Laura Freeman's Blog, page 27

In Remembrance of Rose

In Remembrance of Rose by M.R.D. Meek 1989 Worldwide Mystery

[image error]This is a traditional detective mystery with Lennox Kemp as a lawyer and former private investigator. He is asked by wealthy Rose Amaury to write her will, which he does. When her daughter leaves the room, she confides to Lennox that someone is trying to kill her. A week later she is murdered in what appears to be a burglary by the son of her cleaning lady.

The setting is England and the Lennox is fully aware of the aristocrats and their opinion of him and the lower class. They expected Kevin Roding to kill Rose for some trinkets and are not unhappy when he is murdered in Holland where he escaped.

Lennox doesn’t think the case is so cut and dry. Kevin’s brother, Ted, tells him Kevin was set up. When Ted is arrested and Lennox is brutally attacked, he wants to know the truth and wants justice for Rose.

The heirs make perfect suspects, and Meek reveals the facts and introduces new details in a carefully crafted story. The Secret Intelligence Service add confusion initially but are part of the secret that caused Rose’s death.

Meek gave a huge clue that made the villain obvious to any reader paying attention, but the motive wasn’t revealed until later so that’s forgivable.

Older mystery authors introduced a bunch of characters in the beginning to give the reader plenty of suspects. Meek develops most of them enough to keep them clear in the reader’s mind. Danger is increased as Lennox gets closer to the truth. Being beaten up only makes him more determined to find the truth even when the secret service try to ruin his career if he doesn’t back off.

I didn’t like the emphasis on class. When wealthy Lettice shows an interest in Lennox, it is made clear she’s out of his league. She’s also too young for him, but she’s one of the most interesting of the characters. Also, the rich are quickly discounted as suspects and made the story less interesting.

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The Blue Rose by Gloria Alden

The Blue Rose by Gloria Alden 2012 – a cozy mystery with a touch of romance.

[image error]Gloria Alden is a local author and anyone familiar with Stan Hywet will recognize fictional Elwood Gardens in the town of Portage Falls.

Alden is a gardener and the book contains plenty of references to flowers and gardening.

The heroine, Catherine Jewell, is a botanist and owns a garden center, Roses in Thyme. During a huge garden party at the Chatterton estate, Augustus Chatterton is found murdered with a garden fork in his back. Police Chief John MacDougal has to solve his first murder and relies on Catherine’s knowledge of the workers at Chatterton estate.

Before the murder, Alden introduces the reader to a variety of people in the town, many with secrets that make them suspects for the murder after it occurs. Throw in a dog and a few cats to the story along with a monk, a missing boy, and a dead baby to keep the reader guessing about motive.

Chatterton was not loved by his wife, children, employees, and quite a few ex-employees so the list of suspects is long. The rare Blue Rose may have been stolen and the motive for the crime.

The characters were easy to distinguish, and all the subplots were wrapped up before the final villain was revealed. The murder of a second victim added to the mystery and helped with the solution. Catherine remained the main focus of the story, and she appears in the next book.

Alden shows promise as a talented and entertaining writer, and others should put her on their list to read. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and any mystery writer who has a local Sisters In Crime organization (check your library) should join for the support and networking they offer.

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Pirate’s Promise by Ann Cockcroft

Pirate’s Promise by Ann Cockcroft 1984 Pocket Books

[image error]This is an old romance where lust rules and pretty Heather Woode is pursued by men for her body, and the heroine must fight for her future from nearly every man she meets.

Heather becomes indentured to William Barrett who takes her to New York to sell to the highest bidder. She is able to save herself from him by helping Elizabeth Somerset who is going to New York to marry her cousin, Bruce, and provide a hefty dowry hidden in her trunk.

Elizabeth dies but gives Bruce’s letters and locket to Heather while Duncan Crawley takes possession of the trunks and dowry. Their ship is boarded by pirate Rigo who is really Richard Somerset, older brother of Bruce, and he falls for Heather.

Crawley buys her indentureship and plans to rape her, which seems to be a common practice in these early romance novels, but she escapes and Captain Rigo hides her. The men, even hero, are driven by their alpha male lusts and the women are sweet but do very little but fight for their virtue. Little time is spent getting to know the heroine except her determination to marry and be respectable.

A writer wants to avoid coincidences when throwing the hero and heroine together. Cockcroft avoids this by connecting Heather to Somerset early on. She goes to the Somerset home to return the letters, and they mistake her for Elizabeth. Now she has to avoid Bruce’s unwanted attentions. He tries to seduce her, but Heather sees a harsh side to him she doesn’t like.

Richard visits home and discovers Heather and keeps her secret. Crawley finds her and threatens her, but she is protected as Elizabeth. When Richard is captured by the British for spying, Heather and Richard’s father help him escape only to have the ship wrecked and Richard missing. when Heather helps Richard, the story becomes more interesting.

Crawley finds Heather and again tries to rape her, but she fights him off and sets the inn on fire. The story begins slowly, setting up the circumstances for Heather’s deception and building it toward the end.

Cockcroft introduces Maggie, another indentured servant, at the beginning of the story, and brings her back into the story to join Heather at the Somerset home, but then after Richard is rescued from prison, there is no mention of the girl. She was in too much of the story to be neglected at the end.

Another problem was Bruce. Up until the very end of the story, he was pawing and trying to seduce Heather. He “grows up” and treats her with kindness in the final chapters, which seemed out of character.

This is a typical bodice ripper, coined because of the many attempts to seduce the heroine. The modern romance has the heroine more in charge who takes an active role in determining her future.

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Born Survivors

Born Survivors by Wendy Holden 2015 Harper Perennial

[image error]This is a non-fiction book about the holocaust and three women, Priska, Rachel, and Anka. They never met during their lifetimes, but their lives were parallel experiences that took them to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the  Freiberg factory, and finally to Mauthausen work camp.

The first three chapters focuses on the three women and their lives before being sent to Auschwitz. Holden helps us understand why they remained in their home countries, thinking life would get better until it was too late to leave. Each one marries and is pregnant when sent to Auschwitz within months of each other in 1944, and each woman lies about being pregnant to Dr. Josef Mengele who sent pregnant women to the gas chamber. Keeping their babies alive will keep them alive against all odds.

The three women, healthy and in their 20s are sent to work in the Freiberg factory building airplanes. All of them are due to give birth in April 1945 and hide their pregnancies even as they dwindle to 70 pounds in weight.

Holden shares the humiliation of standing naked for roll call, marching through the cold of winter to work in the factory, and giving birth alone and in filthy conditions, one in the factory, one on a train, and one at the gates of Mauthausen.

Holden doesn’t end the story there, but shows the women returning home, seeking family, and building new lives. She shows how triggers not only affected the mothers but the children, all only children, who finally meet and bond as “siblings of the heart.”

This is an easy read and a must on the list of anyone who wants to understand what happened during the holocaust and why. It should be a follow-up to “Anne Frank” for all ages.

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The Recycled Citizen

The Recycled Citizen by Charlotte Macleod 1988 Mysterious Press

[image error]This is the seventh book in the Sarah Kelling Mystery and one written before cozy mystery was a genre. Sarah and her husband Max are visiting with the Kelling clan in a house on Beacon Hill in Boston.

Macleod throws all the family members at us in the first chapter and fans who have read the previous books were probably familiar with them, but I had to make a list. The family is planning an auction of great-uncle Frederick’s collection of furnishings and collectibles to raise money to convert a building into a boardinghouse for the poor. They already support the Senior Citizens’ Recycling Center where plenty of characters hang out, including Uncle Fred’s former lawyer.

One of those characters, Chet Arthur, is found dead from a mugging but those who know him suspect some other reason for his death. Max, a detective, begins snooping around and finds $41,000 in Chet’s apartment. They also find a trace of heroin in a bag Chet was carrying.

The crime isn’t as important as the characters, who are either very rich or very poor. The rich take on solving the crime as if it is a game, dressing up in disguises, taking photographs using hidden cameras, and hiding people they put in danger.

I can see the fun and charm of this book for 1980 housewives who would enjoy the descriptions of fancy homes, furnishings, and clothing. It was escapism. The bad guy was obvious early on, and the long explanation of how the amateur sleuths solved the crime given to the police at the end was repetitive to anyone who read the previous 200 pages.

For current writers, take what readers enjoy and keep vivid descriptions and interesting characters in your writing. If you have an obvious bad guy, create another not so obvious villain hinted at early on but revealed late in the story.

List what you like in a book and what you don’t and use that information to improve your writing.

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High Noon by Nora Roberts

High Noon by Nora Roberts 2008 Jove Books

[image error]Roberts combines a mystery with a romance in a seamless story. Lt. Phoebe MacNamara is a negotiator. She was a hostage when she was 11 years old and her mother’s boyfriend held them captive in their home. Capt. Dave McVee was the negotiator who helped get her out and became her mentor. She works for him now.

