Cathy Spencer's Blog, page 3

Love a Holiday Mystery?

Part of the award-winning Anna Nolan mystery series, Tidings of Murder and Woe is a page-turner with plenty of plot twists, dashes of humour and romance, and even a little Christmas baking.

Christmas can be murder on families, especially when your mother is Julia Moreland, the CEO of a big oil company. Julia has a secret she’s about to announce to the press, but someone is sending her threatening notes to keep her mouth shut.

Not only is Julia contributing a handsome scholarship to Anna’s department at Chinook University, but her stepson is dating Magdalena, Anna’s boss. Anna has already outwitted death twice this year, and her nerves can’t take much more. Besides, all she wants for Christmas is to spend time with the two men in her life. But when her boss turns to her for help, Anna can’t resist, and soon the two of them are up to their necks in danger.

E-book from Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Google Play, Kobo, and others.
Paperback from CreateSpace and Amazon.


Read a sample chapter:


“I hope you haven’t got any plans for lunch.”Anna looked up from her desk to see her boss, Dr. Magdalena Lewis, standing in the office doorway. Magdalena was the chair of the Kinesiology Department at Calgary’s Chinook University. The regal blond looked perfectly turned out, as usual, in a red-and-black wool jacket and black pencil skirt.“Why? What’s up?”“Julia Moreland wants to vet the candidates for the Robert Moreland Scholarship over lunch at her house. With you.”Anna’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding. Why would she want to see me instead of you? I’m just the administrative assistant.”“She mentioned that she wants to meet, and I quote, ‘the assistant who sounds so capable over the phone.’ More likely, however, she’s read about the two murder investigations in Crane this past year and wants to meet the woman who almost died in both of them. Julia would think that was fun.” Anna noted a touch of sarcasm in Magdalena’s voice.“Are you sure you don’t want to go?” Anna asked. “I’m in the middle of the verification report for the spring course schedule, and Scheduling wants it by the end of the week. Besides, I’m hardly dressed to have lunch with the CEO of Westmore Resources.” Magdalena perused Anna’s green-and-white striped t-shirt, black corduroy trousers, and black flats. “You’ll do. If the sponsor of a $5,000 scholarship wants to meet you, you go. Besides, her cook is excellent. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the meal. Last year’s meeting only took an hour and a half, by the way, so you should have no difficulty in returning in time for the department meeting at three.” The toe of one of Magdalena’s red crocodile pumps started to tap impatiently on the floor, and Anna took the hint.“No problem. I’ll have lunch with Mrs. Moreland and see you at the meeting at three.”“Excellent.” Magdalena retreated to her office across the hall while Anna sighed and returned to her spreadsheet.Two hours later, Anna was waiting in the foyer of Julia Moreland’s mansion on an acreage just south of Calgary. She had carefully wiped the snow from her boots on the outdoor mat, but was conscious of a puddle spreading on the pristine grey-and-white marble floor beneath her. She looked up as she heard the sound of heels coming toward her down the hall. A young woman with flawless coffee-coloured skin, prominent cheekbones, and designer pink-and-silver eyeglasses appeared. She smiled coolly as she offered Anna her hand.“Ms. Nolan? I’m Latona Taylor, Julia Moreland’s personal assistant. A pleasure to meet you.”Anna returned the smile as she shook the young woman’s hand. “How do you do?” “Very well, thank you. Julia is waiting for you in the dining room. Please follow me.”As Anna hurried after Latona, she admired the hall’s graceful columned arches and the colourful glass sculptures suspended from the ceiling. “Such a lovely house,” she said. “I bet you enjoy working here. It sure beats the university.”“Yes, it is beautiful,” Latona replied over her shoulder. She paused outside an open doorway. “The dining room is right through there. Enjoy your lunch.”Anna nodded her thanks and walked into the room. She hesitated before a gleaming mahogany table with eight chairs sitting on an Indian carpet of soft blues and greys. There were two place settings at the far end of the table, next to a crackling fire in an open, marble hearth.  She recognized Julia Moreland sitting at one of the places. Julia, wearing a pair of black-framed reading glasses, was studying some paperwork. She looked up seconds after Anna’s arrival, however, and removed her glasses.“Anna, thanks for joining me on such short notice.” Julia’s smile was warm and welcoming as she patted the chair beside her. “Come and sit next to me.” Anna studied her hostess while hastening across the room. Julia wore her silvery hair short and spiky, and her blue silk tunic matched her sparkling eyes. Anna knew that Julia had to be at least sixty, but the effects of aging were difficult to detect on her heart-shaped face. “I’m delighted to be here, Mrs. Moreland. I saw the newspaper spread on your home in the Calgary Record last summer. I’d have paid money for a tour.”Julia laughed. “Really? Well there’s no charge today, plus we’re throwing in a free lunch. And please call me Julia.” She offered her right hand with its glowing, square-cut emerald ring. Julia’s clasp was firm. Anna liked that in a woman. She placed her tote on the floor and slid into a chair at the second place setting.A middle-aged woman dressed in a sleeveless black tunic and slacks entered the room carrying two bowls. She marched up to the table and placed the bowls carefully on the gilded charger plates before Julia and Anna.“What have you got for us today, Nicolette?” Julia asked.“Sweet potato and red pepper soup.” Nicolette waited next to the table with her hands clasped over her stomach.Julia turned to Anna. “You’ll like this. It’s creamy with a touch of heat.” She watched as Anna carried a spoonful to her lips and sipped.“You’re right. It’s delicious,” Anna said. The cook nodded and left the room.“I hope you don’t mind looking at the scholarship applications while we eat?” Julia asked. “Magdalena asked me to choose the winner before the end of exams. That’s a week from tomorrow, correct?”“That’s right.”“I have some pressing business to take care of over the next few days, so why don’t you help me make the decision right now?” Anna nodded. “I’d be happy to.” Putting down her spoon, she ducked to retrieve the files from her tote before laying them on the table next to Julia’s bowl. “The scholarship committee has already screened the applicants based on academic achievement and financial need,” Anna said. “These applications are from the top six students.”Julia nodded, fixed her glasses on her nose, and opened the top file. Her hand absent-mindedly ferried soup to her mouth as she flipped through the pages. Anna was just swallowing her last mouthful when Julia looked up.“This group is an improvement over last year’s candidates.” Julia pointed at the pile. “At least this bunch can spell.”Anna’s mouth curled into a smile while Julia pulled out two files and set the others aside.“If it were up to Robert, he would choose the boy who plays hockey.” She tapped the top application with her finger. “Robert loved to play hockey when he was a boy. It was because of your department’s sports research, and because Chinook University was Robert’s alma mater, that he decided to endow the scholarship for the Kinesiology Department in the first place.”Julia laid the file on the table and held up the second. “But this young woman’s average is two points higher, and I’m impressed that she wants do a master’s degree on bone loss resulting from spinal injury. I have a friend who broke her back in a motorcycle accident twenty years ago and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. It would be lovely to think that something could be done to rehabilitate patients like my friend someday.” Julia laid the second file on the table. “Who do you think I should choose?” While she waited for Anna’s answer, Nicolette returned to the room. She set two plates of what looked like a meat and bean stew with a side of corn before the women and removed their soup dishes. Anna waited until Nicolette had left the room before responding.“I’m afraid I’m out of my depth when it comes to academic evaluation. Maybe you should call Magdalena for her opinion?”Julia shook her head. “If I do, I’ll just get a lot of hot air about test percentiles and academic aspirations. I want to know who these kids are. I bet you’ve seen them around your office, though.” “Sure. The kids are in and out all the time, dropping off assignments, picking up essays, and making appointments to see Magdalena.” Julia nodded encouragingly, and Anna shrugged. “Okay, here’s what I think. When Jessica, the girl who wants to study spinal cord rehabilitation, comes into my office, she always helps herself to my stapler and pens without asking. I know that it’s a small thing, but it’s rude, you know? Nick, on the other hand — the hockey player studying sports kinesiology — always apologizes whenever he hands in a late assignment. Not that he’s habitually late, you understand, but a couple of the professors set an exact deadline, like 3:00 p.m., on the day their assignments are due. If the kids are even a few minutes late, I’m supposed to stamp their papers with tomorrow’s date. Then they get docked five percent of their grade.” Julia nodded. “So if Nick’s a few minutes late, I laugh and tell him that he should apologize to his prof, not to me, and then I stamp his assignment with today’s date.” Julia smiled. “I understand. Nick’s polite, and Jessica’s presumptuous.”“Exactly.”“Done!” Julia slapped the two files back onto the pile. “Good manners triumph over academic achievement. Nick gets the scholarship.” She picked up her fork. “Now, let’s enjoy Nicolette’s pork and duck cassoulet. It’s a real stick-to-your-ribs kind of dish, and perfect for today’s cold weather.”Anna sniffed the delicious, garlicky aroma steaming up from her plate and tasted the food. It was so good that she closed her eyes as she chewed.“To change the topic, I hear that you were the top suspect in your ex-husband’s murder case last spring,” Julia said.Anna’s eyes sprang open. “Excuse me?” “So, I’m curious. What’s it like to be the focus of a murder investigation?”Anna groaned inwardly. She should have known that Magdalena would be right; she always was. After being intimately involved with two murder investigations in less than a year, Anna still felt shell-shocked. After all, the last murder had just happened five weeks ago, right before Halloween. She was sputtering, trying to think of a way to change the subject, when Julia’s assistant hurried into the room waving an envelope. Anna took one look at Latona’s tense face and knew that something was gravely wrong.Julia looked up. “Yes?”“It’s another one,” the young woman said, halting beside the table and handing the envelope to Julia. Anna peeked at it sideways and saw “Julia Moreland” spelled out in black block letters cut from a newspaper or a magazine.Julia grimaced. She picked up her butter knife and slit the envelope open. Gingerly removing a single sheet of folded paper, she flicked it open and studied the contents. Anna was unable to read the message, but saw that it was spelled out in the same cut-out letters. “What should we do?” Latona asked. “Do you want to call the police this time?”“What?” Julia returned her attention to her assistant.  She refolded the message and slid it back into the envelope. “This is getting to be a nuisance. I think we may have to involve the police this time.” She tossed the envelope onto the table and glanced at Anna.“Will you excuse me?” Julia rose from her chair while Anna gaped up at her. “I hate to cut our lunch short, especially when you were about to tell me about your ex-husband’s murder, but I have some urgent business to attend to.” Anna half-rose, but Julia waved her back down.“No, please don’t let me interrupt your lunch. Nicolette will be angry if at least one of us doesn’t enjoy her food. I only wish . . .” Julia paused to think. “I don’t suppose you’re free tomorrow night?”Anna was startled. “What’s tomorrow? Thursday?” Julia nodded. “November 29th.” “No, I don’t have any plans,” Anna said warily.“Good. Do you think you might like to come to my Christmas party?”“What, here?”“No, at the Vandesand Hotel in Calgary.”“Wow!” Anna felt tempted. The Vandesand was a private hotel with notoriously-expensive rates. She had always wanted to have lunch there — maybe even peek into a guest room — but had never splurged on their gourmet menu.Julia half-smiled. “Yes, it’s a very nice hotel, especially the ballroom. The party’s my annual bash for the oil company bigwigs, plus some friends and family. I’d love for you to come. We could continue our conversation about your ex-husband’s murder there.”Anna frowned. Not only did she not want to discuss the murder with Julia, but she knew she’d feel uncomfortable at the party. “I’d feel out of place. I wouldn’t know a soul.”“That won’t be a problem. Latona can arrange for you to sit at Warren and Magdalena’s table.” Anna stared at her. Did Julia mean her Magdalena? “Didn’t you know that my stepson is dating your boss?”Anna shook her head.“I’m not surprised. Magdalena is practically a clam when it comes to discussing her private life. She and Warren have been seeing each other for months. So, can I count on you? We usually have a good time. It’s one of the perks of being the second-richest oil company in Canada.”Anna hesitated. She had read about the glamorous Moreland Christmas parties in the Calgary Record, but had never imagined attending one. “I just happen to have a new dress,” she murmured, weakening. Oh, what the heck. She’d never get the chance to attend an extravaganza like this again. “Thanks, I’d love to come.”“Great. The party starts at seven. I can’t wait to see Magdalena’s face when you show up at her table.” Julia glanced at Latona, and her smile faded. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Anna. Business before pleasure, I’m afraid.” She nodded at her assistant, and the two women exited the room.Anna picked up her fork and thoughtfully ate another mouthful of cassoulet. It really was delicious. Too bad that Julia’s meal had been interrupted. Latona certainly had seemed upset about the note, whatever it said. Anna’s eyes strayed to the envelope next to the files. Julia had neglected to take it with her. Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal after all.Anna looked back at her plate and tried the sweet corn flecked with red pepper. Hmm, was that a hint of maple syrup she tasted?Her eyes strayed to the envelope again. She nudged it until she could read the letters the right-side up. The only reason someone composed a message with cut-out letters was to avoid having his or her handwriting identified. That indicated criminal intent.Anna knew that curiosity was her downfall. It had gotten her into trouble plenty of times. Just this once, she should mind her own business. She drummed her fingers on the table. Still, what harm would a peek do? No one would ever know. She snatched up the envelope, took out the sheet, and read the message. It said: “Holding the press conference on Monday could be hazardous to your continued existence.”Shoot! Anna refolded the note, shoved it back into the envelope, and dropped it hastily onto the table. Who was sending Julia death threats? And what was this about a press conference on Monday? Fumbling for her napkin, she wiped her mouth, bent to retrieve her bag, and stuffed the files into it. Time to go. She didn’t want to be anywhere near this kind of trouble again. No sir! Julia was rich and she had three sons, or two sons and a stepson. She could have all the help she needed. She was probably calling the chief of police right this minute, as a matter of fact. Damn, now she wished she hadn’t accepted the Christmas party invitation. It would be best to stay away from Julia and her friends. But Anna couldn’t risk Magdalena’s wrath by not turning up for the party and possibly jeopardizing the scholarship.Springing from her chair, Anna was making a beeline for the door when Nicolette returned with two plates of fruit tart.“Where are you going? Where’s Julia?” the cook demanded.Pausing, Anna said, “Julia got called away unexpectedly on business. I’m so sorry to rush out on you like this, but I’ve got to get back to work. The cassoulet was delicious, by the way, and the soup was to die for. I mean, it was really terrific.” Anna coloured and clutched her bag to her chest. The threat of death was making her as jumpy as a cat. Nicolette frowned. “Are you all right?”“Sure. So, I guess I’ll see you at the Christmas party tomorrow night. Should be fun, eh?” Without waiting for a response, Anna bolted from the room, leaving Nicolette shaking her head and staring down at the dessert.

