What Rose Forget by Nevada Barr

 

WHAT ROSE FORGOT by Nevada Barr is a stand-alone, suspenseful new mystery from an author who has been winning awards (Firestorm, Deep South) for more than two decades. The story opens with Rose Dennis, an older woman, cowering in the outdoors.  It soon becomes apparent that she has run away from a nursing home called Longwood, chosen in part because of its proximity to her teenage granddaughter’s house.  Soon discovered and returned to the Memory Care Unit at the facility, Rose plots a subsequent escape while questioning her own sanity.  She is an appealing character – very resourceful, wonderfully artistic and into yoga and meditation (Breathe … Right View … Right Intention …) which helps to center her.  Some of the actions are a bit “crazy,” but granddaughter Mel, her friend Royal, and Rose’s “techie” sister (“I am not a hacker”) named Marion build on each other’s strengths. The mystery – involving drugs, deaths and greed – and a sense of menace build rapidly.  WHAT ROSE FORGOT received a starred review from Library Journal. Once started, you will be finishing this quickly, cheering for Rose all the way.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow

THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY by Alix E. Harrow is a new book with an absolutely beautiful cover and an absolutely beautiful beginning. Harrow is a talented writer, describing a doorway as “a dividing point between here and there, us and them, mundane and magical” and commenting on the word Door: “There, look how tall and proud the word stands on the page now, the belly of the D like a black archway leading into white nothing.” She tells two parallel stories – one about Ade, a young girl living in the late 1800s, who meets a ghost boy from another world and then spends years looking for him, and another story about January Scaller, a troubled mixed-race child with a dog named Bad who is betrayed by her guardian, Mr. Locke. Both stories are imaginative and pull in the reader; I just did not like flipping between them. In addition, I thought that the pace of this debut novel really slowed and therefore found it difficult to stay interested at times, despite the wonderful writing and unique blend of historical fiction and fantasy. Booklist recommends THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY for teens, saying “Young adult readers will relate to January as she grows into herself and discovers the world around her.” I do think that teen – and adults – will enjoy these adventures and find much to consider in the commentary on social class. Readers just need to be patient as the novel unfolds, for “it is at the moment when the doors open, when things flow between the worlds, that stories happen.”

Death in Kew Gardens plus Love and Death among the Cheetahs

DEATH IN KEW GARDENS by Jennifer Ashley is the third installment in the “Below Stairs” mystery series which was new to me although the first book, Death Below Stairs, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.  The main character is named Kat Holloway who is a roughly thirty-year-old cook in Victorian London. By coincidence, she meets Mr. Li, a Chinese scholar who is later accused of murdering Kat’s neighbor, Sir Jacob Harkness. Harkness is a frequent traveler to China and interested in the botany work at Kew Gardens. Curious and steadfast by nature, Kat is determined to clear Mr. Li’s name with the help of her employer (Lady Cynthia), her fellow servants (especially assistant Tess), and her romantic interest, Daniel McAdam.  Although they will enjoy Kat’s adventures, readers may have to ignore some overly convenient events. For example, how does Daniel manage to immediately obtain a position working at Kew Gardens for yet another botanist and the very one who has brought Mr. Li to the authorities’ attention? The characters do have unique and appealing personalities and Ashley does an engaging job of weaving suspense with historical Victorian facts and meal preparation details. “‘Oh my,’ [as] Tess said excitedly. ‘Better than a panto.’”

Rhys Bowen is one of my favorite authors and I am enjoying her latest, LOVE AND DEATH AMONG THE CHEETAHS. This light, entertaining mystery is 13th in the Royal Spyness series which features Lady Georgiana Rannoch, now married to Darcy O’Mara and on honeymoon in 1935 Kenya. Dinner parties, a polo match and a safari seem like fun, although there is work for the newlyweds: as a distant relative of the Queen, Lady Georgie has been asked to keep an eye on the Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson, while Darcy is in the midst of a case tracking a jewel thief.

The exotic African setting gives Bowen the opportunity to address the infidelities, alcohol/drug use, and attitudes towards servants as shown in the “Happy Valley” expatriate lifestyle of the time. In addition, there are several references to real-life residents including Beryl Markham, Idina Sackville, and Tom Delamere. It is inevitable that Lady Georgie and Darcy discover a dead body and like an Agatha Christie mystery, suspects and motives are plentiful amongst the expatriates and their servants. I am already looking forward to their next adventure.