Book Review: Maids of Misfortune

Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery

By M. Louisa Locke

This book and I got off to a rough start. I loved the title. I loved the premise. I love San Francisco, and I love historical/period mysteries and strong female leads. Seems like we should have been a match made in heaven.  

Annie Fuller is a young widow living in San Francisco in 1879. Her late husband had squandered her fortune before committing suicide a few years earlier. She owns and manages a boarding house to make ends meet, and also supplements her income as Madame Sibyl, a well-known clairvoyant. 

When one of Annie’s clients is found dead, all signs point to suicide, but Annie isn’t so sure that that’s the case, and she winds up doing some amateur sleuthing to try to determine what really happened. She butts heads with Nate Dawson, the deceased’s family lawyer who is also trying to learn the truth, and to her horror, begins to fall for him.  

This book does have a few entertaining moments, and the historical detail is apparent throughout, but the flow of the story was too slow for my personal taste, and I came perilously close to giving up on it more than once. I can be stubborn, however, and so kept on reading, in hopes that something interesting would happen.  

While I do appreciate details, especially in a period mystery, it felt to me like there were far too many details that were not relevant to the story. I didn’t like Annie for most of the book, although the flirtation between Annie and Nate was kind of sweet, and I must doff my cap to Nate’s investigative skills.  

I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this book, but the ending of the mystery itself was nicely done, and I could just picture the scene in my head where the tables were turned on the killer and the killer was incapacitated in time for the police to arrive.




All opinions are my own. No compensation was received for this review.

Book Review: Waking the Dead

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Heather Graham's latest book is a well-crafted tale of a murderous painting by a talented, but minor artist named Henry Sebastian Hubert. 

During what was referred to as the Year Without a Summer in 1816, Hubert rented an ancient Swiss castle with a dark and sinister past. Among those joining him for a time were Lord Byron, Claire (Lord Byron's former mistress), John Polidori, and Mary Shelley. Lord Byron and company challenge Hubert to join them in their madness to create the penultimate ghost story. Hubert would paint his ghost story, while the others would craft their stories in words. 

The painting that results from that challenge, Ghosts in the Mind, is a masterpiece study in perception and deception. The characters appear to be one thing, and then another, more sinister scene is perceived, leaving the viewer decidedly unsettled and fearful. The painting then begins its infamous and murderous history. Hubert is found dead in the castle, in front of his painting, an apparent suicide. 

The painting passes to his widow in England, who has no love of it and orders it to be wrapped up and stored away where it lay quiet until her death. Upon her death the painting begins to change hands and mysterious deaths follow wherever it goes. 

Modern day New Orleans: the painting is purchased by a very wealthy widow. Almost as soon as it arrives, nearly an entire family is butchered with no sign of the killers left behind. Private Detective Michael Quinn is called in by his former partner in the New Orleans Police Department to assist him with this especially baffling case. 

Before long, Quinn's girlfriend, Danni Cafferty, who owns a curio shop and is no stranger to the paranormal, begins to assist Quinn with the case, along with occasional help from a Voodoo priestess, a Roman Catholic priest, and Billie and Bo Ray, and, of course, their fiercely protective, perceptive, and loyal dog, Wolf. 

As the body count rises, their investigations take them through the troubled and deadly history of the painting, to a modern day direct descendant of the artist, and even back to the castle itself to try to unravel the secrets of the painting and what really happened that summer in 1816.

Overall I really enjoyed the book. The author did a fine job of building suspense around the painting. I haven't decided whether it's good or bad in this case, but I was able to figure out part of the ending before the actual ending, with still a bit of a surprise waiting for me at the very end. Heather Graham fans should enjoy this latest body of work. 

All opinions are my own; no compensation was received for this review.

Book Review: To Bless the Space Between Us

Just finished this lovely book of poetry, To Bless the Space Between Us, by the late John O'Donohue. I first came across his poetry a few years ago and I have loved his work ever since. 

The book is divided into major life categories with poems within each chapter that cover pretty much anything you can think of.

