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Absinthe of Malice
Old crimes come back to haunt a small California town in this intriguing urban cozy. ABSINTHE OF MALICE introduces Penny Mackenzie, Lifestyle reporter for The Pearl Outrider, and a cast of unforgettable characters who find their lives turned upside down when old secrets and new secrets all come to light after chance discovery of a skeleton in a cotton field leads to murder...and romance.
- GenresMystery
233 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 14, 2013
Absinthe of Malice: Deliciously Dangerous
Penny Mackenzie lives with her mother and has an unfulfilling job as “Lifestyle” editor on the San Joaquin Valley’s local newspaper, The Pearl Outrider. She envies her energetic and driven friend Maxie Harper, who writes the news stories.
Both women hunker down in the countryside on a stake-out following a rumor of trouble later that night with a group of young pot smokers: “Digger Potts’s cotton field was a thing of beauty. Dense and green, with bits of white fluff popping out of the bolls, it stretched from Peach Orchard Road to a line of cottonwood trees overlooking a dry slough.” Problem is, the kids unearth something frightening and flee the scene. The mystery involves a hunk of dirt and a collection of human bones, just recent enough to be a problem. Whatever happened here may involve Pearl’s older citizens. Maxie wants to roll the story, but the timid new owner doesn’t want anything upsetting his ship. This is a police matter, and his paper needs to cater to local needs, not chase scandals.
An old college beau of Penny’s has returned to town. Watt Collins, dashing enough to turn any girl’s head, now has his own Investigations firm and begins flirting shamelessly with her: “He was as ruggedly handsome as ever. Face just a little thinner maybe, dark hair smudged with gray, same long, thick eyebrows above eyes still hot enough to melt wax. His expensive white cotton shirt was open at the throat, sleeves turned back at the wrists.” Best of all, he’s divorced. Should she take a second chance on life, or let it pass her by? Even her mother has a love interest.
Meanwhile, there’s a hot time in the venerable old town. Pearl’s 100th anniversary has arrived, and not only has a book been commissioned about the founder, the eccentric Simeon Swann, but a gala “Dinner in the Round” has been planned, the kick-off first course served in his about-to-be-refurbished mansion. His son Layton and daughter-in-law Merrily will preside at the festivities, with Oysters Merrily a specialty: “The sun was almost down, a smear of melon red through the trees. Under crepe myrtles and wisterias dripping purple blossoms, Pearl’s business boosters sat at round tables covered with pink linen tablecloths….” The scene is set not for dining but for mayhem.
During the gala, someone very dear is discovered dead on the dusty top floor of the mansion. The death is gruesome. What makes it worse is that Penny was on the phone with the victim, but learned nothing about the attack. She vows to find the murderer, perhaps with the help of their neighbour, Chief of Police Barney Press.
How far back does the mystery go? Rumors have always surrounded Simeon Swann and how he made his fortune in the Gold Rush, crushing anyone who got into his way. A treasure may be at stake and more than one person involved in protecting a personal fortune. Wherever she goes, Penny is met with more lies than truth. Can she even trust Watt Collins? Is he trying to use her or vice versa?
With a wealth of history and a thriving fruit industry, the San Joaquin Valley has been a neglected part of the US for mysteries, and Pat Browning accepts the challenge. In addition to spinning a complex and page-turning plot, she toys expertly with romance between Penny and her old flame. Who could resist liking Penny, with her Audrey Hepburn aspirations?: “I built myself a spectacular hairdo. I stuck the glittery brooch right at the top of it. God help me, I was gorgeous….but it wouldn’t work.”
Browning also captures the woof-and-warp of a small town newsroom, which walks a narrow line between big news and small news for its demanding subscribers as it struggles in the on-line age. This charming and alarming small town with its collection of eccentrics and colorful history is a perfect place to set an amateur sleuth novel. The clever title is a mere appetizer.
Penny Mackenzie lives with her mother and has an unfulfilling job as “Lifestyle” editor on the San Joaquin Valley’s local newspaper, The Pearl Outrider. She envies her energetic and driven friend Maxie Harper, who writes the news stories.
Both women hunker down in the countryside on a stake-out following a rumor of trouble later that night with a group of young pot smokers: “Digger Potts’s cotton field was a thing of beauty. Dense and green, with bits of white fluff popping out of the bolls, it stretched from Peach Orchard Road to a line of cottonwood trees overlooking a dry slough.” Problem is, the kids unearth something frightening and flee the scene. The mystery involves a hunk of dirt and a collection of human bones, just recent enough to be a problem. Whatever happened here may involve Pearl’s older citizens. Maxie wants to roll the story, but the timid new owner doesn’t want anything upsetting his ship. This is a police matter, and his paper needs to cater to local needs, not chase scandals.
An old college beau of Penny’s has returned to town. Watt Collins, dashing enough to turn any girl’s head, now has his own Investigations firm and begins flirting shamelessly with her: “He was as ruggedly handsome as ever. Face just a little thinner maybe, dark hair smudged with gray, same long, thick eyebrows above eyes still hot enough to melt wax. His expensive white cotton shirt was open at the throat, sleeves turned back at the wrists.” Best of all, he’s divorced. Should she take a second chance on life, or let it pass her by? Even her mother has a love interest.
