#60 Cover Story

Cover Story by Erika Chase is the third book in the Ashton Corners mystery series.

Molly's childhood friend Teensy moves back to Ashton Corners and has published a book-- a modern and sexy Gone With the Wind. The Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straw Society plan several events to help Teensy promote her books. Before any of the events take place, Molly is attacked in her home and Teensy's books are stolen. Then Teensy's publisher is found dead and a former prisoner is found dead in Bob Miller's backyard along with counterfeit money. Bob is the retired police chief. Bob becomes chief suspect and police chief Mark must work with the FBI on the case.

Not content to let the police do their jobs, Lizzie and the rest of the mystery readers society work to solve the case and clear Bob's name.

I'm happy that I've reached 60 books. I started this project last July so it's taken me a little less than a year to reach this point. I'm hoping to reach 100 books by the end of December, so only 40 more to go.

Read and Buried: An Ashton Corners Book Club Mystery

Read and Buried is the second book in the Ashton Corners mystery series by Erika Chase. I talked about the first book, A Killer Read in April.

Lizzie Turner is asked to host author Derek Alton at the next meeting of the Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straw Society (they eat as much as they discuss). The other members agree and look forward to discussing Derek's best-seller Judgment. However, Derek proves to be nothing but trouble, starting with the "romantic" dinner he invites Lizzie to and ending with him being shot in Lizzie's living room. Naturally, suspicion falls on Lizzie.

Lizzie and the other club members work to solve the case and uncover un-published manuscript for a sequel to Judgment. As they delve into Derek's past, Lizzie and her boyfriend, police chief Mark, discover that Derek wasn't who he claimed to be. Someone from his womanizing past had had enough.

I like this series and find it engaging. Lizzie and Mark's romance develops. Her Siamese cats, Edam (the male) and Brie (the female) are helpful. And police officer Amber Craig is still hostile.

Also at the end of the book is a reading list for each of the members of the book club--providing 35 other mystery titles to peruse.

Unmentionable

I really enjoyed Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners by Therese Oneill.

Oneill transports her dear readers back to the Victorian Age, though not the romanticized version found in novels, movies, or tv shows. You, dear reader, are taken back to the nineteenth century as a relatively wealthy young woman. Oneill doesn't spare the truth as she humorously guides you through the expectations of being a lady. Such topics include:

• Getting Dressed: How to Properly Hide your Shame
• The Treacherous Art of Bathing
• Menstruation: You're Doing It Wrong
• Beauty: Scorch, Slather, and Stuff
• Courtship: Not-Talking Your Way Into His Heart
• Birth Control and Other Affronts to God
• Being a Good Wife: How to Avoid His Eventual Resentment for as Long as Possible
• It's Hysterical: The Least Funny Thing About Victorian Life

It should come as no surprise that scientific and medical knowledge about female sexuality and womanhood was almost exclusively provided by men (some of whom had no medical training whatsoever). Many of these topics, especially the chapters about menstruation, childbirth, and hysteria, are examples of the pathology of being a woman--a phenomenon that unfortunately still exists in the 21st Century.

L'Ombre chinoise

#57 L'Ombre chinoise (The Shadow Puppet) by Simenon

Simenon's Maigret is another detective that I like. The Maigret novels have a sense of atmosphere--lots of times they feature fog, rain, or other inclement weather. I think it would be fun sometime to find some of the places that are repeatedly mentioned as part of Maigret's haunts--the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir and the Quai des Orfevres. L'Ombre chinoise was published in 1957.

At 10 o'clock at night Maigret is summoned to 61 Place des Vosges which consists of a square of apartment buildings overlooking a central courtyard. There are two boutiques and a laboratory. M. Couchet, owner of the laboratories, is found shot in his office and a large sum of money has been stolen from the office safe.

Suspicion falls on:

• M. Couchet's son Roger who is a penniless, ne'er-do-well, and ether user. Roger frequently asked his father for money. 
• M. Couchet's first wife Mme Martin: Mme Martin has remarried and she and M. Martin live in an apartment at 61 Place des Vosges. Mme Martin spends much of her time watching people from behind their living room curtain; this is where the book's title comes from. Maigret first notices her shadow behind the curtain.
• Nine: M. Couchet's latest mistress. Nine is a good-hearted dancer at the Moulin Bleu.
• Mme Couchet: M. Couchet's second wife. She is from a wealthier background that he was. 

Valuable information is obtained from the resident busybody Mathilde who spends much of her time spying on people in the hallways. I consider Mathilde a second "ombre chinoise" or shadow puppet. 