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Chapter 2: Desires

Chapter 3: Thresholds

Chapter 4: Homecomings

Chapter 5: States of Heart

Chapter 6: Callings

Chapter 7: Beyond Endings

While I liked almost all of the poems (some I just could not make heads or tails out of at this point in time), some of the ones that spoke the most to me were A Morning Offering, For A New Beginning, For A New Home, For Freedom, A Blessing of Angels, For Longing, For the Traveler, For A Mother-To-Be, For a Friend on the Arrival of Illness, For a Parent on the Death of a Child, To Come Home to Yourself, Before Sleep, For Courage, For An Exile, For Solitude, For Grief, For the Interim Time, For One Who is Exhausted, For A Nurse, For the Time of Necessary Decision, For Citizenship, For a Leader, On the Death of the Beloved, and For the Dying.

O'Donohue's poetry touches my soul on a personal level. I would have loved to have known him in person, but the perception I have of him through his poetry is that he seems to have been a very intuitive and kind man who sought to give everyone who crossed his path kind words and comfort on the journey of life. Definitely a must-read for any of his fans. Be sure to check him out on YouTube, too!


All opinions are my own. I am not receiving compensation for this review.

Book Review: The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon

This book is the latest installment of Alexander McCall Smith's series, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I became a fan of this series through the movies that had been made out of some of the books. 

Precious Ramotswe is the kind, warm and "traditionally built" owner of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, and Grace Makutsi is her associate detective. Where Mma Ramotswe is gentle in her inquiries, Mma Makutsi tends towards being much more direct and outspoken in her opinions and methods of questioning and has ruffled more than a few feathers.

In this installment, the owner of the Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon enlists Mma Ramotswe's help in finding out whom is sabotaging her business. In a separate case, a lawyer approaches the agency for help in determining whether a young man is who he claims to be, as he stands to inherit his uncle's very successful farm. There is enough doubt about his identity and enough other people who would benefit whether he inherited or not to keep Mma Ramotswe on her toes and there is a surprise twist to the story that I did not see coming.

In addition to everything else, Mma Makutsi gives birth to her first child and things at the agency go into a bit of a tailspin without her day-to-day presence. However, childbirth and even a meddling aunt-in-law cannot keep Mma Makutsi out of commission for very long and she is soon enough able to assist Mma Ramotswe with resolving the cases and still being there for her new baby.

This was a fun read and I would recommend it to fans of the series or anyone else looking for an engaging read. If you are into mysteries with lots of blood and guts and assorted other violence, this series is not for you. You can check out more about the book here.

Note: I am not being compensated for this review. 

Book Review: The Hexed

Getting in the mood for Halloween, I guess. This is the second book by Heather Graham that I have read. She is quite the prolific writer! This story is set in Salem, MA, and is about a series of modern day murders that tie back to the Salem Witch Trials. 

I read the book in one day, so it obviously held my attention. There is a good bit of history involved and the characters are well written with a red herring or two here and there to keep you off balance. I do have one bone of contention involving something the protagonist did (with no explanation that I could see) that seemed, to me, very out of character with her behavior in the rest of the book, but apart from that, I enjoyed the book immensely. You can check it out here. 

I am not being compensated for this review. 

Book Review: the beach street knitting society and yarn club

the beach street knitting society and yarn club

by Gil McNeil

A quick and fun read about a woman who must build a new business and a new life with her two boys after her husband's untimely demise.


Note: I am not being compensated for this review.

Book Review: Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes

Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes

A No-Bullshit Guide to World Mythology

by Cory O'Brien

A fun and irreverent look at various world mythologies. The Norse were badasses, I must say, but all of them had pretty fascinating creation stories. Check out the Amazon reviews for more insight. Funny stuff!

A note: I am not being compensated for this review.

Book Review: Wings of Madness

SPOILER ALERT

Wings of Madness

Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight

By Paul Hoffman

Where to even start? Wow! What a great read! I had never heard of Santos-Dumont before reading this book. He is, for me, and I suspect for a lot of other people, a lost hero of early aviation.

Paul Hoffman takes us on a fascinating ride through aviation history and into the life of Brazilian-born Alberto Santos-Dumont. The book covers his formative years on his father’s very successful coffee plantation, to his arrival in Paris, the city he fell in love with and came to call home for many years, and his eventual move back home to Brazil. Along the way we are given insight into the prevalent thinking of the Industrial Age and what drove inventors to create.

It was on his father’s coffee plantation that his love of engineering came to the fore and through reading his father’s engineering textbooks, he discovered hot air balloons. At the age of 10 he was able to duplicate Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier’s hot air balloon invention in miniature, without ever having seen a hot air balloon in real life. The writings of Jules Verne further piqued his interest in flying machines and he became an ardent student of all things aviation.  