Phoebe responds to a jumper, Joe Ryder, where she meets Duncan Swift, who owns the bar where Joe worked. It’s love at first sight for Duncan. Phoebe has so many family problems and busy workload, she barely gives him a second glance.

In old romance novels, space or a misunderstanding would keep the couple apart. That doesn’t work in the modern novel. Phoebe has a 7-year-old daughter, an ex husband, Roy, who has never shown an interest in their daughter, a mother who can’t leave the house, and a co-worker who assaults her in a stairway because he doesn’t like taking orders from a woman.

Roberts doesn’t leave those threads dangling. She weaves them into the final conclusion in a way that keeps the tension tight. In addition, a stranger is leaving dead animals on her doorstep and whistles the theme to “High Noon” as he plots a final showdown with Phoebe.

Roberts develops her characters layer by layer, showing the past, their friends, and the current relationship in its strengths and weaknesses. Decisions are logical, emotional, and out of love. Phoebe’s biggest flaw, and every hero should have at least one, is her independence. She doesn’t need help from a big strong man, but she learns to lean on Duncan at the end when she needs him the most without losing any of her personal strength.

The villains are bad in this story, and the assault on Phoebe is hard to take. Roberts doesn’t pull any punches. But without a vicious villain, the hero’s success isn’t as powerful when she defeats him. Both villains exist in the real world, the man who hates women and the man who blames someone for his own shortcomings, but Roberts takes them to a more dangerous level.

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Jim Mundy by Robert H. Fowler

Jim Mundy by Robert H. Fowler 1977 A Jove Book

[image error]Anyone who wants to write a memoir, should read different variations of that type of story. This is one example of a first person memoir of a fictional character that is written as if it is based on a real person.

The story begins in 1917 when Jimmy writes his grandpa asking him about the Civil War. In the next 480 pages, Jim Mundy retells his experience as a Confederate infantry soldier in the fictional 10th North Carolina volunteers.

He is the son of a Methodist preacher/farmer who went to school unlike the other illiterate soldiers. His education makes him a sergeant and he will rise to captain.

The story is told through the eyes of the common foot soldier, and Mundy is charming and naive. Some may find the story offensive in its language and Southern viewpoint, but Fowler captures the feelings of Mundy in words and deeds that ring true for someone only 18 and from North Carolina. His viewpoints change as he grows older in years and experiences.

Mundy is no saint, and I doubt any one “real” soldier had as much adventure as this one man. Battles are limited to those he participates in and others are summarized when he hears about them after they’ve happened. He makes friends easily and enemies quicker because of his honesty and integrity.

The book focuses on the relationship between Mundy and Captain William Ferro, the brother of Jane. His love for Jane keeps him focused on the future or in despair when he thinks he has lost her. He doesn’t care for other officers, especially Tom Shelton, who is also writing to Jane. Fair warning: This is not a traditional romance and very little time is spent on Jane and Mundy together.

Mundy’s outspoken nature lands him in trouble often. The story becomes more personal after he loses his eye at Gettysburg and is a prisoner on Johnson Island. For every triumph, Murphy has a set back or challenge to face, but he keeps putting one foot in front of the other as he becomes involved with free blacks, spies, and blockade runners.

For those who want to write about a family member, this book shows how to focus on a series of events that help to influence the hero in the story. Don’t try to cover the entire life of a person. Find the defining moment for that person and focus on it.

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Angels Fall by Nora Roberts

Angels Fall by Nora Roberts 2007 Jove

[image error]I remember watching the movie starring Heather Locklear and not knowing why she acted so erratically, but the book spends a lot of time in the main character’s mind and that is something that doesn’t easily transmit to a movie.

Reece Gilmore was a chef two years before the story begins and friends at the restaurant she worked at in Boston were giving her a surprise going away party. Two gunmen come in and murder everyone. Reece is shot in the chest and falls into the storage locker where she witnesses her friend, Ginny, being killed. She is the only one who survives the shooting. After medicines, a nervous breakdown, and being ill, she takes off in her car to heal herself by challenging herself to face her fears.

The story begins with car trouble and Reece coasting into Angels Fall, a small town where everyone knows your business. Reece plans to keep traveling, but the diner needs a cook, and she falls into the work like she never left it. The work boosts her confidence, and she stays.

Her boss Joanie is no nonsense and no pity, something she needs. The two romantic interests in the novel are Joanie’s son, Lo, who chases every woman he meets. He tries to bed Reece but she holds him off. Brody is the new guy in town after being there several years. He worked for the Tribune and now writes murder mysteries. He tries to ignore Reece.