Meanwhile, there’s a hot time in the venerable old town. Pearl’s 100th anniversary has arrived, and not only has a book been commissioned about the founder, the eccentric Simeon Swann, but a gala “Dinner in the Round” has been planned, the kick-off first course served in his about-to-be-refurbished mansion. His son Layton and daughter-in-law Merrily will preside at the festivities, with Oysters Merrily a specialty: “The sun was almost down, a smear of melon red through the trees. Under crepe myrtles and wisterias dripping purple blossoms, Pearl’s business boosters sat at round tables covered with pink linen tablecloths….” The scene is set not for dining but for mayhem.
During the gala, someone very dear is discovered dead on the dusty top floor of the mansion. The death is gruesome. What makes it worse is that Penny was on the phone with the victim, but learned nothing about the attack. She vows to find the murderer, perhaps with the help of their neighbour, Chief of Police Barney Press.
How far back does the mystery go? Rumors have always surrounded Simeon Swann and how he made his fortune in the Gold Rush, crushing anyone who got into his way. A treasure may be at stake and more than one person involved in protecting a personal fortune. Wherever she goes, Penny is met with more lies than truth. Can she even trust Watt Collins? Is he trying to use her or vice versa?
With a wealth of history and a thriving fruit industry, the San Joaquin Valley has been a neglected part of the US for mysteries, and Pat Browning accepts the challenge. In addition to spinning a complex and page-turning plot, she toys expertly with romance between Penny and her old flame. Who could resist liking Penny, with her Audrey Hepburn aspirations?: “I built myself a spectacular hairdo. I stuck the glittery brooch right at the top of it. God help me, I was gorgeous….but it wouldn’t work.”
Browning also captures the woof-and-warp of a small town newsroom, which walks a narrow line between big news and small news for its demanding subscribers as it struggles in the on-line age. This charming and alarming small town with its collection of eccentrics and colorful history is a perfect place to set an amateur sleuth novel. The clever title is a mere appetizer.
March 3, 2011
There’s a whole lot to love about “Absinthe of Malice”, Pat Browning’s delightful debut mystery featuring Penny Mackenzie, lifestyle reporter for her hometown newspaper, The Pearl Outrider. This cozy immediately dispels the notion that nothing ever happens in a small town. Believe me, in the small town of Pearl, California, there are a whole lotta things going on, including the discovery of an old skeleton, a murder, then another murder and secrets. Many, many secrets.
Penny and her best friend and fellow reporter Maxie Harper discover the skeleton while researching a story on a moonless night in a local farmer’s cotton field. Yikes! Can you say “scared to death”? Then Maxie dies at a chamber of commerce event Penny is covering for the newspaper. And an old love who comes back into town to complicate Penny’s life even more. Could all these events be connected?
Browning’s plot is neatly done and her characters are terrific, but where this writer especially excels is in her scenic descriptions. For example, the opening of Chapter fifteen: “The newsroom smelled faintly of cheese. Cramped, cluttered with debris from a thousand deadlines. I could swear the walls moved closer together every day. Funny thing, though. When everyone was there, with phones ringing, computers clacking, the printer and fax machine churning out paper by the yard, the clutter appeared to serve a real purpose. On a quiet Sunday morning like this, the newsroom had about as much charm as a pigsty.”
I hope Pat Browning and Penny Mackenzie give us another sneak peek at life in Pearl, California, very soon.
Reviewed by Susan Santangelo, author of “Retirement Can Be Murder” for Suspense Magazine
Penny and her best friend and fellow reporter Maxie Harper discover the skeleton while researching a story on a moonless night in a local farmer’s cotton field. Yikes! Can you say “scared to death”? Then Maxie dies at a chamber of commerce event Penny is covering for the newspaper. And an old love who comes back into town to complicate Penny’s life even more. Could all these events be connected?
Browning’s plot is neatly done and her characters are terrific, but where this writer especially excels is in her scenic descriptions. For example, the opening of Chapter fifteen: “The newsroom smelled faintly of cheese. Cramped, cluttered with debris from a thousand deadlines. I could swear the walls moved closer together every day. Funny thing, though. When everyone was there, with phones ringing, computers clacking, the printer and fax machine churning out paper by the yard, the clutter appeared to serve a real purpose. On a quiet Sunday morning like this, the newsroom had about as much charm as a pigsty.”
I hope Pat Browning and Penny Mackenzie give us another sneak peek at life in Pearl, California, very soon.
Reviewed by Susan Santangelo, author of “Retirement Can Be Murder” for Suspense Magazine
January 4, 2011
What has a gold mine, miners, Central California, cotton fields, Diabolical murderers, greed, pride, and Absinthe have in common? Well, I suggest you purchase this story on Amazon or Kindle or wherever you can grab a copy and feast your imagination.
This book grabbed me from the first sentence. The characters were bold, human, and realistic. I would like to be friends with Penny Mackenzie. Why? Because she is someone who is a Lady while down to earth. She ventures outside her personal safety space. She is loyal to a fault and almost to her death.