Spooky Halloween Mystery

Looking for a spooky Halloween mystery? Look no further than Town Haunts from the award-winning Anna Nolan series. With the motto It takes a witch to catch a ghost, you'll enjoy the Halloween thrills and chills as Anna and her friends try to figure out why cemetery caretaker Sherman Mason's wife is calling to him from the other side of the grave.

To read an excerpt, click here.

E-book from Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, and other retailers.
Paperback  can be ordered from CreateSpace, Amazon, Amazon Europe and your favourite bookstore

And just to get you in the mood, here's a favourite childhood Halloween song of mine, "Black and Gold."



Happy trick-or-treating!

If you'd like to be notified when new novels are released, just leave your name and e-mail address with the Contact Cathy app to the right of this post, and I'll include you on my mailing list. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here in Ontario, after an unusually warm September when folks were still dressing in shorts and sandals, the weather has finally turned cooler and the leaves are vibrant hues of scarlet, orange, and yellow. This morning after I hurried downstairs to turn on the furnace, I looked out the windows to see frost glinting on the lawn and on our neighbours' rooftops. The skies are blue, the sun is shining, and the air is crisp and cool in the shade. It's a perfect autumn holiday.

Free Award-Winning Mystery Novel

Okay, I'm doing something that I've never done before. I'm offering the 2014 Bony Blithe Mystery Award Winner, Framed for Murder, free until September 15 through all of my e-retailers. Why would I offer my e-book for free, you ask? Because I'm counting on all of you to love the story and the characters so much that you'll want to read the other books in the series too. So don't waste any time; get the e-book for free today!

E-book from  Amazon, B&N, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, Google Play, Kobo, and others.


Here's a brief synopsis. Anna Nolan discovers her ex-husband, Jack, on a deserted country road one night ‒ dead, unfortunately.  He could only have been in town to see Anna, unless Jack was looking for their son, Ben.  At least, that’s how the tall, cool Brit leading the police investigation sees it.  To divert suspicion away from her son and herself, Anna delves into Jack’s personal life, only to discover that the actor had been romancing three very different women on a nearby film set. With some rather unorthodox ideas on how to conduct a murder investigation, Anna sets about meeting her ex-husband’s lovers, with harrowing results!

