Lost Birds

Anne Hillerman continues the popular Navajo mystery series begun by her father Tony Hillerman with Lost Birds (#1,239).  Joe Leaphorn has taken on a case in his retirement, trying to track family for an adopted woman who suspects her biological family may be Navajo.  It's taking up much more of his time than he would like, since the only clues he has to go on are a photo of an Indian couple taken near the iconic Elephant Feet rock formations, and a small silver and turquoise baby bracelet.  Both were left by Stella's adopted mother in an envelope to be opened after her death.

As Joe is trying to buckle down to work on this "Lost Bird" case, another potential client calls him for help tracking down a missing wife.  The call is interrupted by a large explosion in the background.  Bernie Manuelito is called in to help investigate the explosion at the Eagle Roost school, where a body is found in a car.  Bernie and Joe find their work intersecting over the case.

As always, there is plenty of interesting background on Navajo culture and customs as Joe Leaphorn, Bernie Manuelito and Jim Chee try to put together the pieces while dealing with painful personal issues.  Always a satisfying read, although I must admit, I now picture Joe, Bernie and Jim as played by the actors in the Dark Winds TV adaption of these mysteries!

Disturbing The Dead

Disturbing The Dead (#1,238) is the third entry in Kelley Armstrong's A Rip Through Time series. I'm really enjoying this time-travel mystery series set in 1860s Edinburgh.  Mallory Atkinson is a present-day police detective from Vancouver visiting her dying grandmother in Edinburgh when she is transported back to the body of a Victorian housemaid.  (All of which is detailed in A Rip Through Time.)

Mallory is now settling into the eccentric household in which she finds herself - Dr. Gray, the non-practicing physician who runs a funeral parlor and does the odd autopsy for the police, and his widowed chemist sister, Mrs. Ballantyne.  Mallory's skills have proven of use to her employers and so she is included in an invitation to an exclusive mummy-unwrapping party at the mansion of an eminent Egyptologist, Sir Alastair Christie.  When the time comes to unwrap the mummy, the guests are in for the surprise of the social season...

Lots of red herrings, and a difficult decision for Mallory move the plot smartly along.  It's not quite your usual cast of characters, but the chemistry between the ensemble is fun to read about as relationships develop apace.  If you're looking for a new mystery series with a twist, try A Rip Through Time.  I'm already anticipating Mallory and Dr. Gray's next adventure!

Running With Sherman - The Donkey With The Heart Of A Hero

Someone at my library book club mentioned recently reading Running With Sherman - The Donkey With The Heart Of A Hero (#1,237) by Christopher McDougall.  It originally came out in 2019, so this memoir has been around for a few years, although I don't ever recall hearing about it before.  That's a shame, because I found this quite an enjoyable read.

Christopher McDougall has been a war correspondent, covering some brutal conflicts, which led to him seeking more peaceful surroundings for his wife and family.  What could be further from the hustle and bustle of American life than the Amish country in Pennsylvania?  Settling into the rural lifestyle, daughter Sophie decides she wants a donkey as a pet.  Word spreads among the McDougall's neighbors, and soon Christopher is picking up his Amish friend to check out a donkey being kept in atrocious conditions by an animal hoarder.  Sherman is in such bad shape when McDougall arrives on the scene that it's doubtful Sherman will even survive the night in his new home.

How his friends and neighbors help the McDougalls help Sherman heal and survive is a heart-warming story.  Yes, that's a cliche, but in this case, it's true.  In order to keep going in life, Sherman had to be given a purpose, and that purpose for Christopher was burro racing in mountainous terrain with his human companion.  Who even knew that burro-racing was a thing, with its own professional circuit?  I certainly didn't!  But training for his first event took the whole village's efforts.

What makes this book so interesting are the many tangents McDougall follows about the people, places and causes he encounters on his quest to keep Sherman alive and happy.  Many photos of their mutual journey are included in the text.  This memoir is well worth your time!

The Widows of Malabar Hill

A friend introduced me to this mystery series set in 1920s Bombay.  It features Perveen Mistry, Oxford educated daughter of a prominent Parsi family, and currently the only practicing female solicitor in Bombay in her family's law firm.  

In her latest entry, The Widows of Malabar Hill (#1,236), Sujata Massey juxtaposes some of Perveen's unhappy personal history with a case involving three widows of a Muslim businessman.  While reviewing some of the routine paperwork connected with the case, Perveen comes across some questionable documents signed by the widows.  Not only their own incomes, but those of their children will be greatly affected by these papers, and not for the better.  Perveen seeks an opinion from her father, but since the ladies live in purdah, behind screens, he cannot answer her questions as he dealt only Mr. Farid himself.  Perveen sees the perfect opportunity to make herself useful in this situation - she, as a woman, can enter the women's quarter of the house and speak to the widows directly.  It sounds like a great idea until her questions lead to murder and kidnappings...

It's not just the mysteries themselves which make this series so intriguing.  It's the interplay of characters between British and Indian, Muslim, Hindu and Parsi, the haves and have-nots that make the books so rich in atmosphere.  Perveen herself has a foot in both worlds in many cases.  She's still not sure exactly where she fits into things, but she does know that she wants to be admitted to the Bar in India.

You could read The Widows of Malabar Hill as a stand-alone book, but I think it's best read in its proper place in the series.  You can easily find that on Fantastic Fiction.  Highly recommended!

That Librarian

After school librarian Amanda Jones spoke at a Library Board meeting in Louisiana, she was targeted by a pair of activists whose mission is to censor and weed out books they object to out of both public- and public-school libraries in the name of protecting "the children".  Cyber-bullying, lies, and actual death threats became an everyday part of her life.  That Librarian (#1,235) is the story of how she handled the pressures and fought back to preserve the rights of everyone (That's you and me!) to read what they choose.

Ms. Jones gradually came to realize that the hate campaign against her was well-funded, organized, and followed a recognizable pattern as others who spoke up against banning books in their own neighborhoods were targeted.  Like the Nazis, their aim is to marginalize and erase cultures and whole groups of people by defunding public schools, libraries and anywhere else people are able to read and educate themselves to think critically.  Her view is that privatizing education and libraries serves to line the pockets of a self-serving group of white Christian nationalists by enlisting eager foot soldiers like Moms For Liberty (theirs, not yours!) to do their dirty work.  Unfortunately, in many areas it's working.

Although I agree with Ms. Jones' conclusions - I've seen them at work in my own area - I must admit I did find reading her memoir repetitive.  It's illustrated with screen shots she captured during her continuing ordeal, some bullying and some praising.  That did get old fast.  Still, the core of what Amanda Jones and those fighting alongside her to protect is important.  If you want others to do your thinking for you, don't bother to show up to defend your local library and librarians.  If you don't want others telling you what to think and do, stand up now, before it's too late.  Remember, the Germans willing elected Adolf Hitler.  Didn't turn out too well for them, did it?

The Murder of Mr. Wickham

Imagine an English country house party where all the guests are your favorite couples from Jane Austen novels. That's what The Murder of Mr. Wickham (#1,234) is all about.  What fun for Janeites! (except for Mr. Wickham, of course!).  Claudia Gray has set her novel in 1820, so readers will be familiar with just about everyone but the Darcy's oldest son Jonathan, and the Tilney's young daughter Juliet as the Knightleys host a ragtag assembly of friends and connections.

After Wickham shows up uninvited and meets his demise soon afterwards, it becomes clear just about everyone in the house had reason to wish him gone from their lives.  Equally clear to Jonathan and Juliet is that someone in their house party had to have done the deed.  But whom?

That's the delicious part of this book.  You really don't want any of your favorite characters to be the guilty party.  But as they say, getting there is half the fun!

The even better news is that Claudia Gray has already written two more sequels to The Murder of Mr. Wickham. Can't wait to read the further adventures of Jonathan and Juliet.