There were more mysteries in this book than you can count on your hand. Missing persons, missing claims, deaths, physical attacks, journalism curtailed, and I could go on and on. Who can you trust? Why this was a question I asked myself several times while reading the book.
This is my first Pat Browning book, but, I can assure you not my last!
This book grabbed me from the first sentence. The characters were bold, human, and realistic. I would like to be friends with Penny Mackenzie. Why? Because she is someone who is a Lady while down to earth. She ventures outside her personal safety space. She is loyal to a fault and almost to her death.
There were more mysteries in this book than you can count on your hand. Missing persons, missing claims, deaths, physical attacks, journalism curtailed, and I could go on and on. Who can you trust? Why this was a question I asked myself several times while reading the book.
This is my first Pat Browning book, but, I can assure you not my last!
January 10, 2010
Pat Browning has written a charming mystery that works on multiple levels. I especially liked the author's illustration of how good people, through a series of questionable but seemingly harmless acts, can be drawn into complicity with evil--but not without paying an emotional and spiritual price.
The author has obviously researched herbs and poisons, including the one referenced in the title, and included informative passages without detracting from the storyline or being heavy-handed.
If you like a cozy mystery, I recommend Absinthe of Malice.
The author has obviously researched herbs and poisons, including the one referenced in the title, and included informative passages without detracting from the storyline or being heavy-handed.
If you like a cozy mystery, I recommend Absinthe of Malice.
August 28, 2010
I loved this delightful mystery set in a small town in Central California. Having worked on newspapers much of my life, I really enjoyed reading a crime novel starring a journalist heroine who writes lifestyle-type features for the local newspaper. The story is well told and complex, involving not only murder in the present, but also secrets from the past. The setting is vividly portrayed, the characters are lively and non-stereotypical, and there's just the right amount of romance. Highly recommended for fans of amateur-sleuth whodunits.
September 20, 2011
Absinthe of Malice by Pat Browning is a delightful story, as much as a murder mystery can be called delightful. Reporter Penny Mackenzie faces an old death when a skeleton is found buried in a cotton field. A new death haunts her when a good friend is murdered. There are lots of secrets in this small town, and she unearths plenty of surprises. She even finds time for an old boyfriend. Ms. Browning tells this story with humor and heart, and I can't wait for her next story.
This book has all the elements a mystery lover looks for, and I highly recommend it.
This book has all the elements a mystery lover looks for, and I highly recommend it.
October 1, 2009
I enjoyed this first book mystery. Penny Mackenzie writes for a small town paper, mostly doing the feature works. When her friend and fellow reporter is killed, right after finding the bones of an old skeleton, Penny trys her hand at investigative reporting. With a lot of history of small town California as well as some Yukon gold rush stories this is a wild ride. I'm looking forward to the next in the series.
July 13, 2008
Pat Browning's FULL CIRCLE is an excellent cozy mystery with laughs, romance, plot twists, and intersting characthers which keep you turning pages till you get to the bottom of who and what brought on the murder and mayhem in Pearl, a town with a character of its own.
A secuel is coming soon. Watch for WINTER MOON for another interesting visit to Pearl.
A secuel is coming soon. Watch for WINTER MOON for another interesting visit to Pearl.
March 8, 2010
This is very enjoyable read. Penny is a goodhearted person but a reluctant sleuth. She is more or less forced to live up to her potential. It was also a good depiction of the kind of small, rural towns that make up most of California. Their world is so different from the stereotypes of Californians that we see in most of the media.
November 17, 2010
Good story from first time author. If you enjoy cozies, you will enjoy this. The author did some great research on poisons and plants weaving a good story with a few surprises along the way. She also delved into how seemingly unlikely happenings in the past can return many years later to influence you and those around you.
April 18, 2011
Good, solid book with plenty of pace, a nicely broad cast of characters and a heroine who impressed by avoiding ditz. The only thing which really bothered me was .
January 17, 2013
This book builds like a tsunami. It sucks you in, powers you along, and rolls you like a perfect surfer-wave. I, for one, was totally grateful for the ride. A rip-snorting murder-mystery. Read it in 36 hours.
January 23, 2011
Better and more intricate than I expected, and I was sorry to see that there doesn't appear to be a sequel yet.
March 18, 2011
Quick read. I enjoyed it, but felt that there a few too many loose ends left. I guess that I will have to read the sequel.
December 10, 2011
I really liked this book.
I guess it would be classified as a cozy since, in my humble opinion, a cozy involves a village setting and a nosy amatuer slueth, and is a very nice read.
I guess it would be classified as a cozy since, in my humble opinion, a cozy involves a village setting and a nosy amatuer slueth, and is a very nice read.
October 8, 2012
Wonderful, entertaining, cozy mystery.
Small town reporter uncovers secrets that change the lives of longtime residents and reveal the truth about the town's founding father.
Small town reporter uncovers secrets that change the lives of longtime residents and reveal the truth about the town's founding father.
October 23, 2010
A fun cozy - easy to read, nice characters, good plot.
May 8, 2012
Fairly good mystery. Solved the murder half way through
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews