Tag: Mystery Books

  • Book: Claws and Effect

    Rita Mae Brown and her co-author Sneaky Pie Brown collaborate to produce this delightful new volume in the Mrs. Murphy mystery series. Mrs. Murphy is a cat, of course, whose human is named Mary Minor Haristeen, the village postmistress for Crozet, Virginia. I’m a sucker for all things feline, including feline detectives. If you don’t like books in which animals behave intelligently and converse, though in this case not with humans, then you’ll hate this one.

    The mystery begins this time in Crozet hospital, where an unexpected target is killed in an unexpected place. It will take all of Mrs. Murphy’s senses and good sense to solve this one and keep her human alive at the same time.

    For more information, see Claws and Effect.

  • Book: Tomb of the Golden Bird

    I truly love the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. It combines my love for mysteries with my love for and knowledge of the ancient near east. Though it is set in Egypt, which was the least of my own studies, it nonetheless never fails to please, and Peters is very good about fitting her fiction in with both the real history and also the history of archeology in Egypt. Familiar historical names mix with fictional names to provide a fascinating tale.

    In this book, we find the Emerson’s back in Egypt with the usual villains making themselves apparent and with the great Radcliffe Emerson annoying various and sundry folks with his direct form of address, otherwise known as a lack of tact. The year is 1922, and the key event is the discovery and early excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun. You’ll find it fascinating to do a search on the web and look at some of the real history of this event beside the story.

    This is another book that’s fun and that doesn’t require you to be in intellectual high gear. I heartily recommend it and all the works of Elizabeth Peters, whether in this series or others.