The Fox Wife

I have been saving The Fox Wife (#1,233) for just the right time when I could settle down and really enjoy reading it.  I was so glad I did!  I even persuaded my husband to read Yangsze Choo's latest novel.  It's historical fiction mixed with Chinese folk tales about foxes who can shape-shift into irresistibly attractive men and women meets detective story.

A young woman from the grasslands of northern China is tracking a photographer who has done her harm.  It's the early 1900s, and the political situation in China is volatile, with a Dowager Empress clinging to power, and an infant Emperor.  Russia and Japan are taking notice.  It's not safe for a woman traveling alone.

Meanwhile, a young woman is found frozen to death on the back doorstep of a local restaurant.  She is a stranger to everyone in the area.  The restaurant owner is afraid of losing business if word gets out, so he hires Detective Bao to identify the women and where she came from to make the problem go away.

As the story switches back and forth between these protagonists, their pursuits become entwined...

The characters are so intriguing in this book, I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next.  Yangsze Choo can really spin a tale.  Put aside some quiet time to enjoy this fantastic read!

I also wanted to add that I loved the cover art on this book.  Just looking at it on the top of my "To Read" pile made me want to dive right into it.  Kudos to the cover artist!

The Wide, Wide Sea - Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

Hampton Sides writes nonfiction in such a compelling way that it's hard to put down one of his books once you pick it up.  It's certainly true of his latest - The Wide, Wide Sea - Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook (#1,232).  Cook's secret royal remit on this journey was to reach the 65th north latitude west of the North American continent and search for the elusive Northwest Passage, creating a shipping shortcut from Asia to England.  There were many perils along the way, political, geographical and meteorological.  Yet most of his crews survived the harrowing trip.  Cook himself did not.  And that, in itself, is the subject of much speculation.  The facts of Cook's death at the hands of Hawaiians are well-documented, but the cause behind it is not.

To me, it was remarkable that while Captain Cook on the Resolution, and Captain Clerke on the Discovery were exploring the South Seas and the Pacific Northwest, the American Revolution was raging on the North American continent.  France and Spain were both now officially at war with Great Britain, adding to the dangers of the expedition.  Yet still, the two ships landed at island after island where few, if any, Europeans had set foot, not even the Spanish or Portuguese, who laid claim to the entire Pacific.

This book was full of "Huh, I did not know that!" moments of reading.  A few of the places described in the book we have been to, most we have not, but like Cook himself, we always want to see the next thing.  His side trip to Russia just so he could set foot on the continent of Asia is a perfect example of what drove him most of his life.

If you are an armchair traveler, especially if you have ever spent any time on a boat, this is the perfect read for you.  Make sure you pick up a hardback edition so you will have the benefit of the color plates and illustrations.

Egypt's Golden Couple - When Akhenaten And Nefertiti Were Gods On Earth

I decided to track down Egypt's Golden Couple - When Akhenaten And Nefertiti Were Gods On Earth (#1,231) at our local library to begin reading up before our Nile cruise this winter.  Written by a pair of married Egyptologists, John and Colleen Darnell, the cover blurbs promised new insights into this controversial pair.  I was disappointed.

The authors introduced each chapter with a fictional episode based on carvings, sculptures and artifacts of the period.  They then concluded with a non-fiction essay on a topic related directly or tangentially to Akhenaten and Nefertiti.  A number of these had to do with correctly interpreting hieroglyphics concerning the royal pair.  Since I have no interest in diacritical markings of a technical nature, I found these chapters tedious, even though I plowed through them.

In the end, did I learn anything about Akhenaten and Nefertiti I didn't already know?  Yes, a few things.  Would I recommend this book to a casual reader who merely has curiosity about ancient Egypt and wishes to expand his or her knowledge?  No.  It's like trying to follow a sand flea as it jumps from topic to topic.  If you already have a background in ancient Egyptian history, this might be a good addition to your library.