them and the countless lives that may be lost if the anarchists' latest plot goes forward. And just in case that isn't enough intrigue for one adventure, she also takes it upon herself to investigate the Mayerling affair (you know, where the crown prince of Austria and his mistress were found shot to death – it really happened; look it up). And although the solution she arrives at may be no more historically authentic than, say, the fate of the dauphin of France and his descendants as revealed in her previous adventure, this added layer adds palpably to the atmosphere of mystery, danger and tragedy that threads into every corner of this novel. Even with romantic subplots and witty dialogue, this is after all a thriller, right up to the ingenious solution to the initial crime.

The passion between Emily and Colin, the quirky appeal of the company surrounding them, the historical and cultural color of upper-crust London society and every stratum of Vienna circa 1889, make this an explosive addition to a series that has already drawn me fully in. Yes, folks, I think I'm addicted. I've got a few more books in this soon-to-be 17-book series lined up to read soon, so expect to see more about them right here. Further titles include (to start with) Tears of Pearl, Dangerous to Know and A Crimson Warning.

A Poisoned Season

A Poisoned Season
by Tasha Alexander
Recommended Ages: 13+

In her second adventure, beautiful young widow, scholar of Greek classics and antiquities, and crime-solving sleuth Lady Emily Ashton promises another widow she will do her best to solve her husband's murder. No one even realized the gentleman was murdered until his valet fell victim to the same poison, and the bereaved wife believes the maidservant arrested for the crime is innocent. This time, the crime seems somehow related to a rash of burglaries in which artifacts connected with Marine Antoinette have been stolen. Pretty soon, Emily begins to experience personal danger, as the burglar strikes inside her own London townhouse and begins brazenly leaving love-gifts for her. Meanwhile, someone tries to run her down with a horse-drawn carriage; someone, evidently with a source inside her household, starts vicious rumors calculated to destroy her standing in genteel society; and the Queen herself commands Emily to choose a new husband by the end of the season – an unwelcome pressure on a lady who has learned to enjoy a certain freedom in widowhood.

Emily continues her investigation, despite threats and ominous messages warning her to stop. She somehow can't believe the cat burglar is the murderer, although he is chillingly skilled at appearing out of nowhere, disappearing again and watching her undetected. She also finds herself embroiled in something of a love triangle, between an idle playboy she has known since they were both babies and the handsome intelligence agent who happened to be her late husband's best friend. There's never any doubt about which one she'd prefer, but the question becomes whether she can make up her mind to accept his proposal before the choice is taken away from her. Even with a queen on the throne, Victorian England is no time and place to be a liberated women, if you care at all about being admitted to the best circles of society. And despite her independent streak, Emily still does care. Just not enough to let an innocent woman hang for a murder she didn't commit.

This historical mystery-thriller is, if anything, even more delightful than And Only to Deceive, to which it is the sequel. Some of the characters in it are so horrible that their behavior might make you gasp. Many of them are just plain fun, in some cases subversively so. On vivid display are the "marriage market" of the London season, cynical political intrigues playing across the English Channel, and the frankly unromantic state of romance in a period, culture and class where marriage is often little more than a business arrangement. The heroine has spirit, wit and grit. Her friends, suitors and servants fill out a colorful main cast, supported by a domineering mother, a socially varied range of witnesses and suspects, a broad moral spectrum of more-or-less villains, and a central passion that heats up to where the kettle whistles just as Emily risks her life on a final gambit to trap a murderer.

This is book 2 of going-on 17 (so far) in the Lady Emily series. Further titles run from A Fatal Waltz through the upcoming A Cold Highland Wind.

The House Witch 3

The House Witch 3
by Delemhach
Recommended Ages: 14+

Finlay Ashowan, palace cook to the royal family of Daxaria, has won the heart of Lady Annika Jenoure, one of the realm's highest-ranking noblewomen and, incidentally, a high-level spy. Now his only problems are figuring out how to marry her, when unions between nobility and common folk just aren't done ... and defending the kingdom against an aggressive enemy whose military is headed by Fin's estranged father. Well, he thinks those are his only problems (and they're plenty), but so many more are ready to line up behind them, such as a kitten familiar with pyromaniac tendencies, a network of enemies hidden within the kingdom waiting for the signal to strike, a savage king who has taken Annika's brother and his family hostage, and more tricks that Fin's fire witch father has up his sleeve. Oh yes, and also, not one but two bouncing bundles of joy (and trouble) on the way. Fin will have to learn to use his unusual powers – not all designed for conflict and violence – to save his kingdom, and when either he or Annika must make a perilous journey to meet with the Troivackian king, the only thing certain is that an awful sacrifice will have to be made.