In 1891, when Santos-Dumont was 18 years old, his family sold the coffee plantation and relocated to Paris to find expert medical care for his father, who had fallen from his horse and suffered from a severe concussion and partial paralysis. Alberto immediately fell in love with the city. Being the engineering geek that he was, he spent several hours on his first day in Paris just riding the elevators up and down the then two year-old Eiffel Tower and admiring the engineering genius of Gustave Eiffel.

He later created a one-man dirigible which he flew around Paris, over the crowds and rooftops, and occasionally crashed into roofs and other things, such as a tree on the Rothschild’s property. Never one for letting failure keep him down longer than it took him to heal from an injury, he dusted himself off and continued his quest to create the world’s first practical flying machine, dreaming that one day everyone might have their own personal flying machine. He was a man on top of the world and living his dream, and soon flying machines were a reality.

Although considered eccentric by many, he became well-known, loved and respected for his advancements in aviation. He became friends with the Rothschild’s, the Cartier’s, and many other influential families.

The events of World War I and seeing the flying machines’ capacity for destruction began to haunt him and made him question his dreams. He appealed to the military powers-that-be to cease using them for destructive purposes, but we all know how that turned out.

Parts of this book were very hard to read. A man’s genius and dreams being twisted for purposes of war and destruction is hard to accept even as a reader. You can imagine what it did to him and what it does to geniuses of today who face the same reality. Even so, this book is definitely worth the read. There is so much good in it, so much fascinating history, and so much to learn from it.

Note: I am not being compensated for this review.

Book Review: The Wealthy Barber

This book was given to me by a friend to help me understand personal finances. Written with a good dose of humor, the book presents some fairly complicated concepts in an easy-to-understand format. 

Although I did not grasp some of the concepts on my first read-through, I did still take away a good understanding of some of the financial concepts and I look forward to implementing some of its strategies.

The edition I read was from 1997/1998, although there is a newer edition available from 2011 if you are interested in reading it yourself.

Note: I am not being compensated for this review.

Book Review: the first phone call from heaven

POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT

What's not to like about a book written by Mitch Albom? I  have enjoyed his books for years, and his newest novel does  not disappoint.  When various people in the small town of Coldwater, MI begin to receive phone calls from heaven, the other residents begin to learn more about themselves and their belief in heaven, or lack thereof. Soon pilgrims from the world over are arriving in tiny Coldwater for a chance to be a part of the miracles. Sully, a man recently released from prison for his inadvertent role in a heart-breaking tragedy that killed his wife is particularly affected as his son begins to believe in the miracles and waits for a call from his late mother. To protect his son, Sully does his best to debunk the so-called miracles, and learns lessons in forgiveness, grace, and faith along the way. Note: I am not being compensated for this review.

Book Review: Unchain the Elephant

Unchain the Elephant is a new release from Simple Truths, a website and company well known for its inspirational books and other products. It is definitely one of my favorite haunts, and no, I am not being paid to say that. 

The Unchain the Elephant analogy comes in the form of a story of how elephants in captivity are trained from a very young age that they cannot break free of the chains that bind them. A thick chain is tied to a tree or post, and the young elephant will test it and tug on it and eventually learns that it cannot break free, so it gives up trying. As an adult, it can be "secured" with a mere rope and it will not try to escape. 

I found the story heartbreaking, and I can see where it applies to so many people, including myself, who may have long since given up or nearly given up on their dreams because they think they are stuck where they are, chained, if you will, to a job that does not serve them beyond paying the bills and putting food on the table. A part of their soul longs to be free and to be heard on its terms.

The author talks about three key moments where we must respond appropriately if we wish to free ourselves from our shackles and provides examples from his own, personal experience.

1. Facing our predators (fear, etc.)
2. Embracing our passions
3. Rediscovering our packs (tribe)

The author, Erik Wahl, for years had been a corporate cog who followed the dictates of society that mandated getting a degree, getting a good job, following the rules, climbing the corporate ladder, etc., but he eventually realized that something was missing.

After his "secure" dot-com job bubble burst, he rediscovered his passion for art and has since parlayed his love of creating art and his business know-how into a career that he loves and has made him a much sought-after speaker.

The book is a quick 100-page or so read that was easy to digest, thought-provoking and filled with brilliant quotes and stunning photography and art. I do recommend it and hope that you will check it out for yourself.