". . . a true 'chiller thriller' that I couldn't put down!" - Mysterynet.com

"I seldom give five stars for a book but in this case I don't have another possibility. It's an absolutely brilliant story." -  Goodreads Review

To read an excerpt, click here.

If you'd like to be notified when new novels are released, just leave your name and e-mail address with the Contact Cathy app to the right of this post, and I'll include you on my mailing list. 

Summer Reading - Last Instalment

It's Saturday of the Labour Day Weekend, Summer's last slow, sweet kiss before the kids go back to school, the weather turns cooler, and we all get busy with lessons and meetings again in an inexorably quick slide toward Christmas. Whew! Makes me feel tired just thinking about it.

Putting all that aside, today is the last instalment of my Summer Reading list, and it's a special one.
Maskerade, by Terry Pratchett. It's not the first book of the Discworld fantasy series, but it's the first Discworld story I ever read over twenty-some years ago. It also features one of my two favourite Discworld characters from Mr. Pratchett's mad collection, Lancre witch Granny Weatherwax. (My other favourite is Sam Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch.)

Now Granny Weatherwax is probably the most powerful witch that the Discworld has ever known. She's tall, thin, wears her grey hair in a steely bun, and doesn't hold with none of that occult kind of nonsense. She believes in headology, or using the lore of witchcraft to help people believe so that they can help themselves when real witching isn't required. Or tricking people, as Agnes (Perdita X.) Nitt, a hefty young woman with good hair and a wonderful personality who doesn't want to become a witch but has a voice with an impossible range and who can sing harmony with herself, thinks. Agnes has just run away to the big city to audition for the Ankh-Morpork opera. And although she doesn't have the stage presence that the dimwitted but beautiful Christine has, she can still be useful as Christine's voice. Except that there's a problem, a ghost in the opera house who leaves insane notes telling the owner what operas to perform and occasionally murders people who get in his way.

While all of this is happening, Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax's long-time friend and the second witch in the Lancre coven, has just  had a cookbook printed. It's called The Joy of Snacks. Not that she does much cooking herself, not when she has a slew of daughters-in-law to do her cooking and house cleaning. And it's more of a cookbook with entertaining sexual anecdotes, something else Nanny is good at after having buried three husbands. Only she's no good at math and doesn't realize that her cookbook is a best seller and is making lots of money for the publisher, who returned her printing fee but hasn't paid her any royalties. Granny Weatherwax figures it out, however, and so the two witches head for Ankh-Morpork to claim the money that's owing to Nanny, as well as to check up on Agnes, for whom they've seen a disturbing picture in their tea leaves. (Not that tea leaves can tell the future. That's just part of that occult nonsense and got nothing to do with real witching.)

Aside from the delightful story, which is a send-up of the Phantom of the Opera tale, readers can also be entertained by the cartoonish and colourful cover that make the Discworld novels stand out from the other books on the shelf. The Maskerade cover, pictured above, is a good example.

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Now it's time to recount all of the books that were part of my Summer Reading diary. They were:Funny Girl by Nick Hornsby  Superfluous Women, a  Daisy Dalrymple Mystery by Carola Dunn The China Study Solution  by Thomas Campbell, MD Girl Waits With Gun  by Amy StewartThrones, Dominations by Dorothy L Sayers and Jill Paton WalshMiss Julia Speaks Her Mind and Miss Julia Takes Over, both by Ann B. RossMaskerade by Terry PratchettI hope you've enjoyed my summer reading series and discovered some new authors to savour. Have a great Labour Day Weekend, and squeeze in a few hours of lazy reading, if you can. Cheers!
If you'd like to be notified when new novels are released, just leave your name and e-mail address with the Contact Cathy app to the right of this post, and I'll include you on my mailing list. 

Summer Reading, August 23, 2016

Today I'm recommending a series, The Miss Julia books by Ann B. Ross. Pictured are the first two books, Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind and Miss Julia Takes Over. The heroine of these stories is Julia Springer, a recently bereaved, mature and wealthy lady who lives in a small town in North Carolina. A strong-willed woman with standards and a pillar of her local Presbyterian church, she's not stuffy, but she likes things done a certain way and she's not afraid to tell you so. She lives with her dead husband's mistress and her 9-year-old son, by the way, who's the spitting image of his father. Kind of an unusual arrangement? Well, these two were sprung on Miss Julia shortly after her husband's funeral and she was pretty stricken at the time, but she's not going to let the whole town pity her and talk behind her back. Besides, Miss Julia's so mad at her dead husband that she doesn't care what people say about him, so she holds her head up high and parades her husband's illicit affair right out front where everyone can see them. In fact, she becomes so fond of Hazel Marie, who's had a truly tough life up until now, and Little Lloyd that she forces her friends to accept them too.

