Savage Cut

Ruby Crane #1

by Jo Dereske

After an auto accident that left her husband dead and her daughter injured, Ruby Crane leaves her job as a graphologist with a detective agency in California. Retreating to the peaceful Michigan town where she grew up seems the best course to help her daughter heal. But Ruby's unique crime-solving expertise is put to the test in the case of her life when a murderous scheme erupts too close to home. Jo Dereske is the author of the popular Miss Zukas mysteries.

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Cozy Mystery

10 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

I grew up in rural Michigan, greatly influenced by my Lithuanian roots. I'm one of those tedious people who wanted to write stories as soon as I learned to read, but believed I had to leave Michigan first. In fact, I couldn't wait to shake off that Michigan dust! Curiously, everything I write seems to have a connection to Michigan or my Lithuanian heritage.
I now live in the beautiful foothills of Mount Baker, near Bellingham, Washington.
I've loved being a librarian: libraries are one of our last truly public institutions, where the whole world, in all its zits and glory, passes through.
There are twelve titles in the Miss Zukas mystery series. Miss Zukas is tough, honest, crafty, a complicated woman with a deep but futile desire to perceive the world in black and white. And yes, Helma Zukas is what used to be called, a “real” librarian. You might say she embraces the stereotype. Helma is unapologetic.
Ruby Crane is a forgery specialist, a subject that's fascinated me since I forged my first absence excuse in fourth grade. There are three books in the series.
My three young people's books were written when my children were young.
Please visit me on my website!
jo 5/26/2013

Reviews

[Patty · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dunno... for a woman who says she just wants peace, quiet, and to tend to the recovery of her injured daughter, Ruby Crane spends most of this book doing everything but. She immediately hires someone to tend her daughter, then caters to the demands of friends and her former employer, begins a romantic relationship and acquires a part-time job. Someone who doesn't walk the talk. Ugh.

So, I didn't like Ruby and also found the information about timber and logging repetitive and far more detailed than it needed to be. Yet another book that winds up showcasing all the research the author did at the expense of a well-crafted story. Sigh.

I first read the Miss Zukas novels more than twenty years ago and have been enjoying them again now. Sadly, this book comes nowhere near those and is full of lazy writing. What happened to Jo Dereske?

[Joyce Burk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good #1 Ruby Crane Mystery

This mystery tells lots about logging in the UP Michigan. This land is very different from the rest of the US. The characters were well drawn.

[Josephine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm something of an odd duck, I know, because I prefer these three books to Dereske's Miss Zukas series, although I respect Dereske's decision not to write more where there's no inspiration. Better to stop at three when the contract ends than to push for more books just because your fans want them.

Not surprisingly, this being the first of three, there's a bit more background and character development than the later two: Ruby Crane brings her injured teenaged daughter back to the small town where she grew up, and where she owns a home inherited from her mother years before. As she settles in, her best friend's husband is killed in his sawmill, and shortly thereafter, her best friend is killed in a car accident. Ruby, being a handwriting and forgery expert, is convinced that Mina's suicide note is a forgery...and investigates.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd enjoyed the oddness of Jo Dereske's Miss Zukas mysteries. Well, and being a librarian doesn't hurt.... So when I found this earlier series, I picked up the first one, Savage Cut.

I really think it is better than the Miss Zukas series! A women leaves her California lift to return to her rural Michigan roots with her daughter, injured in a car accident. Shortly upon getting there, her childhood best friend's husband is killed in a sawmill accident. And the bad news keeps coming.

These characters rang true to me, as did the setting. Luckily the next two books in the series are available for Kindle, even if they aren't in my library.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read every Miss Zukas book in that series, and was disappointed when it ended. So it was time to move on, since I *do* like the way Jo Dereske writes. This book is the first in another series. It introduces a heroine, Ruby Crane. Ruby returns to her roots in upper Michigan with an injured child in tow, regrouping. Only... the plot twists to include murder... and she is drawn in like the curious cat. In the process of trying to find the truth, Ruby finds herself and her daughter in danger. Thoroughly involved this first, and as all good introductions do, it left me looking forward to what's in store next for Ruby Crane.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 3 out of 5]

A single mother moves her kid to the lake town in the upper midwest where her family spent many a summer. She's a handwriting expert and works freelance for detectives.
Soon she is embroiled in a mystery close to home though, involving illegal logging. Not a bad entry into the genre, but I prefer the Miss Zukas ones by the same auther.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this mystery. The characters were interesting, and I enjoyed the setting in Michigan in autumn. The framework reminded me a little bit of the Arly Hanks mysteries, but there isn't the biting small-town humor here. It was a quick, easy and enjoyable read.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked the location; really enjoyed the forgery detection component.

[Rachel “Koala” Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Another 'blast from the past' that still thrills me. My mother gave me my first Jo Dereske book many years ago and I've enjoyed every one I have read.