Their cute meet is on a hiking trail where Reece passes him to view the falls and Snake River. She sees a couple below on the opposite bank and witnesses the man strangling and killing the woman. She runs into Brody on the path and tells him what has happened. By the time they reach the spot, no one is there.

Roberts sets all of this up very methodically, giving us a little bit of Reece’s traumatic background in pieces by describing her nervousness when taking the job, her feelings of being trapped in her room, and the nightmares she has. She leaves lights on, bathroom doors open, and can’t be in a small space. We don’t know why until 100 pages in.

She reports the crime to Sheriff Richard Mardsen, who can’t find any evidence of the crime. Doc Wallace makes some sketches, and Reece distributes them. Her background surfaces, and everyone thinks she’s crazy. Even forgetting to wear shoes proves she has no sense. She begins to think she is regressing and having a breakdown when her belongings are moved in her room, and a message is written in red marker on her bathroom wall. She doesn’t remember doing it, and the doors are locked.

She knows Brody didn’t murder the woman and turns to him for help. The murder drives a good part of the story but this is a romance and Roberts includes two. Both intersect in the story with the final reveal of the murderer, which makes it satisfying.

This is one of the books to read if you’re writing a psychological thriller. Reece is damaged and fragile but beneath that she is determined to get better. The book references “Gaslight” and “Rear Window” where the hero isn’t believed. Reece knows she’s not crazy but how does she convince everyone else she’s sane with her history and behavior?

Roberts lightens the mood with a bar fight involving Reece and includes recipes in the back of the book.

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Foul Play at the PTA

Foul Play at the PTA by Laura Alden 2011 Penguin Group

[image error]This is a cozy mystery told from the first person. It is the second book in a series. I didn’t read the first one, but it wasn’t hard to follow.

In a cozy mystery, an ordinary person solves a crime, usually a murder, and has to do the work because the police are inept or they won’t listen to her. They often tell her not to get involved.

Beth Kennedy is divorced with two children. Beth and her best friend, Marina,  own a book store. She is also the secretary of the PTA where small town gossip and rivalries abound.

Alden spends a lot of time in Beth’s head. She is planning Thanksgiving dinner and seems to have a hard time making decisions. At the end of chapter 2, she finds Sam dead in his car and learns he was strangled. Although Marina encourages her to solve the case, most of the sleuthing is done in the last couple of chapters.

Beth hires Yvonne, a wrongly convicted murderer, which sets off her rival, Claudia, who pickets her store. Clearing Yvonne and money problems motivate her to solve the crime. Most of the sleuthing is Beth talking to women in the town to find out what they knew about Sam, but everyone liked him.

I had some problems with the story that other writers can learn from. She had two characters, one named Marina and the other Marcia in the first chapter. The names were too similar, and I couldn’t remember who was her best friend and who was her employee. Not only should names be distinct, they should reflect the character’s personality.

The other problem I had was the fact the murder occurred on page 29 and the previous pages were filled with every day activities that didn’t provide a setting or show the character’s personality. I almost put the book down.

I believe in dropping the character into the midst of the action, but this book used a laid back approach to small town life for a middle-aged divorcee. Beth spends a lot of time saying things in her mind that she is too polite to say in person. Some will find it charming. This isn’t so much a murder mystery as a glimpse into Beth’s life.

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Red Lily by Nora Roberts

Red Lily by Nora Roberts 2005 A Jove Book

[image error]This is the third book in the garden trilogy and focuses on the romance between Harper and Hailey. They have been friends afraid to ruin their relationship with a romance, and after they begin the romance, it is threatened by the Harper Bride ghost.

The story is about family and the strength of having one. Hailey, who had no one, recognizes the value of having people who love her and accept her. She is linked to the ghost Amelia more than the others and this is a ghost story and possession story as Hailey and the others try to uncover the story behind Amelia.

Amelia is both gentle with children and angry with Hailey and Harper. Their lives are threatened more than once as they learn what drove Amelia to haunt the house.

Roberts reveals emotions through dialogue and the actions of the characters. Hailey is kind and sweet one moment and then possessed by an angry Amelia which throws her relationship with Harper into chaos. It’s a good way to keep the lovers apart. Nothing like having a ghost trying to break up the romance.

This is the final book in the trilogy and Roberts wraps up everything pretty neatly. She limits her point of view to Harper, Hailey and Amelia most of the time. She uses the historical background well and the ghost to full frightening effect.

Of the three books, I liked the first one best.

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