These stories have larger than life, quirky characters and funny conflicts, since Miss Julia's generally fighting other people's battles. If you've enjoyed Fannie Flagg's humorous books about small town life in the deep south as much as I have, I think you'll appreciate this series too. And the author, Ann B. Ross, has written nineteen Miss Julia books so far, so you can look forward to having lots to read.

 If you'd like to be notified when new novels are released, just leave your name and e-mail address with the Contact Cathy app to the right of this post, and I'll include you on my mailing list. Cheers!

Summer Reading, August 14, 2016

I'm a Lord Peter Wimsey fan. In case you're not familiar with his stories, they were written by Dorothy Sayers, one of the three queens, along with Agatha Christie and Margery Allingham, of the golden age of British detective fiction. Lord Peter is an aristocratic amateur detective who turns to solving murders, with the help of his faithful man servant, Bunter, to overcome the effects of shell-shock suffered during WWI. He disarms people with his bland appearance and silly conversation, as did the Scarlet Pimpernell, but is actually brilliant, athletic, and intuitive. He's also kind and wears his heart on his sleeve for crime novelist Harriet Vane, whom he gets off a murder charge in the poisoning death of her ex-lover, and ultimately marries. If you like stylish historical mysteries that are cleverly written with an endearing detective, I highly recommend the series.

I revisited Thrones, Dominations last week. It's set after Busman's Honeymoon, when Harriet and Peter have only been married a few weeks and Harriet is being introduced into "society" as Peter's unconventional wife. The 13th Lord Peter novel, Sayers began writing it in 1936, but never finished it prior to her death in 1957. It was published in 1998 after the trustees of Sayers' estate asked novelist Jill Paton Walsh, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, to finish it.

You see this happening time and again when a famous series novelist dies and the trustees ask another author to finish a story or even write a brand new one. The books are often a disappointment; just not quite good enough. Thrones, Dominations, however, is very good. It's faithful to the characters as Harriet struggles with continuing her writing career while dealing with servants, social obligations, and whether or not to have children, and Peter investigates the murder of a beautiful married woman who is an acquaintance of the couple. Amusing, suspenseful, and well-crafted, it's well worth the read for those who hunger for just one more Lord Peter Wimsey story.

I can't resist adding this picture of Lord Peter and Harriet Vane, as portrayed by Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter, in a  1987 BBC dramatization of Have His Carcase.


 If you'd like to be notified when new novels are released, just leave your name and e-mail address with the Contact Cathy app to the right of this post, and I'll include you on my mailing list. Cheers!

Summer Reading, July 27, 2016

It's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged about my reading due to a decision to only talk about books I've enjoyed and can recommend. (Aside to one of my fellow authors: "Witty" banter can be overdone and can't take the place of character or plot development!) But I've just finished a book I can recommend, Girl Waits With Gun, the first in a blossoming series about the real-life Kopp sisters. Author Amy Stewart bases her novel on newspaper articles that were published as the result of a 1914 accident between the three sisters, who were riding in their buggy, and a car driven by a wealthy factory owner who plowed into them. When the eldest sister, thirty-five-year-old Constance, tries to claim $50 in damages from the factory owner, Henry Kaufman, she sets off a string of nasty persecutions from Kaufman and his gang of hoodlums. Attacks escalate from rocks with threatening messages being hurled through the sisters' bedroom windows in the middle of the night, to shots being fired at the house, to attempted arson. Isolated on a small farm outside of Paterson, New Jersey, the sisters enlist the help of Sheriff Heath, a stalwart, dedicated, and forward-thinking lawman who develops feelings for Constance, but it is through her own efforts to solve the case as well as to help a young factory worker whose infant son, fathered by Kaufman, has disappeared, that retribution is made.