The Colour of Milk

#56: The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon

"this is my book and i am writing it by my own hand. in this year of lord eighteen hundred and thirty one i am reached the age of fifteen" and so begins Mary's account of the events of 1831.

Mary is one of four daughters (Violet, Beatrice, and Hope) who work hard on their family's farm in England. Violet is beginning to discover her sexuality, Beatrice has a love of Scripture despite not being able to read, and Hope is short-tempered. Mary speaks her mind...a bit too much for her own good. She often suffers abuse at the hands of her father.

On Easter Sunday, the girls sneak out of the house to watch the sunrise. Supposedly, if they make a wish at this time, it will come true. Mary wishes her life would change.

Shortly thereafter, Mary is sent to work at the vicarage as a housemaid and caretaker for the vicar's wife. Though nearby, the vicarage is a world away from her family's farm and life as Mary knows it. Living at the vicarage may not have been the change Mary wished for.

The Colour of Milk is a quick read and is divided into five parts: spring, summer, autumn, winter, and spring.  I was reminded of Marie-Claire Blais' Une saison dans la vie d'Emmanuel (A Season in the Life of Emmanuel). Une Saison tells the story of a French-Canadian family at the turn of the 20th century. The story is told from Emmanuel's perspective (he is the sixteenth child). Une Saison is part of the anti-terroir literature in Quebec--a number of Emmanuel's sibling leave the family farm for the city and Mary's work at the vicarage and exposure to books also distances her from an agricultural life.

More Miss Marple

May has become Miss Marple Month. Books 54 and 55 were also Miss Marple mysteries.

#54, the Murder at the Vicarage, is Miss Marple's first case. In this novel readers are introduced to Miss Marple, the village of Saint Mary Mead, and some recurring characters such as Doctor Haydock, Miss Marple's nephew Raymond West, and Chief Constable Melchett. Over time, Agatha Christie's portrayal of Miss Marple changed. She is always an octogenarian old pussy, but in The Murder at the Vicarage, Miss Marple is portrayed as an old cat--a gossip who thinks the worst of people, and isn't particularly well-liked. In later novels, Miss Marple is not catty, and although she knows a great deal about the goings-on in the village of Saint Mary Mead, she is well-liked and respected.

One evening, Colonel Protheroe, the town Magistrate, is found stabbed in the vicar's study.  Miss Marple says she can think of at least seven people who could have killed Colonel Protheroe. First, local artist Lawrence Redding claims to have murdered him. Lawrence was having an affair with Mrs. Protheroe. Then Mrs. Protheroe confesses to the murder in order to exonerate Lawrence. Suspicion also falls on the vicar, who was overheard to have wished Colonel Protheroe dead. One of Miss Marple's hunches was correct.

#55 What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw: The week before Christmas Mrs. McGillicuddy has gone to London to complete her holiday shopping. On the 4:50 to Paddington (4:50 to Paddington is an alternate title) Mrs. McGillicuddy wakes from a nap and as the train slows down, she glimpses a man strangling a woman on another train. She duly reports what she saw to a conductor, who is skeptical. She then tells her friend Miss Marple what she saw and Miss Marple shares the story with the police. The police find nothing.

Miss Marple believes her friend and so she takes matters into her own hands. She hires Lucy Eyelesbarrow, an Oxford-educated upstairs-downstairs maid and domestic wonder to look for the body. By looking at railway maps and riding the 4:50 from Paddington herself, Miss Marple determines the most likely place for the body to have been dumped. Lucy secures a position in the Crackenthorpe household and begins her search for a body. The original body as well as two more turn up before Miss Marple is able to solve the case.

#53 Nemesis

Nemesis is another Miss Marple mystery. Miss Marple receives a letter from Mr. Rafiel's solicitors following his death. Mr. Rafiel was a wealth financier who helped Miss Marple solve the murders in A Caribbean Mystery. The solicitors explain that Mr. Rafiel has asked Miss Marple to act as Nemesis and to seek justice on his behalf. Should she succeed, she will receive 20,000 pounds. Miss Marple accepts the challenge and the wheels are set in motion. First, she is instructed to go on a Home and Garden Tour (all expenses paid by Mr. Rafiel). On the tour, various people who were acquaintances of Mr. Rafiel seek her out and divulge information. Miss Marple has to figure our what crime she is supposed to be avenging and who she can and cannot trust.

Of course Miss Marple succeeds and is awarded her 20,000 pounds.

Apparently, I have three copies of this novel: the above hardback, a paperback, and the third copy is part of a collection of 5 Miss Marple mysteries.