Fin's journey from lowly cook to hero of the kingdom is an emotionally stirring marvel to behold. It's also a bit sexy and all kinds of hilarious, with plenty of suspense and lots of super scenes of magic, combat, and magical combat. The court politics of Troivack are perhaps a little over-the-top in nastiness; the ditto of Daxaria, ditto in silliness. But the relationships and characters established over three long novels pay off well in this installment, with breathtaking plot twists and a satisfying ending that only outstays its welcome a little bit.

This third book in a trilogy of identically titled novels (except for the numerals) is a pleasurable indulgence, full of action, romance and rollicking good fun. I'll put it bluntly: it could have used another pass with an editorial pencil. Not that it's badly written, but another round of polishing might have taken away a couple of grammatical errors, such as "could ofs" and dangling participles, and the occasional clunky sentence that cried out for a rewrite. Delemhach, whoever he, she or they is/are, has some capital ideas on the architectural, or strategic, level of writing but could perhaps stand to take some lowercase, constructive criticism on the level of tactics – like going to the trouble of calling the main character Fin, the redhead and the house witch in alternation, when just calling him Fin most of the time would be so transparently easy. When Fin's feline familiar made a telepathic speech including the words, "I am war, chaos, and seductively fluffy," I threw back my head and howled with laughter. Two pages later, my spirits were dampened by the following sentence:

The magnitude of his losses descended upon him in a sickening realization that began to consume him until he was left with nothing but the helpless action of seizing the grass beneath his hands in clumps – and screaming.

Just imagine, that sentence could have read something like "As he realized the magnitude of his losses, all he could do was pull up clumps of grass and scream." Just sayin'.

Definitely a candidate for Adult and Occult Content Advisories, this book concludes the House Witch trilogy by a Canadian author whose follow-up titles include The Burning Witch and The Princess of Potential.

The Clackity

The Clackity
by Lora Senf
Recommended Ages: 11+

Evie lives with her Aunt Desdemona, a paranormal expert, in the seventh most haunted town in America (per capita). She isn't afraid of ghosts, which is lucky, because she also suffers from panic attacks and although her parents disappeared in a house fire, she refuses to accept that they're dead. To make sure her aunt doesn't disappear on her, she keeps close tabs on her whereabouts. One of the few things she is strictly forbidden to do is go to the abandoned abattoir (fancy talk for slaughterhouse) on the outskirts of Blight Harbor. But she breaks that rule the day her snooping reveals that Des has gone to the abattoir, a chilling place that stinks of wrongness. And she goes back the next day when Des disappears, leaving he car parked outside the sinister building.

Evie follows Des's footsteps into the abattoir and meets a horrible creature that calls itself the Clackity. The Clackity strikes a deal with her, promising Evie that she can get her aunt back if she travels into (what I take to be) the land of the dead, at the end of a passage inside the abattoir, and visits seven houses there. And whoops, I haven't even mentioned Jonathan Jeffrey Pope, a serial killer whose ghost has been conspicuously absent from Blight Harbor's famous hauntings. He's been saving up his evil for something special. And now he'll be at Evie's heels while she travels through seven roughly house-shaped nightmarescapes, facing her most bloodcurdling fears. Above all is her fear of losing Des, so she's in a race against Pope, really – and when he's not breathing down her neck, the Clackity is meddling in her adventure in his own uniquely horrible way. Perhaps the worst part of it is the thought, which Evie keeps pushing aside, of what will happen when she finally brings Pope and the Clackity together.

Apparently based in part on a visit to a real-life abattoir, this book is sure to send shivers down the young spines of ghost story fans. It's really too disturbing to be left to kids alone; adults just have to experience its exquisite creepy-crawlies as well. A couple of the houses in the Clackity's netherworld wouldn't be too bad, if it weren't for Pope's ghost in cold pursuit. But no nightmare is left untouched, from doors that disappear after closing behind you and landscapes that seem to stretch onward forever, to plunges into a bottomless pit and encounters with child-eating witches. These are only the lighter removes in a multi-course feast of fear, headlined by two grotesquely evil spirits, testing the courage of a vulnerable girl.

I am totally slapping this book with an Occult Content Advisory, which concerned parents can take for what it's worth. Despite their Grimm Bros. trappings and appetite for children, some of the witches in this story are depicted sympathetically enough to suggest a more than fairy-tale witchcraft. But not all the magic in this book is of the dark kind – for example, the unexplainable shadow of a sparrow that perches on Evie's skin like a living, moving tattoo, and whose encouragement keeps her going through some super-dark places. And if you can stomach the sometimes paralyzing, suffocating fear that her adventure puts Evie through, you may be the type of horror maven this book was made for.

This is Washington state-based Lora Senf's debut novel and the first book in the Blight Harbor trilogy. The second book, The Nighthouse Keeper, is set for release on Oct. 17, 2023.