Although the story starts a bit slowly, I soon became enamoured with the sisters. Constance, tall for a woman, strong, and resourceful, seems to be waiting for her life to begin and has a big secret. Norma, the middle sister, never wants to leave the farm and spends her spare time training homing pigeons to carry cut-out newspaper headlines back to her sisters. Fleurette, a teenager, is the spoiled, artistic family beauty who dramatizes everything and can't wait to escape the isolation of their lives. I also enjoyed the historical detail, the homeyness of the sisters' lives, and the sensibility of women who are trying to act like ladies while dealing with some very unladylike problems and a judicial system that fails them.

There is a second book in the series, Lady Copp Makes Trouble (another actual newspaper headline, I assume), that I'm looking forward to reading. But check out Girl Waits With Gun first.

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Summer Reading, July 10, 2016

Well, now for something completely different in my summer reading diary. My husband and I have been reading a non-fiction book called The China Study Solution by Thomas Campbell, MD. The sub-title is: The simple way to lose weight and reverse illness, using a whole-food, plant-based diet. That pretty much says it all. (The book was first published as The Campbell Plan.)

To give some background, Dr. Campbell's father is T. Colin Campbell, PhD, a nutritional biochemist who spent his career researching the influence of diet on cancer at Cornell University. Dr. Campbell, Sr. came to the conclusion that the healthiest diet may in fact be essentially devoid of all meat protein and dairy. In fact, he believes that the only diet capable of reversing cardiac disease is a diet based on whole food, plant-based protein. The China Project, upon which this book is based, was a survey of 6,5000 adults in 65 counties in rural China, a population that consumed only small amounts of animal foods. The result of the research, stated simply, is that populations of more well-to-do countries that eat more animal proteins have higher levels of cholesterol which, in turn, are related to other types of disease, such as several types of cancer and diabetes. The doctors maintain that a whole food, plant-based diet may partly prevent or treat a number of illnesses and conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, ulcers, kidney stones, obesity, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, a variety of cancers, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, cataracts, and macular degeneration. That's a lot to claim, isn't it? Together, father and son co-authored the results of the China Project in The China Study, a pretty weighty tome of over 400 pages. The China Study Solution gives you the nuts and bolts of the research and a proposed diet plan.

The diet allows you to eat fruits and vegetables, whole grains (breads,cereals, and pasta), nuts and seeds, legumes (beans), and non-dairy beverages such a soy and almond milk. You are allowed small amounts of sugar. The diet does not allow you to eat meat, fish, dairy, or fats. Have you heard that olive oil is heart healthy? Dr. Thomas Campbell calls oil an "unnatural pure-fat product" that is the most energy-dense (high calorie) known food. For example, here's what he says about soybeans and soybean oil on page 62. Soybeans are incredibly nutrient-rich foods. One hundred calories of raw soybeans has abundant protein and fiber and a wide variety of good vitamins and minerals that are nicely packaged with a good balance of fats. A quarter cup of raw green soybeans has as much calcium as about a half cup of 2% milk. Soybean oil, on the other hand, has had almost every good nutrient stripped away, providing you with nothing but pure fat and ultra-concentrated calories.

The China Study Solution cites a vast number of medical studies and ends with several recipes and a shopping list to get you started. It also discusses vitamin supplements and warns you that healthy kids and adults should take a B12 daily supplement of 100 micrograms as you cannot get this essential vitamin by eating a whole food, plant-based diet.

My husband and I, who both want to lose some weight and die peacefully in our sleep after an active, healthy long life, started the diet yesterday. Afraid that I might find the diet monotonous, we went to a bookstore today and bought 2 cookbooks written by Dr. T. Colin Campbell's daughter, Leanne Campbell, PhD, and other contributors: The China Study Cookbook and The China Study All-Star Collection. Since both my husband and I had been given gift certificates for this bookstore chain, the cookbooks cost us nothing and give us a wide variety of recipes from which to choose. They also have lovely colour photos. Paging through the book, I saw a picture of what looked like macaroni and cheese. Knowing that you can't eat cheese on this diet, I was curious and checked out the recipe. Turns out that the whole wheat macaroni is teamed with cooked and mashed butternut squash and, coupled with onion and garlic, has a delicious-looking sauce of ground cashews and soy milk with seasonings. Can't wait to try it!

I'll let you know how we do on the diet in a subsequent post, particularly after we visit our doctor for our annual physicals in a few months. Here's to good living and healthy eating!

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Cathy Spencer, Author: Summer Reading Diary, Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Cathy Spencer, Author: Summer Reading Diary, Wednesday, July 6, 2016